The Devourer lowered all twelve of its tentacles.
Then it spoke.
"If you wish to know who you were, Lord Arafial..."
Its voice became distant.
Almost like an echo from another age.
"...then remember."
The forest disappeared.
Thousands of Years Earlier
A battlefield stretched beyond the horizon.
The sky was black.
Not because of night.
Because something had destroyed the light itself.
Mountains had been reduced to ruins.
Ancient cities burned in the distance.
The ground was covered with the remains of creatures that had once been worshipped as gods.
Some still moved.
Most did not.
Above the battlefield floated enormous divine bodies, their weapons colliding with something invisible.
Then—
the sky split open.
A black flame descended.
Nihilfire.
It fell like a silent star.
The moment it touched the battlefield, everything beneath it disappeared.
Not burned.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
The Devourer's voice continued.
"There was a time when the gods ruled without fear."
A figure appeared through the black flames.
White hair.
Pale skin.
Blue eyes.
A black cloak moving slowly in the wind.
Arafial.
But he was different.
There was no hesitation in his movements.
No wandering.
No uncertainty.
He walked across the battlefield as though the war around him had nothing to do with him.
Gods turned toward him.
Some attacked.
Arafial raised one hand.
A wave of Nihilfire crossed the battlefield.
An entire army vanished.
The Devourer watched from behind him.
Much smaller then.
Still enormous.
Still monstrous.
But completely obedient.
"They called you many names."
The image shifted.
A god stood before Arafial.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
They surrounded him.
"Destroyer."
Arafial walked forward.
"Abyssal King."
Another god fell.
"God-Killer."
Another vanished into Nihilfire.
Then the image changed again.
Arafial stood before the Devourer.
The enormous creature lowered itself.
Arafial placed one hand against its head.
"You will be my shadow."
The Devourer's voice echoed across the memory.
"You gave me purpose."
The battlefield shifted.
The Devourer followed Arafial through countless worlds.
It hunted gods.
It consumed divine beasts.
It tore through armies that tried to stop its Lord.
Whenever Arafial moved—
his shadow followed.
Whenever Arafial fought—
the Devourer fought beside him.
Whenever Arafial disappeared—
the Devourer searched.
The memories accelerated.
World after world.
War after war.
God after god.
Until—
everything stopped.
Arafial stood alone beneath a crimson sky.
The Devourer was beside him.
Something enormous existed in the distance.
Something neither of them had fought before.
Even the Devourer seemed uncertain.
Arafial looked toward it.
Then spoke.
"Stay behind me."
The Devourer's voice became quieter.
"You had never said those words before."
Arafial stepped forward.
The world began collapsing around him.
The Devourer tried to follow.
But something struck the space between them.
A wall appeared.
Not stone.
Not energy.
Something deeper.
Reality itself separated them.
Arafial turned.
For the first time—
there was something unfamiliar in his eyes.
Not fear.
Recognition.
He knew what was coming.
The Devourer attacked the barrier.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Nothing happened.
Arafial looked at his shadow from the other side.
His final words reached it through the collapsing world.
"Do not follow me."
The Devourer froze.
Arafial disappeared into the darkness.
The battlefield vanished.
The memory ended.
The forest returned.
Traveler stood motionless.
The purple light remained in his eyes.
The Devourer lowered its enormous body.
"I waited."
Its voice was quieter now.
"Years became centuries."
A pause.
"Centuries became ages."
The creature looked directly at Arafial.
"I searched every world I could reach."
Arafial said nothing.
The Devourer continued.
"I never found you."
The forest became silent.
Then Arafial finally spoke.
"What was on the other side of that barrier?"
The Devourer remained still.
For the first time—
it hesitated.
"I do not know."
Arafial's eyes narrowed.
The Devourer continued.
"But I know one thing."
Its twelve tentacles slowly tightened against the ground.
"The thing that took you..."
The creature raised its enormous body.
"...is still alive."
Arafial's purple eyes became completely still.
Somewhere beneath his calm expression—
something ancient had begun to wake.