The air grew heavier.

Kaelen felt it pressing against his skin, weighing down his breath, his thoughts, his very existence.

The thing rising from the horizon twisted and writhed, a mass of pure shadow stretching toward the sky like a storm given life.

The Veil had been torn.

And now, something was coming through.

A cold knot of dread coiled in Kaelen’s stomach.

This was wrong.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

Seris stood motionless, her silver eyes locked on the spreading darkness. The wind lashed against her cloak, but she didn’t flinch. She didn’t look at him.

She already knew.

Kaelen swallowed hard. “Tell me I didn’t just make a mistake.”

Silence.

His heart pounded.

“Seris.” He took a step forward. “Tell me.”

Her voice was low. Flat. “What did you think was going to happen?”

He exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I—”

She turned on him, her eyes burning with something unreadable. “You touched the artifact, Kaelen. You woke it up.”

Kaelen’s jaw clenched. “I had no choice.”

“There is always a choice.”

He opened his mouth to argue, but the words died before they formed.

Because he knew she was right.

And yet…

Even if he had known, even if he had been given the chance to decide differently—

Would he have?

His fingers curled into fists. “Then tell me, Seris. What happens now?”

She didn’t answer.

Instead, she turned toward the darkness.

Kaelen followed her gaze, and his stomach dropped.

The shape on the horizon was changing. It was taking form.

No longer just a swirling mass of shadow, but something vast—something with limbs, a face, eyes.

And those eyes—they were already watching him.

A voice, deep and guttural, echoed across the sky.

A whisper that wasn’t a whisper at all.

A name.

His name.

Kaelen.

He staggered back, gripping his sword so tightly his knuckles went white.

His name—it had spoken his name.

Seris inhaled sharply. “It remembers you.”

His blood turned to ice.

It remembers me.

He had no memory of this entity, no recollection of what it was or where it had come from. But it knew him.

And somehow, that terrified him more than anything.

The whisper came again.

Kaelen.

A rumbling, like distant thunder, followed.

The ground trembled. The air cracked.

And then, without warning—

The darkness moved.

A tendril of shadow lashed out, faster than lightning.

Kaelen barely had time to react.

He threw himself to the side, rolling across the dirt as the black mass struck where he had stood a second before. The impact sent up a wave of dust and debris, splitting the earth apart like brittle glass.

Kaelen scrambled to his feet, his heart hammering.

Another tendril snapped forward.

This time, he swung his sword. The blade connected, slicing through the mass of darkness—

Only for it to reform instantly.

Kaelen cursed. “That’s not good.”

Seris raised a hand, and a surge of silver energy burst from her palm, colliding with the creature’s shifting form. For a moment, the darkness recoiled, hissing.

But it did not stop.

Kaelen gritted his teeth. “Any chance you have a plan?”

Seris shot him a sharp glance. “We run.”

Kaelen blinked. “Run?”

“Unless you’d rather fight a thing that feeds on magic and memory, yes—we run.”

Another tendril shot toward them.

Seris grabbed his wrist.

And suddenly—

The world blurred.

The Forgotten Path

When the disorienting pull of Seris’ teleportation faded, Kaelen found himself somewhere new.

They stood on a narrow path, lined with jagged black stones, leading into the mouth of a vast cavern. Strange, glowing vines twisted along the rocky walls, pulsing with dim light.

Kaelen stumbled slightly, steadying himself. “What—where—?”

Seris didn’t answer. She moved forward swiftly, her gaze sharp, her expression unreadable.

Kaelen exhaled and followed.

The deeper they went, the quieter the world became. The air in the cavern was thick, heavy with magic. Not the chaotic, crackling kind he was used to, but something older.

Something… forgotten.

Eventually, Seris came to a halt. She turned to him, her silver eyes unreadable. “Tell me what you saw.”

Kaelen hesitated. “What?”

She stepped closer. “Before we left. When you touched the artifact. When the veil broke. What did you see?”

Kaelen swallowed hard. “Fragments. Memories. Things that didn’t make sense.”

Her gaze searched his. “Did you see its name?”

A chill ran down his spine.

“…No.”

Seris studied him for a long moment. Then she looked away. “Good.”

Kaelen frowned. “Why?”

Her hands curled into fists. “Because if you had, it would already be inside your mind.”

His heart pounded. “And what if it already is?”

She closed her eyes briefly, exhaling. “Then we’re already dead.”

A silence stretched between them.

Finally, Kaelen took a step forward. “Seris. What is it?”

She didn’t look at him.

But when she spoke, her voice was quieter than before.

“The thing you set free… It’s not just a monster, Kaelen.”

She turned to face him fully.

“It’s the thing that was inside the artifact.”

Kaelen’s stomach dropped.

The thing he had spent his past life sealing away.

The thing he had erased himself to forget.

It wasn’t just a force.

It was a being.

Seris’ voice was barely above a whisper.

“It’s you.”

Kaelen’s breath caught. “What?”

She stared at him, unblinking.

“It’s the part of you that you locked away.”

The cavern suddenly felt too small.

His own memories, his own past—it was hunting him.

The whispers in the air.

The way it had spoken his name.

It wasn’t calling out to him.

It was trying to take him back.

Kaelen took an unsteady step back, his mind racing. “No. That’s not—”

Then he felt it.

Something deep inside him.

A crack. A shift. A presence that wasn’t there before—

Or rather, one that had always been there, just waiting.

Waiting for him to remember.

A voice echoed through the cavern.

Faint.

Familiar.

Kaelen.

His blood ran cold.

Seris grabbed his arm. “We don’t have much time.”

Kaelen clenched his fists, his breathing unsteady.

The presence inside him was growing stronger.

And for the first time—

He wasn’t sure if he was still himself.

To be continued...