For a moment, the Tower was still.
The echoes of battle had faded into nothing, leaving only the soft hiss of settling ash. The walls pulsed faintly with emberlight, dim and exhausted, as though even the Tower itself were drawing breath after the storm.
Kael stood with his back against the cold stone, his chest rising and falling in ragged rhythm. He could still smell the burnt metal from Liora's shattered chains. The memory of the fire she had unleashed lingered, sharp and defiant, cutting through the darkness like a sword's whisper.
Liora sat nearby, silent, her blade across her knees. The burns on her wrists still smoked faintly. She had not asked for help when he tried to offer it. There was something sacred about her pain—something she had earned by surviving it.
Kael looked away, giving her the quiet she needed.
The ember veins along the walls began to shift, changing color from red to a deeper hue—almost violet. It was subtle at first, then unmistakable.
A change in the Tower's pulse.
"Do you feel that?" Kael asked softly.
Liora nodded once, not lifting her gaze. "The Tower's not finished."
Kael swallowed. "Then what was that trial for?"
She finally looked up, her eyes distant, haunted. "To remind me what I was. So it can decide what to do with what I've become."
Her words sent a chill down his spine. Before he could answer, the air trembled.
The ember veins brightened suddenly, flooding the room with violet light. The walls shuddered as if alive, and then—sound. A whisper. Not spoken aloud, but inside their heads.
You have broken chains, defied command, and still stand unbent.
Kael stiffened. The voice wasn't the same as before. It was smoother now, almost human.
You are not Forged, it continued, its tone shifting, focusing now. And you, Kael Ardyn, are not bound. Yet the fire in you was not born of your world. You carry something stolen. Something that belongs to me.
Kael's stomach twisted. "The emberfire," he murmured.
The Tower's heart, the voice corrected. A spark of the source itself. You wield it without understanding. I could teach you its name, its nature. I could make you whole.
Kael clenched his fists. "Whole? You mean owned."
The air rippled with amusement. Words are fragile things. Ownership, purpose, destiny—they all sound the same when spoken by a mortal tongue.
Liora rose to her feet, blade drawn once more. "You talk too much for a ruin," she spat.
The voice ignored her.
Kael Ardyn. You resist the System. You resist me. And yet… each time you fall, you reach for my flame to rise again. You cannot deny what you are becoming.
Kael's breath quickened. The emberfire beneath his skin pulsed in rhythm with the voice, matching the Tower's heartbeat. It wasn't just calling to him now—it was synchronizing with him.
He shook his head violently. "I'm not your creation."
Then prove it.
The floor cracked open.
Violet flame erupted, circling the chamber like a living storm. The ash rose into the air, swirling into shapes—faces, hands, entire forms screaming in silence before vanishing into the fire.
Kael and Liora were thrown apart by the force. The light burned so bright it turned the air white.
Kael hit the ground hard, rolling to his knees. When his vision cleared, he was alone.
The chamber was gone. The Tower's stone had dissolved into a boundless void of glowing embers.
He turned in circles, searching. "Liora!"
No answer. Only the hum of unseen flame.
Then—footsteps.
From the haze emerged a figure. It wore his face.
Kael froze. The other him smiled faintly, eyes glowing with violet fire. "You keep calling yourself by that name," it said, its tone calm, curious. "But do you even remember who you were before the System took you?"
Kael stepped back, heart pounding. "You're not real."
The double tilted his head. "Neither was the life you remember. The System doesn't bring people from your world—it builds them. Memories, choices, pain, all fabricated to shape obedience."
"Liar."
The other Kael chuckled softly. "Then tell me—what was your sister's name?"
Kael opened his mouth—then froze.
He could picture her face, soft and blurred, laughter in her eyes. But her name… it slipped through his mind like water through fingers. He tried again, harder this time, forcing himself to remember—but nothing came. Only silence.
The other Kael took another step forward, violet light dancing along his skin. "You see? You were never a man from another world. You are a construct—half flesh, half code—born of the Tower's experiment. The System is your chain, not your gift."
Kael fell to one knee, clutching his head. "No…"
He's lying.
The familiar whisper—his System's voice—flashed faintly in his mind, fragmented and weak.
Kael looked up. The Tower's Kael smiled wider. "You still cling to it? The System's dying voice? It used you, as I will. As all creators do."
Kael forced himself to stand. "I don't need either of you."
His reflection tilted its head. "Then prove it."
The violet fire surged.
Kael barely had time to raise his staff before the first blast hit. Flame struck him square in the chest, throwing him back. He rolled, coughing, the air ripped from his lungs. His double advanced, each step leaving trails of fire.
Kael swung his staff, summoning emberfire from deep within. The red and violet flames collided, filling the void with color and sound.
Their battle was silent and endless, fire meeting fire, reflections blurring until Kael could barely tell which one of them was real. Every strike burned a piece of his strength away; every wound bled light instead of blood.
He struck one final time—driving his staff through the reflection's chest. Violet light exploded outward.
The clone staggered, smiling faintly even as it began to fade. "You cannot kill me. You can only replace me."
Then it was gone.
Kael stood alone again, panting, his staff buried in ash. His veins still glowed faintly violet. The fire had changed—less red now, more cold, more aware.
The Tower's voice returned, softer this time, almost fond.
You see, Kael Ardyn. You resist, yet you adapt. That is why you belong here.
Kael looked up at the endless dark. "I don't belong anywhere."
The Tower hummed. You will.
The emberlight collapsed.
He was back in the chamber. The walls were stone again, the air thick and heavy. Liora was kneeling beside him, shaking his shoulder.
"Kael! Talk to me!"
He blinked, breath coming back in ragged bursts. "I'm… here."
"What happened?"
He looked at his hands. The faint violet glow lingered under his skin, flickering in and out.
"I saw something," he said quietly. "Someone. It said I wasn't real."
Liora frowned, gripping his arm. "You are real. The Tower lies. That's all it does."
Kael wanted to believe her. He wanted to let the warmth in her voice silence the whisper still echoing in his mind.
But somewhere deep inside, the emberfire pulsed in quiet rhythm—and he couldn't shake the feeling that, this time, the Tower had spoken a truth meant to destroy him.
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