As soon as Kaelen, Kelvin, and Ethan stepped fully into the Circle of Resonance, the world around them ceased to be.
Light dimmed into ink.
Sound swallowed itself into vacuum.
Time seemed to hesitate—then rupture.
A bone-deep chill crawled through their spines, and the Circle cracked with invisible force as the statue representing the Path of Void Echo pulsed once, then exploded into a spiraling void that pulled the trio inward, twisting their consciousness in a cyclone of nothingness.
Then came the drop.
---
In Kaelen's point of view...
He opened his eyes.
He was… on a throne.
Atop a high balcony, looking down at a broken world of ash and ruin. Rivers of fire flowed through canyons of bones. Black lightning raged across the skies like dying stars. The wind screamed—not in sound, but in memory. The Blade of Eternity lay across his lap, crusted with the blood of gods and mortals alike.
He was alone.
Utterly.
Not a single soul remained.
