The barrier’s light flickered as the dark wave poured into the forge, Nyxar’s shadowy form coalescing at the threshold. Its presence sucked the warmth from the air, leaving a biting chill in every breath. Amira and Alex staggered back, their hearts pounding.
“Nyxar!” Amira cried, gripping her weapon. “You’re not welcome here!”
The harbinger’s red eyes burned with malevolent glee. “Your efforts are commendable,” Nyxar intoned, its voice echoing like distant thunder. “But you cannot hold back the Void.”
Alex raised his energy blade, its glow waning in the darkness. “We just saw your guardians fall—and we sealed their power. You don’t scare us!”
Nyxar laughed, a sound that seemed to warp reality around them. “You misunderstand. The guardians were but the first line of defense. Now, I reclaim what was always mine.”
With a sweeping gesture, Nyxar summoned tendrils of pure shadow that lashed at the pillars. The purified runes flared, but the darkness snuffed out their light, one by one. Amira and Alex exchanged panicked looks as each pillar collapsed under the assault.
“No!” Amira shouted, rushing to one of the wounded pillars. She placed her hand on the cracked runes, willing them to reignite. The light sputtered but failed to take hold.
Alex lunged at a shadow tendril, slashing with his blade. It passed through the darkness, but instead of dissipating, it fed on the weapon’s energy, growing thicker and more oppressive.
“We can’t beat it head-on!” Alex yelled, stepping back. “It’s absorbing our power!”
Amira’s mind raced. The barrier’s collapse meant the forge itself was unraveling. If Nyxar’s shadow consumed the core, the Worldforge would die—and with it, every reality it supported.
“Alex,” she said, voice urgent. “We need to channel Aetherion’s power back into the barrier—through us!”
He stared at her, confusion warring with hope. “You mean—be conduits?”
She nodded. “Yes. We each take a pillar’s energy and channel it through our bond. Together, we’ll forge a new barrier.”
Alex took a deep breath, nodding. “All right. Let’s do it.”
They ran to the two remaining pillars—Amira to the left, Alex to the right—and pressed their hands to the runes. A surge of warmth flared through them, and their weapons’ glow returned, feeding into the pillars. Light blossomed, pushing back Nyxar’s shadows.
But the harbinger advanced, its form rippling with dark energy. “You cannot hold back the Void forever,” it hissed, raising a shadow blade.
Amira and Alex held firm, their bond strengthening the pillars’ glow. Light streamed from their bodies, converging above the forge’s core in a brilliant arc.
“Now, Alex!” Amira shouted, her voice resolute.
He gritted his teeth and swung his blade in a wide arc, channeling the combined energy into the final pillar. The pillar exploded in pure white light, sending a wave through the forge.
Nyxar screamed as the light struck it, its shadowy form unraveling at the edges. The barrier pulsed, restored stronger than before, sealing the breach.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then Nyxar’s voice, low and defiant: “You may have won this battle… but the war has only begun.”
The harbinger’s form dissolved into countless motes of darkness, each one drifting toward the forge’s core. The pillars stood strong, but their glow was fading fast.
Amira and Alex collapsed, breathless, their weapons dim. “We did it,” Alex whispered, voice trembling. “We saved the forge… right?”
Amira pressed her hand to the central pillar’s runes. The glow returned, faint but steady. “For now,” she said, her eyes distant. “But Nyxar’s warning… he’ll be back. And when he is—”
The ground shook violently, and from the core’s center, a blinding shaft of light shot upward, cracking the ceiling and sending debris crashing around them.
Amira grabbed Alex’s arm. “We need to get out. Now!”
They sprinted toward the forge’s exit as the chamber collapsed behind them. The final blast of light from the core followed, and the world trembled as though reality itself were tearing apart.
They burst into the Titan’s chest portal just as the forge imploded in a cascade of light and shadow.
Alex slammed the hatch shut behind them. “That… was close.”
Amira pressed her back against the metal, panting. “Too close. Nyxar’s growing stronger. We need help.”
Alex looked at her, determination in his eyes. “Then let’s find Aetherion—and the rest of our allies. Because if he’s right, the real war is just beginning.”
Outside, the Titan’s hammer and lance glowed in unison, ready to face the darkness rising across the world.