Lyana's silhouette stayed frozen.Her edges blurred, breaking into unstable shards, almost pixelated.
Nothing here was real.He knew it.
But even a lie can kill—and this illusion had the power to.
Still…He had spoken.Confessed what he'd kept buried for too long.
Even if it wasn't her,even if all of this was sleight of hand,it had torn away a piece of the weight crushing his heart.
Not all of it.Just enough to breathe a little freer.
Despite everything…He no longer felt fear,or emptiness,or grief.
Nothing.
Only that dull throb,that guttural beat in his veins.
A thirst for blood.A visceral, raw, almost ancient anger—as if something older than himselfwere waking in his gut.
He locked his gaze on the shell that mimicked his sister.
Not for her.Not for that trembling facade.
But for what hid behind it.For the entity, at the other end, pulling the strings of this flesh-puppet.
His voice dropped, dry.Each word fell like a sentence.Slowly.Inevitably.
— You… yes, I'm talking to you.I hope you had your fun all this time.That you laughed.That you savored the show.
But don't worry…I'm coming soon.And I'll take care of you…just as you took care of me.
Until you beg me to end it.See you in a moment.
His fingers clenched.
A sharp crack.The neck snapped—clean.
But he didn't let "her" fall.In a quick motion he caught her,held her against him.
Then, with almost ceremonial slowness,he laid her on the ground.
His fingers brushed her eyelids.They closed gently,sealing that false stare for good.
A tender gesture—terribly at odds with the violence that came before.
Was it because of the resemblance?No one would ever know.
But doubt…would stay.
He turned, ready to leave that paper-thin stage.
He had taken barely two stepswhen a stabbing pain burst behind his eyes.
A brutal migraine, near-deafening, drilled his temples.Vertigo hit like a wave.
He brought one hand to his head…the other to his mouth.
Coughs racked him.Dark droplets spattered his fingers.
Blood.Thick.Bitter.
Without trying to stay upright,he staggered backand leaned against a shattered pillar,a silent remnant of the carnage left behind.
His eyes half-closed.Breath short.
He forced his mind to scan every sensation,every point of pain,as if mapping the damage.
His heart pounded heavy,as if it had to relearn carrying his own body.
The system had just reactivated.
He shut his eyes,diving into absolute focus.
Bit by bit,he split each sensation—drawing a line between phantom pains born of illusionand the very real ones printed in flesh.
The signals were clear. Implacable.
Burst vessels,diffuse bleeding across multiple sites.
Cracked ribs, some broken,compressing internal organs.
Bruised liver and spleen,tissues partially torn.
A slight intestinal perforation,leaking an acidic burn into the abdominal cavity.
Slow but multiple internal hemorrhages.
Neural inflammation radiating along the spine.
Microfractures in the finger bones,torn muscles along the forearms.
Left lung congested,as if drowned in blood.
And behind it all,a pounding migraine,sign that he'd overstrained his Spirit links too.
Each hurt was no longer just an alert.It was an itemized report—and a reminder he'd gone past his limits long before the end.
By reflex,he hit the hemorrhages first.
Channel Magia into the damaged zones,seal microtears,patch what could still be patched.
Then, methodically,he worked the priority chain:stabilize organs,reduce internal pressure,re-anchor damaged neural structures.
Each action,each impulse of will,followed a precise order—instinctive.
And then the thought cut in,sharp and unexpected.
How do I even know all this?Where did this mastery come from—these moves no training ever taught me?
A breath trembled in his throat.
On his cheek,a black tear slid slowly,drawing a thick line down to his chin.
It wasn't born from pain.It came from elsewhere.
It came from forgetting.
From something buried so deepeven he no longer remembered…
But he knew he must.
Because he felt it—viscerally.
And he knew all his current pains were nothing…nothing compared to what awaitedif he dared ignore that pull.
Clearing away every stray thought,he tightened his focusuntil it hurt.
Gradually,he tuned in with himself…and with what slept in his subconscious.
There,in the middle of a void devouring all light,stood a black silhouette.
Slender.Lithe.Small.
A build close to his sister's…more fragile still.
No face to make out,no detail at all.
Nothing…except that upright shadow, motionless,whose mere presence defined the shape of a being.
Only one question rose.
Who are you?
But his lips stayed shut.No sound left his throat—as if the void itself smothered any attempt at speech.
And suddenly—
A brutal pinch.There, right at the heart.
Was it the mana heart?Or the… normal one?
The shadow, still until now,tried to communicate.
