Kaien sat cross-legged in the dimly lit training chamber, his breath steady, his mind focused solely on the flow of his Inner Tide. The others were scattered across the room, each lost in their own meditative states, but for Kaien, this session was different. It felt deeper, more intrusive, as if something beneath the surface of his consciousness was stirring, calling him into the abyss of his own essence. He obeyed the pull, surrendering to the rhythm of his breath, the slow expansion and contraction of his chest mimicking the tides of the great ocean.
Master Aedric's teachings echoed in his mind. Feel the ebb and flow. Let it take you. Don't resist. Surrender.
And so he did.
A sudden stillness enveloped him. Then, as if the fabric of reality had been torn asunder, Kaien felt himself slipping beyond the physical world. A deafening silence consumed everything, and when he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the training chamber.
He stood at the edge of an abyss.
A vast, endless chasm stretched before him, swirling with dark, roiling currents. Unlike the gentle tides he had cultivated in his training, these waters were feral, chaotic, laced with an eerie, whispering energy that beckoned him forward. The very air was thick with a presence that sent shivers down his spine, and yet, at the same time, he felt a strange familiarity.
His own tide had brought him here. No, not just his tide—the true essence of his being.
He took a hesitant step forward, the sensation of solid ground giving way to the illusion of standing upon the very surface of the abyss itself. The water below was bottomless, an eternal void that twisted and churned with an intelligence of its own. And then, amidst the turbulent darkness, a shape began to rise.
It was him.
A figure emerged from the abyss, identical in every way yet entirely different. His own face, his own form, but wreathed in shadows, his features sharper, his presence exuding unrestrained power. His eyes were darker, deeper, almost endless, like twin voids that pulled in light itself. The air around him vibrated, heavy with something primal, something untamed.
Kaien swallowed hard, feeling his heartbeat thunder in his chest. He had expected something, but not this. Not a reflection of himself stripped of all restraint.
The other Kaien—no, the Tide Thief —grinned. "So, you've finally decided to look deeper." His voice was smooth, confident, but edged with something Kaien couldn't quite place. Amusement? Mockery? Understanding?
Kaien steadied his breath. "Who are you?"
The Tide Thief tilted his head. "You already know."
Kaien clenched his fists. "You're the Negative Current."
A chuckle. "A name you gave me, yes. But I am more than that." He took a slow step forward, the abyss rippling beneath him. "I am you without hesitation. Without fear. Without the limitations you place on yourself." His eyes gleamed. "I am the true potential that you keep caged."
Kaien bristled. "You mean unrestrained hunger. The need to steal. To take what isn't mine."
The Tide Thief's smile widened. "And what *is* yours, Kaien? Power is not gifted. It is seized. The sea does not *ask* for space—it *takes* it. The strongest tide is the one that pulls without remorse." His voice softened, growing almost persuasive. "You've felt it, haven't you? The pull of the Current. The hunger. You resist it, and yet it has made you stronger."
Kaien's mind flashed to the stolen tides—the way they had reshaped him, how his mastery had grown exponentially after each theft. He had fought the temptation, but deep down, he knew the truth. Each time he had taken, he had changed. The thought unsettled him.
"I won't become a thief," he said, voice firm. "I won't let power control me."
The Tide Thief's expression darkened, the mirth fading. "Then you will always be weaker than you could be."
Silence stretched between them, thick and unyielding. The abyss churned, whispering, watching.
Kaien took a slow breath. He had come too far to be ruled by fear, and even now, as he stood before this dark mirror of himself, he knew he had a choice. To reject this side of him completely—or to understand it.
"What do you want?" Kaien asked at last.
The Tide Thief exhaled, almost as if relieved. "To make you whole." He extended a hand. "You resist me because you fear losing control. But I am not your enemy. I am your instinct, your deepest truth. You don't need to abandon me—you need to accept me."
Kaien stared at the offered hand, tension coiling in his chest. A part of him screamed to refuse, to reject this darker self and return to the surface. But another part—a deeper, quieter part—knew that turning away meant denying what he had already begun to embrace. The Negative Current was not separate from him. It was him.
With a steady breath, Kaien reached out.
The moment their hands met, the abyss surged.
Darkness swallowed him whole, a tidal wave crashing through his very essence. Memories, emotions, raw and unfiltered, flooded his mind—every moment of hesitation, every surge of power, every stolen tide. He felt himself unraveling, then reforming, every fiber of his being reforged in the depths of the abyss.
And then
Silence.
When Kaien opened his eyes, he was back in the training chamber.
The room was the same, the others still meditating, their breathing steady. The only thing different was him.
He felt it immediately. A stillness he had never known before, a balance between the tide and the abyss. His power no longer pulled in opposite directions but flowed as one, deep and unshaken. The Negative Current had not vanished, nor had it overtaken him—it had merged, becoming something new.
Kaien exhaled slowly, flexing his fingers. The tide within him responded, not with its usual hunger, but with something more refined, more precise. He had feared the abyss, but in truth, it had never been his enemy. It had been waiting for him to understand.
For the first time since stealing his first tide, Kaien felt truly in control.
And he knew—this was only the beginning.