Kaz stood in the heart of an immense cavern, its vastness swallowing him whole. The ceiling stretched high above, lost in shadows, while the walls bore the scars of time—etched with ancient symbols and faded murals that whispered of forgotten rituals. At the chamber's center, two stone altars mirrored each other, their surfaces worn but still exuding an aura of reverence.
One altar now stood bare, the Lineage Stone it once cradled having vanished alongside Ryuma, leaving only an empty cradle of stone. The other altar remained occupied; the Lineage Stone rested beside Kaz, its surface pulsating with a dim, rhythmic glow that cast fleeting shadows across the cavern walls. The air was thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient incense, remnants of ceremonies long past.
The ground beneath him was a mosaic of cracked tiles and scattered bones, each step stirring up small clouds of dust that danced in the ethereal light. Stalactites hung like jagged teeth from the ceiling, and the distant sound of dripping water echoed, a metronome marking the passage of time in this sacred space.
Kaz stood still for a moment, letting the silence of the cavern swallow him. The air was thick with age—older than memory, heavier than time. These altars were not just remnants of the past; they were scars etched into stone, witnesses to glory and ruin. Power had lived here. Power had died here. And now, Kaz stood at its heart, a lone figure wrapped in blood and dust, his shadow stretched thin by the low, pulsing glow of the Lineage Stone beside him.
Then—he did something strange.
He bent low and picked up the shattered hilt of a bone-forged weapon, no more than a broken memory now. With a flick of his wrist, he waved it toward the monstrous scorpion, a smirk crawling up his battered face.
"Hey," he said, voice hoarse but cutting through the air like broken glass, "you Desert Queen. Was that your child?"His grin widened, cruel and unhinged."Sorry about that. At least he was good for something—helped me kill even more of your little bastards."
The words echoed like a curse.
The scorpion let out a screech—if such a sound could even be called that—its rage erupting into violence. With terrifying speed, one of its massive claws snapped forward, aiming to crush the boy where he stood.
Kaz didn't flinch.
Instead, he met the attack head-on, raising his newly claimed jian and caught the blow. The impact was thunderous. It flung him backwards like a ragdoll, his heels skidding across the ancient stone floor.
He stopped just short of the edge.
Behind him, yawning wide and patient, was a massive pit—a mouth carved into the rock, dark and bottomless. The very edge of the altar cracked beneath his feet, pebbles falling silently into the abyss below.
Still, he smiled.
He was done.With the fear.With the despair.With the endless, gnawing hopelessness.
He was over all of it.
The moment he found someone—someone he could almost trust, someone who didn't feel like a shadow—this bitch of a scorpion had to ruin it with a cheap shot. Ryuma was gone, stolen by light, ripped from this hell just as Kaz finally let someone in.
And now?
Now the world wanted him to break.
Another screech echoed through the chamber, shrill and venomous, as one of the smaller regent scorpions lunged for him, aiming to pierce his chest in a single, clean strike.
But Kaz had seen this dance before.A hundred times.Too many.
He moved like the memory of violence, smooth and brutal.His jian arced downward, catching the beast mid-air and nailing it to the stone like a curse given form. The creature spasmed, its body twitching—but he wasn't done.
Oh, not yet.
He yanked the blade free, flipped it in his grip, and ripped one of the scorpion's legs clean off. A splatter of sickly ichor painted his face, warm and sticky.
He turned toward the towering Desert Queen.
Her eyes—those void-filled orbs—watched from across the altar, her rage boiling into motion.
"Watch closely, you overgrown bitch," he hissed, and then—He sank his teeth into the torn leg.
Bitter. Disgusting. Real.
The Queen screeched in fury, her composure unraveling. There was no patience in her anymore. No strategy. Only wrath.
And that's what he wanted.
She surged forward, recklessly, her massive form blotting out the altar's glow. Her weight cracked the stone beneath her. She crashed into Kaz, her body slamming into his like a living avalanche.
Together, they tumbled back.
Over the edge.
Into the abyss.
The last thing Kaz saw was the Lineage Stone flickering beside the altar, pulsing faintly—like a heartbeat he no longer had.And then—darkness.
No fear.No hope.Only the fall.
And even as gravity took him, even as the cold air rushed past his skin and the Queen's chittering screams echoed beside him...
Kaz smiled.
And in that fall—Kaz smiled.
It wasn't the wild grin of defiance.Not the madness he wore like armor.This was different.Brighter.Gentler.Like something inside him had finally… let go.
It felt as though the heavens themselves smiled back, just this once.Just for him.
He had found it—Solace.Not in victory.Not in survival.But in the end.
Around him, the abyss stretched wide and endless, swallowing the altar above into a distant speck of light. The cold air tore past his skin, yet he felt no fear. Only weightlessness. Only peace.
And then—
A shadow beside him.A shriek of rage and ruin.
The Desert Queen plummeted with him, her monstrous body twisting in the void. But she was heavier—massive pincers, bloated with fury, legs thrashing in wild desperation.
She was falling faster.
Kaz tilted his head, watching her silhouette spiral downward, her fury echoing through the cavern. She screeched again—louder this time. Not just rage.
Despair.
She wanted that final kill.To tear him apart in the dark.To end the one who had slaughtered her young and defiled her altar.But she couldn't reach him.
She was always too much.Too heavy.Too late.
Kaz just watched her descend, that calm smile never leaving his face.As if to say:"You fall harder than I ever did."
The Queen disappeared first—swallowed by the dark, her screams vanishing like dust in a storm.
And Kaz?
He kept falling.
Lighter than vengeance.Brighter than despair.
Still smiling.