Each word, each sentence…was nothing but scrambled noise.White hiss crushed by a storm.A saturated rumble, unbearable to hear.
Then, suddenly…An opening.
A small window appeared near the silhouette.Black.Dark as obsidian.
Yet it gave off just enough lightto be seen…even without any source around.
What he could read, faint and far…
I'm scared.I'm cold.I feel alone.It's dark.
Short phrases.A breathless succession, one after the other.
And with each one,Kael's heart tightened to breaking.
Then came—
We were a family…
At those words,pain exploded.
Not only in his chest.In his head.Through his whole being.
As if something inside him tried to breakan old barrier,double-locked.
Shards flared.Images.
— A forgotten temple.— His room, bathed in distant light.— The System interface, tagged U.P.D.
And always that voice…
I almost forgot you.I almost left you…when I had promised...to stay with you.
A strangled sob.
Forgive me, Thana.Forgive me… I'm coming to get you.
In the abyssal dark,the silhouette's sobs eased.
Only a smile.Shy. Fragile.Fleeting.
Before dissolvinglike mist pulled into the night.
Kael watched the figure dissolve into the shadows of his own mind.
And suddenly— a jolt.His eyes flew open.
He was no longer where he thought.
Everything had changed.
A heavy shroud of heat pressed on his chest.
The air trembled—thick, saturated with burning humidity.
Each breath tasted like a lukewarm flame sinking down his throat.
His skin stuck, as if coated in someone else's sweat.
Acrid scent hung in the space:the strange blend of wood soaked by rainand wood burned to black ash.
A perfume wavering between wet rot and a smothered blaze.
Sometimes a blade of sulfur slipped through,so sharp it stung his noseand blurred his sight.
The ground…
Everywhere, it was scored with fissures.
Some barely visible, gleaming like thin veins of ember.Others gaping, deep, belching intermittent waves of red heat.
They pulsed.As if the earth breathed.As if it had its own heart,hidden in magma bowels.
He lifted his eyes, thinking he saw… snow.
Small light fragments, whirling in the air.
For a second, the illusion caught him.
Then truth snapped into place: it wasn't snow.
It was ash.
Volcanic ash drifting slowly,like dead, dull, burning flakes,ripping against the suffocating heat.
And then his gaze caught what spread before him.
A lake.
Black.
Motionless.
But its "water" wasn't water at all.
Across its surface lay a thick, shifting mist.
Semi-opaque.
It rolled in waves,swelling and deflating like a breathing chest.
Alive.
A shiver ran down his spine.
That veil didn't frighten him.
It called to him.
Like an invisible hand reaching out.Like a voiceless summons,inviting him to cross the boundary.
They pulsed.As if the earth breathed.As if it carried its own heart,hidden in magma veins.
He lifted his eyes, thinking he saw snow.Tiny specks, dancing in the air.For a heartbeat, the illusion caught him.Then truth: not snow.Ash.
They floated, mute, like dead flakes.They settled on his burning skin,dissolving at once, swallowed by heat.The contrast turned obsessive—a slow, repetitive visual lullaby.
Kael blinked.He rose.His legs moved by themselves,guided by a rhythm deeper than will.
One step.Then another.
The lake's surface waited for him.He crossed the boundary without thinking.His soles skimmed the black "water"…but he did not sink.
The mist drew back,like lungs dilating to welcome new breath.With each stride, the world's cadence matched his.Cracks in the ground vibrated,the magma's breath echoing his steps.
Everything frayed around him.As if each meter taken cracked the set,ready to give way to truth.
He walked on.Slow.Inevitable.His mind drifted, numbed by an alien harmony.Part of him… thrummed with this place.As if some buried, ancient essencequietly rejoiced to find its element again.
He neared the center.
Then, from a corner unseen,a dark window opened, hanging above the ashes.In pale, trembling letters, it read:
System — Notification??? Princess of Hells watches the scene, fascinated.
It blinked once… then vanished,swallowed by the mist.
Kael kept moving,hypnotized,borne along by a rhythm only he perceived.
At each step, the lake's skin vibratedwith a low echo,like a far drum.An ancient beat.A forgotten rite.
Air frayed around him.The ground's fissures lengthened,cracked louder,as if the universe held its breath.Even the falling ashslowed its descent,swaying lazily,suspended in hesitant gravity.
Then everything froze.A dull thud in his chest.
First impact.Time halted.No wind.No sound.Only void.
Second impact.Colors drained away.All turned ashen grey—save for the red veinspulsing under his feetand in the fractured sky.
