Narrator (Kai's voice):
"I didn't know if I was dreaming…
…or if I had finally woken up."
[OPENING SCENE – A VOID-LIKE DREAMSCAPE]
Panels shift from pitch black to glowing golden cracks spreading across Kai's body.
Kai (floating in space):
"…Where am I?"
A deep voice echoes—
Void:
"You stand at the boundary, Embraced."
Seraph:
"Where truths are laid bare… and lies melt away."
Narrator (Kai):
"The Hollow took. The Vein endured. But I—… I carried both."
A sharp light slice crosses the screen.
[TRUTH DOMAIN ACTIVATES]
Everything slows. Kai stands on a transparent floor above scenes of the past—moments from all his companions' lives flickering like shattered mirrors.
Kai (whispers):
"…Jet's pain. Luna's numbness. Rai's silence… I feel it all."
Void (off-screen):
"This is your curse. The Embraced are not free. They are burdened by everyone."
Seraph (opposite side):
"But also gifted. For only the Embraced may reveal what has been hidden."
A blinding pulse. All Hollow users collapse, trembling. The Vein users clutch their chests.
[FLASH OF THE PAST – THE LOST EMBRACED]
Kai (shaking):
"…This has happened before?"
We see ghost-like images of ancient Embraced, fighting entire armies of corrupted Hollow and broken Vein users—until they vanished.
Seraph:
"They were few. They never lived long."
Void:
"Because both sides feared them."
[VILLAIN'S FIRST MARK – UNKNOWN PRESENCE IN THE DARK]
Suddenly, a ripple disturbs the dreamspace. A black stain grows behind Kai's reflection.
???:
"…So you're the new one."
Kai turns, but no one's there. Just a shadow shaped like a person, stitched from white and black threads.
Void and Seraph (together):
"…No…"
Narrator:
"Something wasn't right. I didn't know his name…
…but something inside me whispered it anyway."
Kai:
"…Rei?"
[WAKE UP – BLOOD AND DIRT]
Kai gasps awake. His chest is burning. Dirt beneath his fingernails.
Vein user (injured, dragging herself):
"You… You're the Embraced, right?"
Kai:
''What''
"…Who did this to you?"
Vein user:
"He… He wasn't Hollow. Or Vein. He Something else. I couldn't touch him…"
She Faints.
[CUT TO – THE VILLAIN STITCHING HE'S BODY]
Rei, alone in a ruined chapel, surrounded by whispers. Sewing symbols into his arm.
Rei (calmly):
"I've felt both ends…
…I've ripped out my soul just to hold them together."
One half of his body glows with Seraph's light. The other leaks Void's ink.
Narrator (Kai):
"I thought accepting my pain would bring peace.
But now, something else is rising—
…something that couldn't accept anything at all."