The darkness stretched on, swallowing everything around them. Kai stood frozen, his heart pounding in his chest. The words of the Guardian echoed in his mind, each syllable embedding itself deeper into his psyche. "The power is inside you. The code has chosen you."

Mara’s voice broke through the fog of his thoughts. “Kai! What the hell is happening?!”

He could barely process her words, his mind still racing with the revelation of what had just transpired. His body felt weightless, disconnected from the world around him. The black sand beneath his feet seemed to pulse, as though it were alive, reacting to his every movement. And above them, the swirling sky darkened further, as if the very atmosphere was holding its breath.

The Guardian’s figure loomed before him, its eyes glowing like twin suns. “You will understand soon enough,” it said, its voice deep and resonant, reverberating through Kai’s chest like a drumbeat. “But first, you must prove yourself worthy.”

Prove himself? Kai’s pulse quickened. “What do you mean? I never asked for this! I didn’t even know—”

“No,” the Guardian interrupted, its voice as cold and final as an executioner's axe. “You did not ask. But the code has been awakened, and you are its vessel. Your fate is sealed.”

Kai’s breath caught in his throat. This was real. This wasn’t some twisted nightmare. The power—the ancient force that the platform had tapped into—was now a part of him.

Mara’s panic mirrored his own. “Kai, you need to stop this! This isn’t you. This isn’t—” She stopped mid-sentence, her words dying in her throat as the sand around them began to shift. It wasn’t moving; it was shaping itself.

Shapes began to form in the dark expanse, emerging from the sands as if summoned by the Guardian’s very will. Monolithic structures rose from the ground, twisting in unnatural angles. Towers of black stone that seemed to stretch into infinity. The air around them shimmered with the faintest traces of something ancient, as if the very space itself was being rewritten.

Kai’s vision blurred as the runes began to glow in the air once more, wrapping themselves around his arms, his body. He felt the weight of the symbols pressing into him, embedding themselves into his skin as if they were a part of his flesh.

And then, a voice, not from the Guardian, but from within the sand structures, boomed across the void. “Prove your worth, Kai Carter.”

The ground beneath them trembled, and a fissure opened in the earth. From it, creatures began to emerge. At first, they were shadows—figures too swift to be fully seen—but then they took form, towering and grotesque. Their bodies were long and sinewy, with eyes that glowed a sickly yellow, like dying stars. Their faces were an inhuman blend of bone and shadow, their jaws lined with jagged teeth.

Mara screamed and stumbled backward, but Kai stood frozen, his feet rooted to the ground. His head spun, and his vision flickered. There was something pulling at him, urging him to embrace the power, to command it.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“You must face your trial,” the Guardian’s voice echoed. “Only then will you understand what you have become.”

Without thinking, Kai’s hand shot out in front of him. The runes burned against his skin, their energy surging through him like fire in his veins. He didn’t know what he was doing, but the instinct was there—the need to fight, to control.

A blast of energy erupted from his palm, a shockwave that sent the creatures flying back into the dark abyss from which they emerged. Mara gaped at him in disbelief.

“Kai, what the hell did you—”

But he didn’t have time to answer. The Guardian’s voice rang out again, sharper this time, tinged with something ominous. “Enough. You have shown strength, but strength alone is not enough. You must understand the consequences of your actions, Kai Carter.”

The ground began to crack beneath him, and the sand spiraled upward, forming a vortex of swirling energy. The temperature dropped, and Kai’s breath came out in foggy bursts. From the depths of the sand, more creatures emerged—dozens of them, their eyes burning with malice.

This was no longer a test. This was war.

Kai’s pulse raced as his body seemed to act on its own. His hands crackled with energy, his entire body tingling with the raw power of the code. He couldn’t control it anymore. The power had taken hold of him completely, like a drug, and he was losing himself to it.

Mara’s scream tore through the air as one of the creatures lunged toward her. Kai didn’t think. He reached out again, the runes flaring brightly around his body. With a snap of his fingers, the creature was incinerated in a burst of brilliant light.

The sand beneath them shifted once more, the world beginning to collapse into chaos. The creatures that surrounded them screeched in rage, their monstrous forms moving faster than Kai could track. They were closing in.

Suddenly, Kai’s mind was flooded with memories—visions that weren’t his own. He saw ancient cities, towering ruins, and strange, alien landscapes. He saw glimpses of the first beings who had wielded this power—beings that weren’t human at all.

And then, a voice in his mind—the voice of the code itself—spoke.

“Power is not given freely, Kai Carter. To control it is to lose everything.”

A cold dread filled Kai’s chest. His body began to tremble, the overwhelming weight of the responsibility settling onto his shoulders. He realized, too late, that he had opened a door to something he wasn’t ready to face.

As the creatures closed in, he finally understood the true price of power.

With a desperate cry, Kai extended his hands, summoning all the energy he could muster. A blinding pulse of light exploded from him, rippling across the sand. The creatures screamed as they were vaporized in the blink of an eye. But as the light faded, so too did Kai’s strength. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

Mara rushed to his side, her hands trembling as she held him. “Kai, you’re not okay. You have to stop this, you—”

But before she could finish, the Guardian’s voice boomed, louder than ever before.

“It is too late for you to stop. The cycle is in motion. The power is now a part of you, Kai Carter. And there is no going back.”

Kai’s vision blurred as his surroundings began to fade, the black sand and monstrous creatures dissipating into nothingness. He felt himself being pulled back—back to reality. The world returned in an instant, and he was once again sitting in the café, Mara at his side, looking at him in shock and fear.

The laptop sat on the table before them, its screen flashing with new, strange runes that pulsed ominously. The power that had been unleashed was no longer confined to the void. It was here.

And Kai knew, deep in his gut, that nothing would ever be the same again