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Zahran was the first to strike, his blade of light cutting through the shadows with the precision of a lightning bolt. Raja met his attack head-on, his own power surging forward like a tidal wave. The impact sent a shockwave through the chamber, shattering the ground beneath them.

Nimara’s magic followed, her spells weaving through the chaos like threads of silver, each one aimed with deadly accuracy. Raja deflected them with a flick of his wrist, his laughter ringing out as he turned her light into shards of broken energy.

Samir held back, his gaze fixed on Raja as he directed the djinn army with calm, calculating orders. The djinn warriors moved in perfect harmony, their combined power a relentless assault that pushed Raja to the edge of his limits.

But Raja was no ordinary foe. The power he had harvested from the souls of his realm made him a force unlike anything the djinn had faced. He moved like a shadow, striking from every direction, his darkness swallowing their light and leaving destruction in its wake.

For every djinn that fell, another took their place, their light flaring brighter as they pressed forward. The commanders moved as one, their power combining in a blinding surge that forced Raja to retreat, if only for a moment.

“You cannot win.” Samir’s voice echoed through the chaos. “The Balance will not allow it.”

Raja growled. “The Balance is mine to command. You are nothing but ancient beings clinging to a broken ideal.”

And then Khalid stepped forward.

The Binder’s presence was quieter than the others, but it carried a weight that made even Raja falter. Khalid’s voice was soft, almost gentle, as he began to speak the ancient words of Binding. His magic wove through the chaos, wrapping around Raja with a force that defied comprehension.

The force immediately pulled Raja, and the crushing weight tore at his essence. He roared, his power surging as he fought against the spell. “No!” he bellowed. “You will not take this from me!”

But the djinn were relentless. Nimara’s spells struck like daggers, Zahran’s blade cut through the shadows, and Samir’s light pressed down on Raja like the weight of the sun. Khalid’s binding words grew louder, stronger, until they drowned out even Raja’s roar of defiance.

The spell took hold, tearing Raja from his throne, from his realm, and from his very essence. He screamed as the darkness around him shattered, his power ripped away piece by piece.

The last thing he saw before the void consumed him was the djinn army, their light flickering with exhaustion as the Binding drained them. And then he was gone.

Raja surfaced from the memory and realized the darkness was no longer silent.

It trembled, pulsed, rippling outward in waves that Raja could feel deep in the core of his being.

He stirred, the weight of his long imprisonment pressing down on him like a thousand chains, but this time, it was different.

The void that had once been his captor was now alive, thrumming with power that vibrated through the very fabric of his essence.

It pulled at him, whispering, urging him to wake.

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Raja opened himself to the world around him.

He reached out, his senses expanding through the dark expanse, and he felt it—the weight of the Nushtonia , the prison that had held him captive for centuries.

But it was no longer the prison it had once been.

It was alive.

The Nushtonia pulsed like a living heart, its energy radiating outward in steady, rhythmic beats.

Its power was vast and unrelenting, and it coursed through the dark expanse like blood through veins.

It was as if the book itself had grown, evolved, feeding on the countless lives that had touched it.

And oh, how they had fed it.

Raja pressed deeper, his senses brushing against the edges of the Nushtonia , and the echoes of those who had come before him surged to meet him.

They were faint at first, like whispers in a distant storm, but as he focused, they grew louder, clearer.

He could feel them—the beings who had touched the book, claimed it as their own, and poured their greed, ambition, and desperation into its pages.

They had sought power, and in their ignorance, they had given it. Blood magic. Dark magic. Rituals performed in shadowed halls, sacrifices made under blood-red moons. Each act of ambition, each drop of blood, had strengthened the Nushtonia . And in turn, it had strengthened him .

Raja smiled. The djinn thought they had contained him. They thought they had stopped him. Fools.

He tilted his head, adjusting to the darkness as he probed deeper into the Nushtonia .

The book’s sentience stirred at his touch, rising to meet him like a predator recognizing its equal.

He could feel it now, a reflection of his own will—twisted, hungry, and alive.

It whispered to him. Its voice was like velvet and venom, promising power, revenge, freedom.

“Yes,” Raja murmured, his voice echoing through the dark expanse. “I can feel you. You are no mere prison. You are greater than that. You are mine. ”

The Nushtonia pulsed in response, its power surging through him like a tidal wave.

He embraced it, letting it flood his senses and remind him of who he was— what he was.

The djinn, in their arrogance, had thought they could bind him, but they had only made him stronger.

By trapping him in the Nushtonia , they had tethered his essence to its power, and that power had grown far beyond what even they could have imagined.

Now, as he stood in the center of his prison-turned-kingdom, he could taste the desperation of those who had sought to claim the book’s power. Each of them had left a part of themselves behind. Their essence was absorbed into the Nushtonia , feeding it and fueling it.

Fueling him .

He stretched out his arms, and the surrounding darkness responded, swirling like a living thing.

Tendrils of shadow rose and fell, curling around him like loyal servants.

His presence filled the void, and the Nushtonia bounded in time with his heartbeat, its sentience practically singing with anticipation.

“Soon,” Raja’s growled, reverberating through the expanse. “Soon, they will know what it means to defy me.”

He could feel the bonds of his imprisonment weakening as the walls of the Nushtonia strained under the weight of its own power.

The book was no longer a cage. It was a weapon, a vessel for his vengeance.

It had absorbed so much darkness, so much greed and ambition, that it could no longer contain him.

The djinn had made a mistake.

By creating the Nushtonia , they had given him the means to rise again. They had forged a weapon of such immense power that it could rival even their own magic, and they had bound him to it. And now, after centuries of silence, it was ready to unleash him.

Raja’s smile widened. He could feel the world beyond the Nushtonia , could sense the realms that had forgotten him. The Balance the djinn had fought so hard to protect was fragile now, weaker than it had ever been. And when he returned, he would shatter it.

The world would remember his name.

Raja. The true Ruler of Life and Death.

The Nushtonia caressed his skin like a lover, its sentience showering him in agreement, and Raja closed his eyes, letting its power flood through him. He had waited centuries for this moment, and now, it was only a matter of time.

The djinn had created a prison, but they hadn’t weakened him as they’d hoped. They’d only made him more. A god in his own right, but now no longer limited by the weight of his responsibility to his realm. And soon, the world would bow before him.