Nexus jolted awake, his crystalline form trembling as an overwhelming sense of dread clawed at his chest. For a moment, his mind remained trapped in the lingering echoes of the nightmare. His heart pounded so violently it threatened to fracture his very core.

  He took a deep breath. "Breathe, Nexus. Calm down," he whispered to himself.

  It had only been a dream– he forced himself to remember that. But the memory was so vivid, so raw, that the screams clawed their way back to the surface. The cries of his people. The clash of shattered defenses. The sickening finality of it all.

  He had been there, standing on the front lines as the tide of destruction bore down upon them. He had fought. They all had. But the Razian Emperor and his forces had torn through their ranks with the ease of a child toppling a tower of cards.

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  The cruel smile of the Emperor of Raz would forever be etched into his memory.

  The only force that had ever truly defied the Emperor– their last, desperate hope– had been those born of the Unchained. The ones who stood unshackled, wielding power that defied control. The final protectors of their people.

  And yet, even they had fallen.

  Nexus had slept just long enough to relive the moment again. The Emperor of Raz. The Emperor’s spear—black, humming with stolen light—punched through the Unchained’s chest. Their scream didn’t echo. It vanished. Like the rest of them.

  The light in their eyes had faded. And with it, the last remnants of his people’s freedom.

  Nexus clenched his fists, his crystalline fingers grinding together with a sharp, grating sound. His body ached with the phantom weight of a war long lost– but he had no time for grief. The past was etched into his being. But the future?

  That... could still be changed. Another had been found.