Knight's Sacred Burden
"Kael, we can fix this! We can pull you out!"
"There is no 'out' anymore," Kael replied. The light grew so intense that Julian had to shield his eyes. "Tell them... tell them I was never a monster."
"Kael!"
The ceiling groaned. A massive, iron support beam, loosened by the tremor, swung down like a scythe. Julian rolled just in time, the metal floor where he had been standing a second before torn open to reveal the dark, churning pits of the lower tunnels.
He looked back one last time. Kael was suspended in the air, his limbs turning into a crystalline statue, his skin hardening into an impenetrable, matte-black obsidian. He was pulling the light into his chest, sealing the necrotic rift wit