The Masked Virtuoso-Chapter 85: The Chain of Eternity

The Throne’s Awakening

The moment the voice spoke—

The Throne of the Betrayer trembled.

It wasn’t a physical tremor.

It was deeper.

The very concept of the throne rippled through existence, sending waves across time and space. The sky above Ethan fractured violently, splitting into jagged shards of light and shadow.

Something inside the throne awakened. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Something that should have never stirred again.

Ethan’s golden-shadow flames flared, reacting instinctively. His instincts screamed at him—this was not an enemy he could fight the way he had fought before.

The throne wasn’t just a seat of power.

It was a cage.

A prison so absolute that its very presence rewrote the laws of reality.

And it was no longer dormant.

---

The Throne Rejects Reality

Ethan took a slow step forward—and the world broke around him.

Not an explosion.

Not an attack.

A fundamental rejection of everything that existed.

The air became too heavy to breathe.

The ground beneath his feet didn’t exist anymore, yet still held his weight.

The light surrounding the throne was neither bright nor dark—it was something beyond understanding.

And then—

The throne moved.

It was impossible.

A throne did not move.

A throne did not shift.

And yet—

The very space around it twisted.

Not as if something was being unleashed.

But as if something was watching.

Ethan felt it now.

This throne had never been meant for a Riftborn to sit upon.

It had never been meant for anyone.

It was a remnant.

A leftover piece of something far beyond the Rift’s war.

And now, it had noticed him.

Ethan exhaled slowly. His golden eyes burned as he took another step forward.

"Show me what you are."

The world answered.

The sky shattered completely.

And from the cracks in existence—

The golden chains were born.

---

The Chains of Eternity

Golden chains erupted from the abyss, spiraling outward like living creatures.

But they weren’t attacking in the way weapons would.

They were seeking.

They moved with an unnatural grace, wrapping through time, space, and memory itself.

One lashed toward Ethan’s chest.

His golden-shadow flames flared violently, meeting it head-on.

BOOM!

A shockwave rippled outward—

And nothing happened.

Ethan narrowed his eyes.

The golden chain had passed straight through him.

Not through his body.

Through his existence.

A force like gravity made of pure will gripped him, locking around his being, wrapping around something deeper than even his godlike form.

For a single instant, Ethan felt it.

Something pulling him away.

Not his body.

Not his power.

His very presence.

It was trying to remove him from existence.

Ethan’s breathing slowed.

His golden eyes flickered.

The throne had judged him.

And now, it was erasing him.

---

A Memory Not His Own

Ethan saw something.

Not a vision.

Not a prophecy.

A memory.

One that did not belong to him.

His body was no longer in the abyss. He stood on the surface of a world he had never seen before—a world lost to time.

The sky above was not like any sky he knew. There was no sun, no stars, just a swirling mass of golden light, shifting and pulsing as if it were alive. The ground beneath him was smooth, polished like obsidian, but it did not reflect him.

And ahead of him—

A battle.

Dozens of warriors cloaked in golden flames stood in formation, their weapons raised. Their faces were obscured, their forms flickering as if they were not meant to be remembered.

At their center, a throne stood high above them.

But it was not the Throne of the Betrayer.

It was something else.

Something worse.

A throne made of obsidian chains, pulsing with a power that felt older than existence itself.

And kneeling before it—

A man.

His body was shrouded in golden fire, his limbs bound by chains that pulsed with time itself. His face was hidden, but Ethan could feel his presence, feel the sheer weight of his failure.

This was the first Riftborn.

The first to fail.

And this was his punishment.

The air in the memory grew heavy. Ethan tried to step forward, tried to reach out—

But the moment his thoughts drifted, the memory pulled him deeper.

A voice—cold and absolute—spoke.

"You are not the worthy one for my Obsidian Shard."

The words hit him like a physical force, echoing inside his very existence.

Ethan’s breath caught.

He had heard those words before.

The moment he had tried to create a perfect universe, the moment he had willed a world without the Rift into existence—

Something had stopped him.

Something had rejected him.

That same voice.

Ethan’s heart pounded.

The Obsidian Shard had never been a gift.

It was a prison key.

It had never been about choosing a successor—

It had been about choosing a jailer.

A test not to ascend, but to contain something worse.

And he had passed.

---

The Truth of the Obsidian Shard

The golden chains around the kneeling Riftborn shuddered.

Ethan saw it—the moment of rejection.

The moment the first Riftborn realized the truth.

He had fought.

He had risen.

He had won.

And in doing so—

He had sealed his own fate.

The throne had not been his to claim.

It had never been his to begin with.

The warriors surrounding him did not move. They simply watched. Their faces were blank, unreadable, their presence eternal.

They had seen this before.

They had seen many Riftborn rise and fall.

And now, they watched Ethan.

As if waiting for his turn.

Ethan’s fists clenched. His golden-shadow flames surged violently, but the memory did not react to his presence. It wasn’t a vision.

It was a warning.

This had already happened.

And if he failed—

It would happen again.

---

The Chains Tighten

SNAP!

Ethan’s body jerked forward as something yanked him back into reality.

The Throne of the Betrayer pulsed violently, as if reacting to his realization.

More chains erupted from the abyss, lashing outward at impossible speed. They did not move like weapons—they moved like something alive, something hunting.

Ethan barely had time to react before one snapped toward his chest.

BOOM!

Golden flames erupted from his body, meeting the attack head-on—

And the chain passed straight through.

His golden eyes narrowed.

The chain did not strike his body.

It struck his existence.

An invisible force gripped his soul, pulling at him, unraveling him at a level even he could barely comprehend.

A cold realization sank in.

It wasn’t attacking him physically.

It was binding him.

Erasing him.

His vision blurred for an instant. His golden flames dimmed—not because he willed them to, but because something was taking them.

Ethan clenched his fists. "Not this time."

He forced his power outward, golden energy exploding from his body.

The chain shuddered as if recoiling.

But it did not break.

More chains erupted.

This time—they went for his team.

---

"MOVE!" Ethan shouted.

Selene reacted first, her golden spear flashing as she struck at the oncoming chains. But the instant her weapon made contact—

It phased through.

"They’re not physical!" Orion shouted, raising his rifle. "They’re targeting something else!"

Ethan gritted his teeth. "They’re not trying to kill us."

Mia spun backward, barely avoiding a chain that passed straight through the space where she had just stood.

Her breathing was sharp. "Then what the hell are they trying to do?"

Ethan clenched his fists.

"They’re trying to erase us from existence."

Kieran staggered. "WHAT?!"

The chains moved faster now, sensing weakness.

One wrapped around Orion’s leg—

He froze.

His form flickered—for a split second, he wasn’t there.

Ethan’s golden flames roared.

He moved without thinking.

His hand shot forward, grabbing the chain—

And the moment he touched it—

The abyss shattered.

---

To Be Continued...