Third impact.A mute rumble burst.Like an abyssal echoscouring the mist,drawing an invisible lineto the lake's center.
Kael sank to a crouch.Slowly.
Before him, the surface was no longer water.It was a perfect black mirror.His reflection stared back,straight, unmoving.
But on the other side…her.Thana.Frozen, inverted, trapped in a reversed world.
He murmured, voice low and hoarse:
— You don't deserve to stay there. Not you.
Then, without a heartbeat's hesitation,he plunged his arm into the liquid dark.
Absolute cold lanced through him,freezing bone.The surface shattered in dark ripples,like a mirror breaking.
His fingers closed around icy flesh.With a sharp pull,he tore her from the abyss.
Her eyes opened.Drenched.
Kael had drawn her down.At once, she clung to him.
Her fingers dug into his back, desperate, as if terrified he'd vanish with a breath.Naked.Shaking.Water streamed from her hair, running in dark strands across her shoulders.
She blinked.Once.Twice.Her sight stayed blurred, wavering with water.It took a moment for edges to steady, for sharpness to form.
But before the image anchored… she knew.
It was him.
Was it his scent—iron and cinder?His heat, blazing, reassuring?The aura thrumming around him, heavy, obsessive?Or simply the rhythm of his breath, one she'd know among a thousand…
We may never know.But this was certain—she did not hesitate.It was him.
Tears welled.They spilled down her soaked cheeks, vanishing into lakewater.Then the sobs broke.
Not those of an infinite being.Not those of an Absolute.
But the sobs of a child.A child kept too long from the light, shut in frozen dark.
Kael wrapped her in his garb, swathing her with a fold of cloth to cover her fragile body.His arms closed around her.Tight.Protective.Burning.
He held her as if to pass on his warmth,his breath,his whole presence.
The contrast was stark.Violent.An impossible paradox.
For the being in his arms…had once had the power to erase entire worldswith a single beat of will.And yet—
Here and now…She was only Thana.
A small figure, curled in on herself.Face buried in his neck.Choked by sobs.Sheltered in Kael's embrace.
*"Please… promise me.
I don't want to be alone anymore.Never again.
Not in the dark.Not in the cold.Never again…
Promise me… you'll never abandon me."*
At those words, fury tore through Kael—uncontrolled.
Space itself began to tremble.The dimension felt tied to his mind.
Every vibration, every shiver in the ground, resonated with his anger.
But that anger wasn't only for the witch who stole Thana and locked her in the lake.
No…
He was angry at himself, too.
He'd sworn, with Lyana, never to make that mistake again.
And yet…He'd repeated it.Again.
With Thana.
Kael, heart in pieces—truly hurting—made his vow.
*"Then I promise you…I will always be there.
Even if the world collapses around us.
Even if the gods themselves rise against us…
I will always be there!"*
But then, something strange happened.
Kael hadn't expected it.Hadn't even considered it.
Thana… smiled.
Slightly.
A fragile smile, born of his promise.She felt Kael's honest warmth.His raw resolve.
And yet…there was something else.
A trace of sadness.Of anger.Of bitterness.
She didn't grasp it at first.
Until her eyes met Kael's.
Then, through that contact, something snapped.As if she'd pierced to the deepest part of his mind.
And what she saw…she understood at once.
The recent memories.The hours gone.The days that had consumed him.
Humiliation.Pain.Fracture.
Everything.
Her expression changed—in a single blink.
No longer the vulnerable, fragile girl in tears.She became… still.Motionless.
Kael frowned.He didn't understand the shift.Had he said something wrong?Misstepped?
Then, suddenly—
Bubbles burst across the lake's surface.One, two—then dozens.As if the abyss itself held its breath.
The water began to boil.The heavy, rolling mist condensed violently.It turned on itself.A vortex rose around them, roaring like a living storm.
And Kael understood.
In Thana's eyes, he read the truth:she was beyond furious.
He didn't yet know the exact cause.But one thing was certain.
The target of her wrath…would not leave this illusory world in one piece.
"…She dared."
Her voice cracked the air.Cold. Implacable.
She straightened.Her tears had dried.Her gaze was no longer human.
A veil of shadow burst forth.It wrapped her.Undulating.Alive.
Her hand lifted.The air vibrated.Bent.Screamed.
The mist recoiled.As though afraid.
And with a single motion…She tore space.
A dry rip.A silent scream in the dark.
Behind the rift…A silhouette.Blurry.Shaking.Petrified.