The fourth floor opened to an intricate massive wooden door overlooking the stairs with dark tendrils of shadows wrapped around its handle, sealing it shut.

Lilith stared at the massive doors, her eyes assessing for any sort of danger.

There was no construct this time, just an old door that resonated with her power.

Her palm rested against its surface, cold and unnaturally smooth despite the fractures webbed through it.

Her aether moved sinking into the door, almost on instinct.

In response, the black tendrils that had covered the door started to retract without any sign of attacking.

A moment later, the seams appeared. The door shifted inwardly, the tendrils fully receding.

Atheline didn’t step forward immediately, he stopped at the threshold his gaze inspecting.

"You ever get the feeling that something is watching?" He asked glancing around, " The feeling has been following us since we entered the temple, and got worse the moment we stepped in here."

Lilith didn’t look back at him but replied.

"Yes."

She continued forward. Atheline stepped over the threshold, the creepy feeling becoming worse but he ignored it as always.

The further he walked in, the weirder it became. He couldn’t place it at first but it wasn’t danger. He knew the feeling of danger, this was just different.

It felt like he was standing somewhere he wasn’t supposed to.

"You don’t have to be so tense," her voice came.

Lilith glanced back at him once, then continued forward. Atheline moved forward slowly, his gaze sweeping the expanse.

"It doesn’t hurt to be cautious. "

The chamber stretched far wider than the halls below. It seemed to have also been covered in darkness but Atheline got a glimpse of white at the corner of the ceiling.

The thing that stood out the most was the ground. The floor was not whole, it had been split cleanly from the centre, a dividing line cutting across the entire room.

On the left, everything had been covered by darkness, it looked as though everything had been erased if not for the shape of the covered items.

It was akin to a sheet of dust that gathers with time.

On the side, everything was normal. Just dust-covered walls with chairs scattered hazardously.

Atheline’s gaze drifted there for a second before he looked away.

"What the light!" That was the only thing that was left him.

The sight before him was unnatural, he had never seen such a clear divide before but that wasn’t what had his surprise.

Further up, standing between the two lines was a throne, a damaged one. Cracks ran through its structure, deep and violent, as though someone had struck it.

One side sagged sideways, the base fractured where the split in the floor had reached.

And upon it something sat.

Lilith’s steps slowed as they continued forward. Each step felt heavier as if something was pushing against them, preventing them from approaching the throne.

Atheline exhaled quietly, " I’m starting to think the things below were much better."

It was starting to become unbearable to walk.

Lilith seemed fine but the trembling of her clenched fist said otherwise.

He hadn’t fallen yet and was determined to get to the throne. Lilith’s eyes had widened the moment they decided to enter the room, he had noticed it. He knew that despite how calm she was on the surface she was also just as surprised.

They stopped a few paces from the throne and only then, did the details settle.

It wasn’t a full body as they had first thought. From afar it looked like an imposing king, sitting on the throne awaiting his subjects.

But now, a torso remained, seated as though the remaining parts of its body were still present.

One arm rested against the side of the throne, fingers curled slightly. The other hand, was gone.

From the wound, it looked as though it had simply been pulled out with how uneven the flesh around the area was.

The lower part of the body also didn’t exist, but something had taken place in the missing area.

A shadow seemed to be holding the torso upright, mimicking how a king would usually sit.

"He must have been strong for his Aether to still try and preserve his body, " Atheline said.

He stepped forward, closer but still far enough to escape if the thing chose to attack.

"Yes," she said, just as intrigued, "I can feel something from it but I just can’t place it."

Atheline glanced at her. Her brows furrowed as she studied the throne.

"Stay back," she said.

Lilith stepped closer to the broken body. Atheline tensed.

"Be careful."

She didn’t look back but Atheline could feel her smile.

"I will."

Her gaze sharpened. The closer she got, the more she felt as though something was calling to her.

There wasn’t a smidge of hostility, more like recognition as she felt its darkness start to wrap around her.

Atheline stepped forward.

"Lily.... "

"It’s not hostile, don’t move," she said, her eyes fixed on the remains.

And then, it began. The darkness on the body started to fold inward as though something was pulling it in peeling from the ruined form layer by layer revealing what it had been protecting inside.

Lilith felt her power surrender, without her even trying. The feeling was foreign to her but it wasn’t as bad.

A fractured aether core, embedded deep in its chest revealed itself as more darkness sank in.

A thin uneven crack ran across its surface. From the crack darkness sipped through as though it was trying to rid itself of the light and cover everything in darkness.

Atheline instinctively stepped back before he caught himself and moved closer to her.

"A dark core?" He asked as clarity settled in," Shouldn’t it have disintegrated. "

That was what happened during death. It doesn’t happen immediately but it’s believed that nature takes back its gift after a while.

The core seemed almost intact, except for the cracks running through it.

"Sovereigns," she said simply.

"Aren’t they legends by now?" He said, his gaze fixated on the core.

Lilith didn’t respond. She stepped closer to the throne her hand pushing the remaining darkness away.

The moment she touched it, everything suddenly warped. Darkness surged flooding her perception with something that was not her own.

Then she found herself standing in the middle of the throne room...

A huge explosion vibrated through the room, forcing her to stumble.

Darkness surged covering the whole room. It layered itself into the walls, the pillars, the floor, reinforcing and strengthening it.

Then, something else entered. Teleporting through the darkness as though the power was nothing.

The darkness reacted instantly, it surged towards the intruder not to attack but to shield itself.

The thing passed through it burning away the tendrils that shot towards it without any struggle.

A chuckle, cold and mocking, came from the figure vibrating through the room.

The sovereign of darkness didn’t try to attack or push back because he understood something in that moment that no one else in that moment did.

He rushed towards the throne. Darkness drew out of him, layers upon layers sealing over the space, wrapping the chamber in a faint absolute act of containment.

Then, the vision shattered.

Lilith blinked, her gaze adjusting to the light. Her hand was still holding the core.

Her breathing never changed but something in her eyes did. Atheline noticed the change immediately.

"You saw something right?" He asked quietly.

"Yes."

"And?"

She was quiet for a moment her gaze on the now disintegrated body.

"He chose to lose."

The words settled heavily between them. A small sigh left his lips.

"I don’t understand, " he said then added a moment later," you’ll explain to me when we get out."

She nodded. Her fingers tightened and pulled the core free. It came out without any resistance. At that moment, something fundamental stopped.

The chamber suddenly felt smaller as the pressure that had filled it suddenly lifted.

It was as though something essential had ceased to exist.

A crack suddenly split through the throne. Then another.

The structure groaned softly as the cracks spread outwards, breaking through its base, running along the floor, splitting stones that had endured for centuries.

"That’s probably bad," Atheline quietly said.

She gestured to the broken core.

"We removed the anchor," she said.

"That is definitely bad."