The Last Core opened its eyes.
Not physically.
But Kael felt it.
Something was awake inside him.
Something ancient.
Something that had been waiting.
"Get out of my head," Kael whispered.
A second voice answered.
"This is my head."
Kael froze.
The voice sounded exactly like his.
But colder.
Older.
Without emotion.
Eclipse smiled.
"Now you understand."
Kael looked at Aetherion.
"What is inside me?"
Aetherion didn't answer.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Tell me."
Still nothing.
The darkness inside the Core pulsed.
A wave of energy exploded outward.
The Guardians were thrown across the battlefield.
Even the Harbinger staggered backward.
Arion shouted,
"Kael!"
Kael couldn't hear him.
He was falling.
Not through space.
Through memory.
He opened his eyes in a dark ocean.
There was no sky.
No ground.
Only endless black water.
Kael looked around.
"Where am I?"
A voice answered from beneath the surface.
"Home."
The water began to rise.
A figure emerged.
It looked exactly like Kael.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same scars.
But its eyes were completely black.
Kael stepped backward.
"Who are you?"
The figure smiled.
"You."
Kael shook his head.
"No."
"You're the part of me that I erased."
The figure laughed.
"Close."
It stepped forward.
"I am everything you were afraid to become."
Kael clenched his fists.
"What does that mean?"
The figure's smile disappeared.
"It means you didn't erase me."
"You imprisoned me."
Kael stared at it.
"Why?"
"Because you knew that if I remained free..."
"...Eclipse would never be able to die."
Kael's eyes widened.
"So you're connected to Eclipse?"
The figure nodded.
"I am his opposite."
"Eclipse consumes."
"I create."
"Eclipse destroys."
"I restore."
Kael frowned.
"Then why were you imprisoned?"
The figure looked toward the darkness.
"Because creation without limits is just another form of destruction."
Silence.
Kael suddenly understood.
The power inside him wasn't evil.
It was simply too powerful.
Too complete.
It could create worlds...
And destroy them.
The figure extended its hand.
"Let me out."
Kael didn't move.
"If I do..."
"You become whole."
"And then?"
The figure smiled.
"You become the being you were before."
Kael remembered the dying stars.
The destroyed planet.
The armies that once followed him.
"No."
The figure's smile vanished.
"You will need me."
"Maybe."
Kael raised his hand.
"But I won't become your prisoner."
The darkness trembled.
Outside the Core, Eclipse suddenly looked toward the sky.
"What?"
For the first time...
Fear appeared in his eyes.
Kael's white light returned.
But this time, black energy surrounded it without consuming it.
Two opposing powers.
One body.
One choice.
Kael opened his eyes on the battlefield.
He stood.
The Last Core was no longer cracked.
It had changed.
Half white.
Half black.
Eclipse stared at him.
"You..."
Kael looked directly at him.
"I'm still Kael."
His aura exploded across the First World.
"And I decide what I become."
For the first time since his awakening...
Kael wasn't running from his past.
He was accepting it.
Eclipse slowly smiled.
"Then prove it."
The darkness behind him expanded.
"Show me whether you are truly different from the monster you once were."
Kael raised his hand.
The war had changed.
This time...
It was personal.