The mist no longer stayed still.
It crawled.
Slow at first, almost sluggish,then with a disturbing ease—like it was breathing.
Not a gust. Not a breath.But the world itself seemed pulled inward. Compressed.
Kael clenched his teeth without realizing it.There had been no sound, no explicit threat…
And yet, they were surrounded.
The gray veil was closing like a limp hand.
Then, at the heart of that living fog,shapes emerged.
One. Two. Three.Until nearly a dozen of them stood revealed.
No sudden apparition.They had been there from the beginning.
A single species, at first glance.
Each creature moved in its own manner:some prowled on all fours, spines low, bodies flowing like liquid;others, upright, brushed the edge of bipedal stance, shoulders hunched.
The same shell. The same will.Only their gait set them apart.Everything else screamed uniformity.
But…No sound. No cry.Like the ancient specters of legend—those without breath of life… yet who know when you hold yours.
And yet…Every step. Every sway of their bodies.Obeyed a common pulse.An ancient rhythm. Primal.As if a greater will guided them.
Not a chaotic hunt.
A rite.More precisely, a rite of primal predation.
A sacred march before the feast.
This wasn't a trap.It was an inverted offering.
And Kael, at that moment…was its center.
For they circled.Slowly.Silently.
Tightening the radius. Step by step. Never stopping.
As if each turn erased an exit.As if the world itself shrank around him.
Their silhouettes slid through the fog,vanished, reappeared farther off—always orbiting.
Their steps followed a cadence you couldn't hear,but your body could feel.
Oppressive. Precise. Premeditated.
And within that shifting circle, everything was designed so the prey would forget it wasn't already condemned.
So it would stop being a thinking being… and revert to a target.
Kael…It had been a long time.
He felt fear.But not just any fear.An old fear.
The kind one lives as a child, never truly understood.The kind buried, sealed away.
And this fear… he could not link to any memory.
He knew he had felt it before.But access to that memory… was locked.
Thana understood.
Something in his past… resembled this moment.Something erased.But what…?
And Kael… shifted.
From terror to anger.From anger to a distorted laugh,so warped it would have made the Devil himself shiver.
Even Thana, bound to him,felt unease rise.A gnawing discomfort.
Then…
Without warning, one of the beasts leapt.
Bursting from the mist, it raked his back.A clean slash. Sharp. Bloody.
And yet—Kael didn't react.
No cry.No flinch.
Nothing.
His mind spun in its deranged loop: fear, anger, laughter.
As if pain no longer existed.
The attacker melted back into the fog.
Another tried its chance.
It lunged from the right flank, jaws gaping, ready to tear out his throat.
But at the last instant,Kael's arm rose.
A reflex?Maybe.
But his gaze had changed.
Colder than the mist.Sharper than the claw.
And that creature…for the first time,felt something it had never known: fear.
Kael opened his mouth.A low voice emerged.Every word loaded with dry violence.
— And you… who told you you had the right to try and eat me?
Then he bit.
Yes.He bit.
His teeth sank into the creature's throat,and with a brutal wrench,he tore out its windpipe.
A wet crunch.A muffled crack.
And within the mist…
a new silence.
Not religious.Not ritual.
A silence of terror.
Because at that instant…the pack understood.
The prey had changed.
Then… nothing.
The world cut off.No image.No sound.
Only an impression…
As if time had slipped.
As if Kael had been replaced by an active void,something cold, methodical…
And far from what he was.
There was no scream.No memory.
Only a blur.
And when Kael opened his eyes—truly—
He was standing,amid the corpses.
His kusarigama hung heavy, dripping,as if the ritual had just ended.
His breath was short.
But he didn't know why.
He didn't even know where the rest had gone.
— Kael!
That voice.
He knew it.But it seemed distant.
— Kael, answer me!
Her steps echoed around him.She was running.
— Look at me… damn it, KAEL!
He turned his head slowly.
His gaze was empty.
— Do you hear me?! Do you even KNOW what you just did?!
She grabbed his shoulders.Shook him.
— Tell me you remember! Tell me it was YOU, damn it!
She searched his eyes.
— You scared me… You…
Her voice cracked.Just for an instant.
— You scared me…
He lowered his eyes.
Blood. Everywhere.Not his own.
He opened his mouth.Nothing came out.
So Thana went on.Again. Again.
— You spoke in a tongue I should never hear…
Her stare bored into him.
— Tell me you know what that was. Tell me it was you…
A tear, tiny, slid down her cheek.
— Because if it wasn't you, Kael…
She didn't finish.
But her silence said enough.
Kael blinked.At last, his voice broke the silence.
— What's…
He looked around.The bodies. The shreds. The grooves cut in the fog.
— Was it you… who did this?
His voice was sincere.Truly.
And that sincerity shattered Thana.
She exploded.
— Me?She laughed. A strangled laugh.— You're joking? You think I'M the one who did this?!
She shoved him back, sharp,not out of hatred. Just… overflow.
— You don't remember a thing. Nothing at all, huh?
He shook his head. Slowly.
She stepped aside. Took a few paces.
— First, you bit one of them in the throat. Like an animal. Barehanded.
She turned back.Eyes gleaming.
— Then you drew your kusarigama.And you… danced with it.
She searched for words.
— You didn't fight.You… played.
— You slashed, shredded, leapt from one to the next as if their lives had no weight.
Her voice was rising, twisting.
— You laughed, Kael. You LAUGHED. Like you'd been waiting your whole life for this moment.
She stepped toward him.
— And when I tried to stop you…
Her voice cracked again.
— You spoke to me in a language even I… no longer have the right to hear.
She dropped her gaze.
— You didn't recognize me.
Kael said nothing.
He slowly brought two fingers to his lips.
Brushed them.
Then stared.
Blood.
Thick. Dark.
He felt no pain in his mouth.
It wasn't his.
He lowered his eyes, scanned his arms, his hands, the ground.
Then, as if the world widened all at once,he looked around.
The twelve corpses.Mutilated. Torn.
There was no logic in their fall.No line, no defense.
Just carnage.
He stepped back.
His throat tightened.
And yet… he couldn't say Thana exaggerated.
She wasn't like this.
She never shouted.She never cried.And she never lost control.
And here… she had done all three.
He stayed there.Motionless.
His gaze drowned in blood.
Thana said nothing more.Not a word.
She still stared at him.But this time… without anger.
Just a deep sadness.
And Kael, himself…
His lips trembled.
A tear slid.Then another.
He lifted his eyes to her.
— What's happening to me, Thana…?
His voice broke.
— Please… help me.