The room was steeped in a thick, almost solid silence. Kairo's body was still wrapped in a faint glow, remnants of the interrupted ritual. His eyes remained half-open, as if drifting between worlds. Lyra, kneeling beside him, felt the crushing weight of the revelation that had torn through her soul: she loved him.
And that love might be the key to saving them… or destroying them.
She held his hand as if she could anchor him there, away from the rising darkness. The weak warmth radiating from Kairo's skin was all that separated her from panic.
— Why now… why only now did I realize this? — she murmured, pressing her forehead to his. — Don't leave me, Kairo… you can't leave me now.
But something was moving. Slowly.
A chill ran down her spine when Kairo's fingers twitched. He gasped for air, breathing heavily, like someone returning from a dive into deep, dangerous waters.
— …Lyra?
His voice was fragile, distorted. As if it wasn't only his.
She raised her face, her teary eyes locking onto his. For a moment, she saw only Kairo. But in the next instant… there was something more.
A golden light pulsed through his iris, flickering like an ancient symbol — something long dormant and now awakened. And with that glow… a presence. Invisible. But real.
— Kairo… are you really here?
— I… yes… I… I think so.
He sat up slowly, breathing heavily, as if he had carried the weight of an entire world on his back. Lyra stayed close, watching every movement, every breath. Her heart was torn between relief and rising fear.
— Something changed in me, Lyra.
— I know. I feel it.
He looked at her with a mixture of pain and certainty. Something inside him had awakened. Something that should never have been stirred.
— The voice that whispered in my dreams… now it screams. But it's not just darkness. There are… memories. Fragments. Ancient codes burned into me since birth. I'm not just human.
Lyra didn't look away. She had known this. Since the day she found him in the Crimson Mist, something in Kairo had screamed for answers.
But now, those answers were coming. And they looked nothing like what she had hoped to hear.
— Kairo… — she touched his face with both hands — you're not alone. Whatever's inside you… we'll face it together.
He gave a faint smile. But his eyes sparkled for a moment with that warmth she had learned to recognize. The same light from when he smiled at her before a mission, when he promised everything would be fine.
But the moment passed quickly.
The cave's light flickered.
A thunderclap — from a sky that didn't exist — roared above them.
And then… the veil tore.
Reality twisted around them. The ground trembled with the sound of chains breaking somewhere far away. Stones floated for a second before crashing down. A black energy — alive, pulsing — oozed from the walls like cursed liquid.
And a voice. An ancient voice. Of crushing power.
— Kairo… at last.— You heard me.— You called me.
Lyra turned with clenched fists, eyes searching for the source. But there were only shadows.
Kairo stood up with difficulty, his body still unstable. He felt as if he were split in two — part of him still Kairo… the other, something he couldn't name.
— Who are you?
The laughter echoed through the space, vibrating in their bones.
— You know who I am. I am the forgotten memory. The pact sealed with ancient blood.— I am… Marchosias.
Lyra took a step back, her heart turning cold.
— It can't be… he's imprisoned in the Abyss.
— Imprisoned? — the voice mocked. — Or feeding? Spreading like an invisible poison? You let me in. Kairo let me in.
The ground beneath them cracked. A symbol emerged — like a seal burned into the very flesh of the world. And from it, a figure rose.
The figure was… familiar.
A woman.
With long dark hair, eyes of a pale, almost translucent blue. And a silver necklace with a pendant shaped like a broken cross.
Lyra felt the shock ripple through her.
— No… this is impossible.
Kairo staggered.
— Aylin?
But it wasn't Aylin. Not truly.
It was her body, yes. But the eyes… they belonged to no human.
— Yes, brother. I'm here. Embrace me. — the figure said, smiling.
The voice… was perfect.
Lyra screamed:
— IT'S NOT HER, KAIRO!
But he had already taken a step.
The silence that filled the sanctuary felt alive.
Lyra stepped back twice, her eyes burning from the blinding light radiating from Kairo's body. It was no longer just a celestial glow — there was something misaligned, a subtle distortion in the air around him, as if the laws of reality were trembling.
She pressed her fingers against her chest, trying to keep her heart grounded.
— Kairo… — she whispered. — That light… it's not just yours, is it?
He blinked slowly. His irises danced between gold and scarlet, and for an instant, no human emotion seemed to remain there.
— I… I don't know what's happening to me — he said, but his voice echoed with a second tone. A subterranean frequency, hoarse, ancient.
Lyra felt her stomach turn.