The sky above me cracked open with a deafening roar, the light spilling out like the final breath of a dying star. I could feel it in my bones—the weight of the universe shifting, warping, breaking apart slowly and surely. The figure before me, its cold eyes still locked on mine, seemed to grow even taller, its silhouette darkening as the crack in the sky widened, revealing what lay beyond it.
I wasn’t sure if I was ready for what was coming. The storm that had been building, the shadows that had twisted around us, paled in comparison to the sheer power emanating from the opening above. It wasn’t just the end of the rift anymore. It was the end of almost— no‚ not even almost‚ it's the end of everything. 
The creature—no longer just a shadow, but something far older, far more ancient—began to laugh. Its voice was low, guttural, a sound that crawled under my skin like insects pestering into my body. 
"You never understood, do you?" it whispered, its tone mocking me. 
Should I start counting how many times I heard that just for a day? I’ve had enough of that. 
"The rift isn’t just about this world. It’s the tether between realms, between realities. And you... you‚ Liora‚ you are the key. The one who could unlock them all."
The crack above us expanded, and the air thickened with an unbearable pressure. The earth beneath my feet began to tremble once more, the ground splitting in jagged, violent bursts. The rift was calling—no, it was pulling. It was pulling me, pulling everything into it. The boundaries between realities were thinning, and there was no turning back anymore. 
The figure raised its hand again, and this time, the shadows didn’t just coil around me—they surged, breaking through every defense I had left inside me.They wrapped around my body, tightening like chains, suffocating me, drowning me in their endless, oppressive weight.
I gasped for breath, but it was as if the very air had been stolen from me. I couldn't breathe. My vision blurred, my body weak with exhaustion, the light from the crack above flickering like a dying flame.
But then, just as I thought I might collapse, a flash of warmth surged through me. It was Elias. I could feel his presence, his energy pushing against the darkness that held me captive.
"Liora!" His voice cut through the haze of shadows, sharp and clear. "Kailangan mong lumaban! The rift is you! You control it. You have to end it before it’s too late! Or else it will be the one to end you!”
I struggled, my body refusing to obey, the shadows tightening around me with an almost sadistic intent. But Elias’s words echoed in my mind like a lifeline, pulling me back from the brink. You control it.
Could I really end it? Could I be the one to destroy it? To erase everything I had fought for?
The crack in the sky pulsed again, its light growing brighter, more intense. I could feel the pull, the overwhelming force trying to draw me into its chaotic depths. The figure loomed closer, its voice a soft, insidious whisper in my ear.
"It’s too late for you, Liora," it crooned, the words curling around my mind like poison. "You’re part of the rift now. You can’t stop it. Not even you have the strength to do that."
But I wasn’t listening to it anymore. I wasn’t listening to anything except the rush of adrenaline surging through my veins. The warmth I felt from Elias, the strength of his spirit connecting with mine—it was the only thing keeping me from being consumed.
I closed my eyes, my mind clearing for the first time in what felt like an eternity. I reached deep inside, searching for the source of the light that had flickered within me earlier. The warmth. The power. It was mine.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I called it forth, pulling the light from the very depths of the rift, from the core of its twisted reality. The shadows around me screamed, retreating as I fought back, pushing the light outward like a spear, carving through the darkness.
And then, with one final cry of defiance, I unleashed it.
The light exploded outward, blinding in its intensity, shattering the shadows, ripping through the storm, through the very fabric of the rift itself.
For a moment, I thought everything would burn. The light consumed everything around me—the figure, the shadows, the storm. It felt like the end of the world. But it was different this time. I wasn’t just ending the rift—I was destroying it, severing the ties that bound everything together.
The sky cracked again, the sound like a thunderclap, and then, silence.
The world held its breath.
I fell to my knees, my body exhausted, my mind reeling from the sheer force of what I had just done. But the pain, the weight, the terror—it was all gone. The storm, the rift, the figure that had haunted me for so long—it was all gone.
I opened my eyes, blinking against the aftereffects of the light. The ground was solid beneath me, no longer trembling, no longer breaking. The air was still, the world... quiet.
But something wasn’t right.
I stood up, my legs shaky, and looked around. The crack in the sky had closed, the light dimming to a faint glow. But there was no sense of peace. No relief.
And then, a voice.
A familiar, cold voice.
"Not yet, Liora."
I turned, and my heart stopped.
There, standing before me, was the figure. Unchanged, unscathed, as though the light had never touched it.
