Chapter 58 — The Trial of the Forgotten

The Abyss stirred.

From the fractured mirrors rose figures draped in silence—heroes once worshiped, their names long lost. They carried weapons that flickered between forms: a sword that turned to ash, a banner that unraveled into dust, a crown that dissolved when touched.

They were not enemies. They were epitaphs.

The girl’s voice trembled. “Kael… they’re… like you. Heroes erased from the world.”

Kael’s chains trembled, tightening around him as if feeding on his doubt. For a moment, he saw his reflection in their eyeless faces. Was this his fate? To become another nameless ghost wandering the void?

The Sovereign’s voice slithered through the storm of glass.
“Do you see, anomaly? Even gods are forgotten. You are no different. Resist if you like… in the end, all defiance dies here.”

One of the Forgotten stepped forward, its hand outstretched—not to strike, but to offer. A reflection of Kael’s own chain wrapped around its wrist.

Kael’s vision blurred. Memories slipped like sand: his village, the comrades who trusted him, even the warmth of his own name. The Abyss wanted him silent, a shadow like the rest.

The girl screamed, tears streaking her ash-covered face. “Kael—don’t you dare! You’re not like them! You’re not forgotten—you’re the one who remembers!”

Something broke inside him. Not despair. Not surrender. But rage—the kind that could burn even the void.

Kael tore the chain from his own arm, letting it shatter into shards of red light.
“I’m not your reflection. I’m not your grave.” His voice echoed like a blade.
“I am the one who rewrites.”

The Forgotten shrieked—not in anger, but release. Their forms crumbled into dust, scattering like dying stars. For a moment, the Abyss quieted.

But the Sovereign only smiled, her form stabilizing once more.
“So you reject silence… good. Now you are mine alone to break.”

The mirrors around them shattered, and the battlefield collapsed into a sea of endless chains. The true duel had only just begun.