Villain of Dominion

Kael's dreams were dark and twisted.He wandered through a barren wasteland under a sky that bled red, the ground cracked and scorched as far as he could see. The air was thick with the stench of decay, and the sun was nothing but a dull, dying ember on the horizon. Shadows slithered at the edges of his vision, just beyond his reach, but he could feel them watching, waiting.He wasn't alone in this place. The presence of the darkness was stronger here, no longer bound by the spell he had cast in the waking world. It moved freely through the desolate landscape, speaking to him in a language older than time itself. The words were incomprehensible, but the meaning was clear.You can't keep us locked away forever.Kael pressed forward, his heart pounding. The darkness was right. It had quieted, but he could still feel it pulsing inside him, a dormant storm. He had bound it, but binding wasn't the same as erasing. He was still its vessel, and it was still waiting for its moment to break free.Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet began to tremble. Kael stumbled, barely catching himself before a massive fissure split the earth in front of him. From the chasm, thick tendrils of shadow began to rise, twisting and curling into the air like smoke. They reached for him, coiling around his arms and legs, dragging him closer to the abyss.Kael struggled, but the shadows were too strong. The more he fought, the tighter they wrapped around him, pulling him into the darkness. Panic surged through him as the edge of the chasm loomed closer, the black void below yawning wide, waiting to swallow him whole.A voice echoed from the depths, cold and menacing. You belong to us. You always have.Kael awoke with a start, his breath coming in ragged gasps, his heart hammering in his chest. For a moment, he didn't know where he was—his mind still trapped in the nightmare. But as his vision cleared, he realized he was back in his cell, the cold stone walls pressing in around him.The book lay open beside him, the runes still glowing faintly from the remnants of the binding spell. Kael sat up, his body aching from the strain of the ritual. He had done it—he had bound the darkness. But the dream had shaken him to his core.Even with the spell in place, the darkness was far from defeated. It was still there, lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for him to slip.Kael rubbed his eyes, exhaustion weighing heavily on him. He couldn't stay in this cell forever. The Tower of Chains might have been meant to imprison him, but it couldn't hold the forces inside him for long. The binding was a temporary solution at best, and Kael knew that if he stayed, the darkness would eventually break free.He needed answers. He needed a way to rid himself of the magic once and for all.But where could he find such knowledge? The ancient texts he had studied over the years had provided little help—most were filled with warnings, not solutions. And the tome Seraphine had brought him, while powerful, was a dangerous tool. It spoke of controlling the darkness, not destroying it.Kael's thoughts turned to the legends he had heard as a child, stories of places where magic was born, where the line between the world of men and the world of spirits blurred. Places where ancient beings—beings older and more powerful than any mortal—held dominion over the forces of creation and destruction.There was one place in particular that stood out in his memory.The Abyssal Gate.It was said to be a place where the very essence of magic bled into the world, a rift between realms where the ancient ones once walked. It was also a place of great danger, where countless sorcerers had ventured in search of forbidden knowledge, never to return. But if the stories were true, the Abyssal Gate held the key to mastering—or destroying—the darkest of magics.Kael knew the risks. The journey alone would be treacherous, and the magic at the Abyssal Gate could corrupt him even further. But it was his only chance. If he didn't find a way to rid himself of the darkness, it would consume him, and then everything he had fought for would be lost.He stood slowly, his body stiff from days of confinement. The manacles around his wrists rattled as he moved, but they no longer felt as heavy as they once had. The binding spell had changed something within him, given him a measure of control over the magic. But it was control born of fear, not mastery.Kael glanced out the narrow window of his cell. The world outside was cloaked in shadows, the sky a deep, impenetrable black. He couldn't stay here any longer. The darkness was growing restless, and he could feel its influence spreading, gnawing at the edges of his mind.He had to leave. He had to find the Abyssal Gate.That night, Kael made his move.The guards were few and far between at this height of the tower, and Kael had spent days studying their patterns. The moment came when the night watch changed shifts, leaving a brief window where the upper levels were unguarded. Kael had no weapons, no tools, but he didn't need them.He whispered a word of power under his breath, and the manacles around his wrists crumbled to dust. The magic flowed through him effortlessly now, but he used it sparingly. He couldn't afford to draw attention.Kael slipped through the shadows, his steps silent as he made his way down the winding staircase. His heart pounded in his chest, every sound amplified in the stillness of the tower. He passed a pair of guards, their heads bowed in sleep, and continued down, deeper into the bowels of the prison.As he reached the base of the tower, Kael paused. The exit was just ahead, a massive iron gate that was heavily guarded at all hours. There was no way to sneak past them. He would have to use the darkness.For a moment, he hesitated. Using the magic meant risking its control over him, risking that he would lose himself in the process. But there was no other choice. The Abyssal Gate was his only hope, and he couldn't reach it without escaping this place.Kael closed his eyes, feeling the darkness stir inside him. It was eager, hungry. He whispered the incantation, and the shadows responded, flowing from his fingertips like liquid night. They spread across the floor, rising up around the guards, wrapping them in a suffocating blanket of silence.Within moments, the guards slumped to the ground, unconscious. Kael stepped over their bodies, his heart pounding in his ears. The iron gate creaked open at his command, and Kael slipped into the night.As he disappeared into the darkness, he couldn't help but wonder if he had just made the first step toward salvation—or damnation.