"Did you really think it would be that simple?" it asked, its eyes gleaming with something darker, something ancient. "You may have destroyed the rift, but you haven’t destroyed me. You never understood. The rift was never the end. It was just the beginning."
I stepped back, dread seeping into my bones as the world around me began to shift once again.
The rift wasn’t over...still.
Chapter 20: The Unraveling
I couldn’t breathe. The ground beneath me cracked and groaned, the very air distorting, warping as the figure stepped closer. Its cold eyes gleamed, filled with malice and something worse—anticipation.
"You thought you ended it, didn’t you?" it hissed, its voice like a serpent’s, slithering into my mind. "You were just the key, Liora. The rift was never meant to be destroyed. It was meant to be opened."
A chill washed over me. The words hung in the air, suffocating, pressing down on me like a weight that threatened to crush my very soul.
I stumbled back, trying to make sense of what was happening. The rift had been closed. The shadows had been destroyed. There was nothing left. But now…
The ground shook violently, and I reached out, grabbing onto the nearest stone pillar to steady myself. The world around me was coming undone, the very fabric of reality tearing at the seams.
"Stop!" I shouted, my voice hoarse, barely audible over the thunderous noise building around us. "You’re lying! The rift is gone. I ended it!"
The figure laughed—low and menacing.
"You ended nothing." It raised its hand, and with a flick of its fingers, the sky above us shattered once more. But this time, it wasn’t a crack. It was a tear. A gaping hole, bleeding light and darkness in equal measure, sending tremors through the land.
I couldn’t look away, even though every instinct in me screamed to run. The hole… it was growing. Spreading. The edges pulsed like an open wound, leaking energy that twisted the very air around us.
I stepped forward, desperate to understand. "What is that? What have you done?"
The figure’s smile stretched, a twisted thing, as though it relished my confusion. "That, Liora, is the true rift. The one that has always existed beneath the surface. The one that you awakened. The one that has always been waiting."
A sick realization hit me like a blow to the gut. I wasn’t just facing the remnants of the rift. I had become part of it. My choices, my very existence—had opened a doorway to something darker, something far more powerful than I could ever imagine.
"You never stood a chance," the figure whispered, its voice now a rasping breath in my ear. "The rift was only a catalyst. You were the final piece of the puzzle."
Before I could respond, the tear in the sky exploded outward, a wave of force that sent me flying, my body slamming into the ground with a sickening crack. The world spun, everything blurring as the energy of the rift consumed the landscape. The air was thick, charged with static, and the very earth beneath me trembled like it was about to break apart.
When I managed to push myself up, my vision was swimming. The hole in the sky was no longer just a crack—it was a gaping maw, an endless void that seemed to suck everything in, every piece of reality unraveling before me. The world wasn’t just breaking. It was falling apart.
And in the center of it all, the figure stood. Unmoved, unscathed, its form growing darker, more solid as the rift’s power surged around it.
"You’ve done well, Liora," it said, its voice dripping with poison. "But you’ve only just begun to understand. This is only the beginning. The rift is now open, and nothing will stop it from claiming what is rightfully its own."
I stumbled to my feet, my body still weak, my mind reeling. Was it too late? Ito na ba ang kataposan?
I turned to face the tear in the sky once more. The rift was alive, its energy feeding off everything around it, bending and twisting reality. My heart pounded in my chest, the weight of the truth settling in.
I had to stop this.
But how?
I had no answers. No plan. The figure’s presence was like a shadow over my soul, a reminder of my failure. But there was something inside me, something that refused to give up, refused to accept that this was how it all ended.
I reached out, calling upon every ounce of strength I had left. The light, the warmth I had summoned before—the power that had closed the rift—it had to be in me. It had to be.
I closed my eyes, focusing, my fingers tingling with the energy that pulsed through the very air. It was faint, but it was there. I felt it. A flicker of light in the darkness.
But as I reached for it, the figure’s laugh echoed around me once more.
"Pwedi mong subukan, Liora," it said, "but the rift is beyond you now. You are no longer the one in control. You are just a part of it. And when it fully awakens… everything will be mine."
With that, it raised its hand, and the ground beneath me split open. A deep, roaring sound erupted from the fissure, pulling me toward it, as if gravity itself had betrayed me. I fought to stay grounded, my hands scrabbling at the earth, but the pull was too strong.
The rift’s energy surged, a violent wave of force slamming into me, sending everything spiraling out of control.
And then, just as I thought I would be consumed by the void, a bright, blinding flash exploded before me, knocking me off my feet and into darkness.
Everything went silent.
Everything stopped.