Kael wasn't sleeping.
The bed in the corner of the room pressed against his bones like a memory too vivid. The others' breathing was steady, deep. Peaceful sleep, the kind that belongs to children protected by walls and rules.
But he could feel the walls pulsing. Not with life. With an unnatural silence. A silence that fed on his struggle to remain human.
Beneath his skin, his shadows quivered like exposed nerves.
The book was hidden under his pillow. Warm. Heavy. Alive.
He pulled it out slowly. The leather cover recognized his fingers and stretched like a hungry animal sensing its master.
On the cover, the symbol pulsed faintly — a circle of thorns spinning counterclockwise. Against time. Against humanity.
Kael left the room without waking anyone. It was late. The city slept in the vibration of blue lights.
The dorm library was deserted. No guard. No hologram. Just shadows stretched out like blankets thrown over souls.
He sat at a table in the corner. The nightlight was dim, flickering. Perfect.
He opened the book, his back tense and his palms resting on the leather-bound pages. The air was heavy, thick with an unspoken tremble. It was the first time he felt the weight of a truly irreversible act.
Before him, the symbols on the page pulsed faintly, like foreign hearts, calling.But his hand trembled.
He hesitated.
Not from fear.But from the unknown.
What he was about to do… bore no trace of Seraphine. It was his choice alone. Without her voice, without her touch, without her presence. And that made him feel… hollow. Uncovered. Exposed.
A part of me… wants to stop, he thought.The other… wants to see if I can be whole without her.
In silence, he dragged a nail across his skin. A drop of blood fell onto the page. The book shuddered.
The shadows around him trembled like dogs sensing the scent of a storm.
The ritual had begun.
Kael closed his eyes and descended into himself, where a memory lay buried. Not the most painful — the most shameful. The one he wouldn't even admit was part of him.
A hand he didn't take. A promise he let break.A hidden thought: If I had been stronger… maybe I would've let her die anyway.
His blood froze in his veins for a moment.
Then, the book opened on its own, and from the shadows beneath the desk, something rose. A shape. New. Unclear. Like a silhouette drawn from the remnants of unspoken thoughts.
**
And just then, she came.
Seraphine.
— "Nooo…" her voice echoed in his head, like a cracked bell.— "What have you done, KAEL?!"
Pain stabbed into his temples. An invisible claw tore through his mind from within.
— "I raised you. I gave you everything. YOU WERE MINE!"
Kael collapsed to his knees, blood streaming from his nose and ears.
— "I just wanted to know if I could…" he whispered, barely conscious.
— "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO WANT!"
An explosion of darkness burst around him. Books toppled from shelves. Windows shook. The shadows screamed like bodiless mouths.
Kael screamed silently.
The battle had begun.
Seraphine no longer possessed him — but she was still there, like an infected wound refusing to close.
— "I will tear you from the inside! I will return to your core and make you mine again!"
Kael clenched his teeth. The shadows around him twisted, one against the other, like beasts unsure whom to obey.
The noise was becoming too loud.
Footsteps in the hallway. A girl's voice:— "What was that?! Did you hear that?"
Steps. Doors creaking. Someone pressing a handle.
Desperate, Kael pulled his blood from the floor with a command of shadow, erased his traces, and ran. He melted into the walls, slipping through the corners of reality like an idea the world refused to accept.
He returned to the room just before the door opened. He threw himself into bed. Breathing heavily, his chest heaving, but his body remained still.
The corner of his lip was torn. His eyes, bloodshot.
Seraphine was silent now. But not out of surrender. She was licking her wounds.
And then, in the darkness of the room, in his mind, there was no longer just one voice.
Another one appeared.No whispers. No rage.Just cold.
— "I saw you… Kael."
He froze.
— "You opened the door. You don't even know… what you've unleashed."
Another presence. Unknown. Alien. But not completely hostile.
— "You're not the first to want freedom from her. But you might… be the last."
And then, silence. Not peace. Just the complete absence of everything.
Kael could no longer tell if his roommates' snores were real… or just echoes inside his mind.
He closed his eyes.But he didn't sleep.And he no longer dreamed.