IMMORTAL SLAYER

The stars hadn't moved.

Even as dawn threatened the horizon, the constellations above the valley held their positions—unnatural, frozen in reverence or fear.

Gabriel couldn't sleep. The tatum pulsed faintly in his hand like a second heartbeat. Its presence was a comfort… and a curse. He felt watched, even with the fire long dead and the others finally resting.

Then—

A whisper.

Not through the air, but through the tatum itself.

A thousand voices folded into one.

"Shadow and flame… will you burn or be consumed?"

Gabriel's eyes snapped open, breath caught in his throat. The tatum dimmed instantly, as if it had never spoken.

He stood, stepping out into the silver grass alone.

Not far, within a ruined stone circle, something stirred. A mirror—framed in obsidian and bone—stood upright in the center. Cracks ran across its surface like veins, but the reflection it showed was wrong. Not the valley, not the sky.

But a battlefield.

Mountains split in half. Cities shattered mid-air. The ground was scorched with the shape of angel wings and broken spears.

And in the middle of it—

Gabriel.

But not him as he was.

This version wore armor etched with infernal runes. Black wings. A crown of flame.

Blood clung to his blade—and to his smile.

He turned in the mirror slowly, eyes locking with Gabriel's real reflection.

"I am what you become," he said.

Then the mirror exploded.

Gabriel was thrown back, coughing, heart pounding.

Footsteps raced toward him—Merlin, Nyra, Aziel.

"Gabriel!" Merlin knelt beside him, eyes scanning the ruin. "What did you see?"

Gabriel hesitated, trembling. "A version of me… twisted. Like Lucifer. Like—"

Aziel swore under his breath. "Mirror of Ruin. Only found in one place… the Forgotten Lands."

Nyra's face paled. "That place is cursed."

Merlin stood slowly. "It's not just a vision. It's a summoning."

Gabriel stared at the ashes of the mirror. "By who?"

The wind whispered again.

"Come find me… child of duality..."

And far, far away, deep within the scorched halls of the Forgotten Lands, a throne sat empty—until now.

A figure took its place.

Skin like burning coal. Eyes of starlight and void.

Not Lucifer.

Not Chronos.

But someone older.

"Let the Child of Fire and Shadow walk the road to ruin," the figure said with a grin.

"Let him wake… The One Who Devours Gods."