The infernal dimension was a nightmare made real. The sky was blood-red. The ground was made of throbbing flesh. Magic chains hung in the void, some of them broken. And everywhere — thousands of corpses, Rastacan's victims, frozen in terror.

At the center rose a titanic creature. Rastacan. A colossal serpent, fifty meters long, its black scales gleaming with an evil red light. But its head was still half human. One eye was a man’s, blue and filled with suffering. The other, a serpent’s, red and filled with hatred. On its brow shone the black gem — the seal of Shabakan.

When the five warriors entered, the human eye turned toward them.

— Kill… me, begged a human voice, weak and broken.

But the other voice rang out — deep, ancient, terrifying.

— YOU DARE ENTER MY DOMAIN? YOU COME TO FREE ME? I SHALL DEVOUR YOU!

— No! cried the human voice. Go! Flee! I cannot hold him back much longer!

The battle was desperate. Aelith loosed arrow after arrow. Morvena danced between the serpent's coils. Elyndra cast her runes. Silas coordinated. And Kael — Kael unleashed all his rage. He climbed the serpent's body, dodging the fangs, and made for the black gem on Rastacan's brow.

He raised the sword of Nerecleiss and struck.

The crystal blade smashed into the black gem. A flash of blinding light filled the dimension. The serpent howled in pain. The gem cracked.

And the impossible happened. The serpent split in two. On one side, Rastacan — a pale, emaciated man, covered in residual scales, his red eyes staring into the void. On the other, Shabakan — a pure serpent, black as night, its eyes burning with divine hatred.

— NO! Shabakan roared. YOU CANNOT SEPARATE ME FROM HIM!

Rastacan fell to his knees, trembling, weeping.

— Three centuries… he whispered. Three centuries of struggle… It is over…

But Shabakan was not defeated. The accursed serpent was seeking a new vessel. Seeking to possess one of them.