Abyssborn: The Forsaken King

The air was thick with the scent of ruin.

Kael emerged from the abyss, his breath uneven. The power within him still hummed, unfamiliar yet undeniable. It wasn't just resistance to the abyss—it was something more.

The world around him wasn't the same.

The ruins of Vael'Tharun stretched endlessly, twisted remnants of a city that once stood against the abyss. The sky sputtered between shades of crimson and black, as if reality itself was fractured.

Then, a sound.

A slow, deliberate step against the broken stone.

Kael turned, his body tensed.

At first, the figure looked… human.

Then the light hit it.

Its flesh was wrong, shifting between twisted metal and something that pulsed like living void. One eye glowed an unnatural blue, the other an empty socket leaking black mist.

Abyssforged.

Kael had never seen one before, but the name surfaced in his mind like a forgotten truth.

"You took something that wasn't yours."

Its voice was shredded, like multiple tones fighting to exist.

"Now, I take you."

The Abyssforged moved—

Too fast.

Kael barely dodged as claws ripped through the air where his throat had been.

Instinct took over. He rolled to the side, summoning his energy, but—

His body didn't respond like before.

The power he had taken was still settling, resisting him almost as much as the abyss itself.

The Abyssforged didn't wait.

It descended on him, the shadows clinging to its form like a second skin. Kael reacted on pure instinct, twisting his body as the claws scraped against his shoulder.

Pain.

Not just from the wound—something deeper. The Abyssforged's attack carried a corrupting force, trying to drag him back into the abyss.

Kael gritted his teeth, channeling what little of his new power he could control.

The air shifted.

A pulse of something—neither abyss nor light—surged from within him.

The Abyssforged staggered. Its body convulsed, as if the very presence of Kael's power was an anomaly it couldn't process.

Kael didn't hesitate.

He struck, his fist colliding with the creature's chest. Energy flared, sending a ripple of force through its body. The Abyssforged shrieked, its form twisting in agony—

But it didn't break.

Instead, it laughed.

A deep, guttural sound that sent a chill through Kael's spine.

"You don't even know what you are."

The creature's wounds knitted themselves shut, shadows merging to fill the gaps.

"But I do."

It lunged again—

And Kael realized…

This wasn't just a battle.

It was a hunt.