Night did not come with dreams. It came with a fall.
Kael didn't remember when he had fallen asleep. Only that, in one moment, he was in bed, and in the next… he was floating.
But not in a dream.
In darkness.
A living darkness, one that slowly devoured him, like a giant lung inhaling the air from his chest, exhaling something else in return — fear, memory, guilt.
His feet touched nothing. Shadows flowed beneath him, whispering his name in distorted murmurs.
And then… he saw him.
Him.
Seth.
The Knight.
He stood on a fractured stone pillar, as tall as a forgotten bell tower. His armor did not shine — its absence devoured the light.
Around him, the shadows didn't writhe. They aligned. Each stood in position — like invisible soldiers surrounding a summoned king.
Seth had no face. Only the helmet.And two strips of red smoke where his eyes should have been.
— "Kael."The voice didn't echo. It materialized directly in his mind, heavy, cold, like a sentence.
— "Welcome to your core."
Kael wanted to answer, but couldn't.His mouth wasn't his. Neither was his body. Only the mind was still his. Or almost…
— "You opened a wound, and I entered through it. Seraphine knew this was inevitable. And yet, she wanted you… like a toy."
At that moment, the air split.
A piercing scream, feminine, like a blade scratching the mirror of his soul.
Seraphine descended.
She wasn't walking. She was falling, spiraling, like a lightning bolt of translucent flesh, black veins swirling across her body. Her eyes burned, lips cracked, hair white and shredded by her own will.
When she stopped, the ground erupted into a wave of wailing shadows.
— "YOU…!" she screamed, and the shadows around her twisted violently.
Seth did not flinch.
— "You're late, fallen queen."
— "He's mine, Seth."Seraphine's voice fractured. It was both a scream and a sob.— "I grew inside him. I bled into him. You're nothing but… a thief."
Seth raised a hand. Not to attack.To stop her shadows.
And he did.
All the shadows around Seraphine froze. Suspended in the air, trembling, but obedient. Not to him.To Kael.
— "He's more than a vessel. He's a beginning. And you kept him small. Weak. Dependent."
Kael fell to his knees. The darkness pressed from all directions.
— "No… I'm not yours. I'm not either of yours," he whispered.
But they weren't listening.
— "If you want him, TAKE him!" Seraphine screamed, her mouth opening down to her throat.From it burst tentacles of blood, thin hands, voices.
Seth didn't draw his sword. But the shadow around him rose, forming the silhouette of a massive blade, torn from reality.
The clash wasn't physical.
It was psychic. Spiritual. Primordial.
Kael was dragged between them like an anchor in a storm.
A blood-tentacle wrapped around him. The edge of the sword brushed him.Every contact was a burned memory, a piece of soul torn and inspected.
Seraphine screamed:— "I LOVED you! I PROTECTED you! Without me, you were NOTHING!"
Seth said, without shouting:— "Without me, you will become NO ONE."
Kael screamed.
And something… broke.
A piece of memory. A shard of feeling.He didn't know what exactly. Only that it would never return.
The shadows were withdrawing now. The air turned to liquid.Seraphine's voice was faint, a hiss.
— "You'll regret… listening to him..."
Seth didn't answer. He didn't even look at her.
His gaze was fixed on Kael.
— "Now you know. Neither of us controls you. But we both live inside you."
— "And every choice brings you… closer to one of us."
Kael collapsed.
His eyes closed.
He wasn't sleeping.
But the silence that embraced him… was no longer his.