The light fractures.
The shadow swells.
And May—caught between forces older than time—feels her soul tearing at the seams.
Nathel's voice echoes again, raw with fear:
"MAY! COME BACK TO ME!"
His desperation is the only real thing anchoring her.
But the golden figure steps closer, radiance pulsing like a heartbeat.
"Choose, Child. Before the Veil consumes you."
The shadow creature shifts, more solid now, its body rising like a crowned silhouette forged from darkness.
"She already belongs to us."
Its voice ripples with sickening calm.
"Just as her mother did."
May's breath freezes.
"My… mother?"
The shadow tilts its head.
"She refused us. She ran.
But a Half-Heart always returns to their origin."
The golden being snaps sharply:
"Lies. She died protecting the seal."
The shadow laughs, cold and echoing.
"Did she?"
A ripple of black spreads across the glowing space—
and suddenly May sees a memory she never lived.
Her mother kneeling in the forest.
A shadow figure rising before her—
but not like the creature before May now.
No.
This one is sharper.
Clearer.
More human.
A tall man cloaked in moving darkness.
His eyes an unnatural shade—
silver, not shadow.
Cold.
Calculating.
Triumphant.
May stumbles back.
"Who is that?"
The shadow creature bows its head—not in fear, but in reverence.
"Our Sovereign."
The golden being reacts instantly, stepping protectively in front of May.
"He cannot cross. Not yet."
A soft, controlled voice—
the kind that could command armies
with a whisper—
fills the fractured world.
"Not yet… but soon."
The shadows coil tighter, forming a doorway—
a vertical slit of pure black.
And from that darkness…
a foot steps forward.
Boots.
Long coat.
Tall, lean frame.
A man—
yet not a man—
crosses into the half-lit realm.
His presence is colder than the Veil itself.
The smaller creature drops to one knee.
Nathel's voice is gone.
Sealed out.
Like he's worlds away.
May can only stare.
The man's face is sharp, impossibly handsome, carved with perfection that feels wrong.
His eyes glow silver, like moonlight reflected in still water.
He studies May with a quiet fascination.
"So this is the lost Half-Heart."
May backs away instinctively.
"Who… who are you?"
He inclines his head with a slow, elegant smile.
"I have had many names."
A beat.
"But you may call me Kael."
Her chest tightens painfully.
"You're the one who sent the shadows."
He steps closer—
not aggressive, just deliberate.
His presence presses against her skin like cold fingers.
"I did."
The golden being flares brighter.
"Sovereign of Shadows. Devourer of lines.
You have no right here."
Kael's lips twitch faintly.
"And yet, here I stand."
May's voice shakes.
"Why me?"
Kael looks at her the way someone might examine a rare artifact.
"Because you are the first perfect Half-Heart born in centuries."
His silver eyes darken.
"And because the moment your bond awakened, I felt you."
A chill runs through her spine.
Kael continues, voice soft but heavy with power:
"Your mother hid you from me.
Your father—whoever he was—never understood what he helped create."
He lifts a hand.
The shadows behind him writhe like living smoke.
"Your bond with Nathaniel was a mistake."
May flinches.
"A mistake?"
"A flaw. A weakness."
A pause.
"Half-Hearts do not belong with mortals or guardians."
The golden figure interjects sharply:
"Nathaniel is no mortal—"
"Silence," Kael says without raising his voice.
The golden being is thrown backward—
slammed into its own light
as if struck by an invisible force.
May gasps and rushes forward—
But Kael lifts a single finger.
She freezes mid-step.
Her body refuses to move.
A whisper escapes her throat:
"N-Nathel…"
Kael's head tilts slightly.
"He calls for you still.
Pathetic, really.
He has no idea what you truly are."
May's heart twists violently.
Kael walks toward her—
slow, measured, unhurried.
"Come with me, May.
Let me awaken your full power.
Let me show you what it means to be whole."
She trembles.
"No."
His silver eyes sharpen.
"No?"
"I said no," she repeats, louder this time.
Kael studies her… then smiles.
Not angry.
Not disappointed.
Amused.
"You truly think you have a choice?"
He reaches out his hand.
Shadow curls from his palm—
reaching for her heart.
May screams—
But a blast of white-gold light slams into Kael's side.
He hisses—
stumbling a single step back.
Nathel's voice explodes through the cracks:
"MAY—RUN!"
May breaks free from the paralysis.
The golden being lunges forward, trying to shield her—
Kael's eyes flicker with cold delight.
"So. The bond still fights."
He lifts his hand again.
Shadows swirl violently.
And the true battle—
the war between shadow, light, and the Half-Heart caught between them—
finally begins.