Chapter Eleven: Dreams of Chains
The ruins fell into silence when night stretched over the Veil. No stars shone here, no moonlight, only a deeper shade of darkness that weighed heavy on the soul.
Elena lay restless, her body sore from training, her heart even more raw. The mark on her arm glowed faintly in the dark, silver threads pulsing like a heartbeat she could not quiet. She shut her eyes, willing sleep to come—yet knowing what waited in the depths of her dreams.
Sleep claimed her anyway.
And the whispers were ready.
> "You fight me in the day. But the night is mine."
The dream opened not with terror, but with comfort. She stood in a field bathed in golden light, flowers swaying under a gentle wind. It was warmth she had not felt in months—home, safety, peace.
And there, at the crest of a hill, stood Kael.
But not the Kael she knew. This one smiled, shadows gone, dressed in light instead of darkness. His eyes softened when they met hers, no walls, no coldness. Just… him.
"Elena," he said, voice rich with warmth. "You don't have to fight anymore."
Her throat tightened. "Kael?"
He stepped closer, hands reaching out, brushing her cheek with a tenderness that made her ache. "I'm here. I've always been here. You don't need to resist. You only need to let go."
She leaned into his touch, a tear slipping free—until her mark seared against her skin. The silver glow rippled through the dream, warping the perfect scene.
Kael's smile faltered. His hand tightened against her jaw—not gentle anymore, but firm, controlling. His eyes darkened, not with love but with hunger.
> "He will break you, Elena. Just as he broke the last."
The dream twisted. The golden field burned away into ash, the sky split open with cracks of shadow and flame. The figure of Kael remained, but wrong—his hands became chains of darkness that bound her wrists, his voice a snarl.
"You think I can save you?" he spat. "I can't. I won't. You're nothing but another failure waiting to happen."
Her breath hitched, her chest tightening. "No… no, that's not him."
The entity's laughter slid through the dreamscape.
> "You cannot tell where he ends and where I begin."
The chains bit into her wrists, dragging her down. Elena screamed, fighting against the pull, but the more she struggled, the tighter they bound.
And then—another presence cut through the dream.
Shadows surged across the burning sky, colliding with the entity's hold. The false Kael shattered like glass, and from the fragments stepped the real one—eyes blazing, shadows writhing at his back.
"Elena!" His voice thundered through the dream, raw, desperate. He seized the chains with his own shadows, snapping them apart, pulling her against him.
She gasped, clinging to him, her body trembling. "You're here. You're real."
His grip tightened, grounding her. "The mark dragged me in. It's feeding off both of us."
The ground beneath them cracked, the entity's voice rising again, furious this time.
> "You cannot save her, shadow-bearer. You never could. You never will."
Images exploded around them—Kael kneeling beside another figure, another Marked, their eyes glowing silver, their voice not their own. Elena saw it through his memory, the agony, the helplessness, the failure.
Her chest clenched. "This is your past."
Kael's jaw locked, shadows flaring violently. "It's what I'll never let happen again."
The entity laughed, shattering the illusion further, twisting Elena's form until she saw herself bound in silver flame, her own face speaking with its voice.
> "And yet it will. Look. She is already mine."
Kael's breath caught. For an instant, he froze—the weight of his greatest fear made flesh before him.
Elena saw it. Saw how it broke him.
She grabbed his hand, forcing his gaze back to hers, forcing him to see her. "I'm not them, Kael! Look at me—I'm still me!"
The chains of light writhed around her, trying to drown her voice, but she shouted louder. "I'm not your failure. And I won't be your loss!"
Her mark flared, silver light blazing so bright it tore through the entity's illusion. The dreamscape cracked, the field and fire both shattering into nothingness.
They fell—together—through the broken dream, landing hard on the stone of the fortress floor. Elena jerked awake with a scream, drenched in sweat, her mark blazing hot against her skin.
Across the room, Kael jolted upright at the same time, his chest heaving, his eyes wild. For a moment, they only stared at each other, both knowing what had just happened.
"You were there," she whispered, her voice shaking. "Not just a dream. You were there."
He dragged a hand over his face, shadows trembling like flames in a storm. "The entity pulled me in. It's stronger than I thought. It's not bound to you anymore."
Her stomach dropped. "Then it can use you too."
Kael's gaze met hers, raw and unguarded. "No. It will use us—against each other."
Silence pressed between them, heavy and fragile. Elena's hand hovered over her mark, her resolve hardening even as fear threatened to crush her.
"We can't let it," she said, voice low but steady. "We have to fight together. Or we're already lost."
Kael's eyes softened for the briefest moment, the walls in him cracking. But then he turned away, shadows curling tight.
Together, yet apart. Bound by a chain neither of them chose, both knowing it was tightening.