The Unstoppable Shadow

es of D

n power dragging at his bones. The city loomed before him-a jagged fortress of steel and defiance, its walls scarred from wars older than the dust beneath his boots.

nstoppable yet threatened to consume him. Three days ago, he'd torn through a Coalition ambush in the Ashen Wastes, leaving a trail of shattered tanks and broken men.

pale behind flickering holo-visors. "Halt! Identif

void's dark fire. "Tell your people to run," he growle

arsh white. Drones swarmed overhead, their red optics locking onto Kael. Beyond the gates, the horizon glowed with the app

beneath him. "No rest for the damned," he m

naway'

ael moved like a storm, his massive frame scattering crates and startling onlookers. He needed to find the old archives, rumored to ho

when a voice hissed from the darkness. "You

pite the grime on her face. She clutched a battered datapad, its screen flickering with strange symbols. "Name'

u've got ten seconds to e

y signature a week ago. It's not tech, not magic-something ol

d enough to hurt but enough t

I can help you find the truth about the Shadow Eternal. There's a vault under Ironhaven with r

couldn't afford, but Mira's knowledge was a lifeline. "Lea

iege

the tunnels with practiced ease, her datapad lighting the way. Kael followed, his senses alert fo

e city shook. Explosions echoed above, and Mira's datapad lit up with alerts. "They're

istant screams. The Shadow Eternal stirred within him, hungry fo

treets. Drones rained missiles, and soldiers in exosuits advanced, their weapons humming with anti-matter charges. Varkis stood atop a command

ed into a grim s

l absorbing the impacts. He tore through a tank like paper, hurling its wreckage into a drone swarm. Civilians

the command vehicle, its barrel glowing with an unnat

n his mind, its power flickering. For the first time in years, Kael felt vulnerable. Mira's v

the air. He couldn't take another hit like that. With a final surge, he smashed through the Coalition's front line, toppling Vark

ult's

"This is it," she said, pointing to a crystalline orb embedded in th

prison for what?" he asked, but the answer came not from Mira but from within. A voice,

nnels. Kael grabbed Mira, shielding her as the c

ew louder, and Kael knew the

Whispering Void

stelan

fast, the ruins of Ironhaven fading into the haze behind them. The Coalition's drones buzzed in the distance, their scanners sweeping the

e a hundred miles north," she said, dodging a jagged rock. "The old texts call

scanning the horizon. "

id, flashing a wry grin. "But

was undeniable. She'd saved him in Ironhaven, and that bought her time. Still, the voice in his

its voice like a blade across his sou

ng his head. Mira glanced at hi

he Collapse. Mira hacked a drone's signal, masking their location, while Kael stood watch. "You go

me how to track energy signatures like yours. But when I saw what they did to people-experiment

rrowed. "You'r

t right. The Shadow Eternal's not just po

roared overhead, its floodlights pinning them. "Found you!" Varkis

ult's

tearing through the dropship's hull. Soldiers scattered, but Kael's focus was fractured-the voice in his head was louder now

me dark fire as Kael's. The Cult of the Eternal. Their leader, a gaunt woman called the Oracle, raised a staff topped with a s

ng like nothing else. Mira fired a stolen pistol, covering him as they retreated.

e claws against the sky, and the air hummed with unnatural energy. Inside, Kael's visions intensified-flashes of a cosmic entity, trap

hispered. "The Shadow Eternal was sealed here millennia ago, bound to a human hos

ists had arrived, backed by Varkis's forces. "You're out of time, Kael,"

him. He turned to the Oracle, the Shadow Eter

e

upted his power, slowing him. Varkis deployed another Disruptor, its green beam searing his fles

rned on them, revealing he'd been paid by the cult. He grabbed Mira, holding

with a surge of void energy, dropping him to his knees. Mira screamed as Jace dragged her away, the O

n, it whispered. Save her. He resisted, clinging to his humanity, but a

Unbreakable Wil

onghold

storm, rain lashing his armor as he scaled the cliffs. Mira was inside, along with Varkis and the cult's true leader-a figure Mira's stolen

to Varkis, not to anyone. Mira had trusted him, and

ult symbols and Coalition tech-a marriage of fanaticism and firepower. Soldiers fell before him, their weapons usel

he Harbinger, a cloaked figure whose face was hidden behind a crystal mask. "You're too late, Kael," Varkis s

listen to them," she said. "The data-I found it. Th

ed. "Resist? You're a vessel, nothing more

inal

itself, summoning tendrils of darkness that pinned him. Varkis activated the Disruptor, its

e with her datapad, disrupting its energy flow. "Kael, you

's hands, crushing it, and slammed the general into a wall. The Harbinger retaliated, their mask cracking

r restraints. Together, they faced the Harbinger, who summoned a portal to the void itsel

aid to Kael.

the machine's core. The explosion rocked the stronghold, collapsing the portal and sending the Harbi

adow's

t still functional. "The Shadow Eternal's not gone," she said. "It's part of you now, Kael. But I found somethin

pers quieter now but still there. "Then

rbinger wasn't the cult's true leader. There's s

, the ground trembling