The rain thickened until it felt like the sky itself was collapsing. Kael's boots sank deeper into the mud as he faced the armored figure in the road. His pulse and the creature's pulse had become one, a shared rhythm that pounded in his chest until he could not tell whose heart was beating.
Equito adjusted her grip on her halberd. Her armor gleamed even in the dim light, each etched rune faintly glowing with energy. Her eyes were sharp and focused. "You are leaving the grounds without permission," she said again, though her voice no longer held certainty. "You are to be detained until the Crown decides your fate."
Kael stared at her through the curtain of rain. His face was blank. "I have no fate left."
The words came out wrong. They did not sound like him. Something deeper spoke beneath them, a low vibration that made the air tremble.
Equito's stance tightened. She could feel it now, that pressure around him, invisible but heavy. It crawled against her skin and pressed into her lungs. She had faced warlocks, beasts, and cursed relics, but never this. This was not magic. It was something older, something that existed before magic had words.
Kael took a step forward. His shadow dragged behind him like smoke. The rain around him slowed, droplets hanging longer in the air before falling. The thing inside him was awake now, watching through his eyes. It liked the way fear tasted.
She raised her halberd, pointing the blade toward his heart. "Do not force my hand."
He blinked slowly. The whisper inside him sighed. She will not understand until she bleeds.
Kael's sword was already in his hand before he realized it. The blade felt light, almost weightless. The air crackled. His eyes glowed faintly, veins in his arms pulsing with dull red light that shimmered beneath his skin.
Equito charged. The sound of her armor striking against itself cut through the rain. She moved like a storm, precise and relentless. Her halberd swept through the air, trailing sparks as it connected with his blade.
The impact shook the ground. The mud exploded under their feet. Kael slid backward, but his footing held. He felt the power inside him rush forward, spilling into his limbs, sharpening his reflexes. He swung again, faster than his body should have allowed, and steel met steel with a sound that echoed through the valley.
Equito gritted her teeth. Every strike she blocked rattled her bones. He fought like someone possessed, each movement perfectly calculated yet completely feral. His expression never changed. No anger, no fear, no exhaustion. Just focus.
She twisted her halberd, catching his next blow and driving him back with a surge of runic energy. Lightning cracked across the sky. The glow from her weapon illuminated his face, pale and wet, eyes hollow.
She struck again, slicing horizontally. He ducked low, water splashing around them. His counter came so fast she barely raised her guard in time. Their blades screamed against each other. For a heartbeat, their faces were inches apart.
"I am not your enemy," she said quietly.
He looked at her, and something inside him smiled. "Not yet."
Their weapons locked, pushing against each other. She could feel the unnatural heat coming off his body, the raw power burning under his skin. The air between them shimmered, rippling like heat off stone.
She pushed harder, muscles straining, trying to break his stance. He shifted his weight suddenly, twisting, disarming her in a single smooth motion. Her halberd flew from her grip and landed several feet away.
Before she could recover, he was on her. She blocked with her gauntlet, the force of his strike sending her staggering backward. His sword sliced through a strand of her hair. The next strike would have split her helm in two if she had not rolled aside.
She regained her footing, summoning the runes in her armor. Light flared across her body, forming a barrier of shimmering silver. Her halberd lifted from the ground, drawn back to her hand by magic. She caught it mid-air and spun it in a tight circle, driving the butt of the weapon into the ground. Energy rippled outward.
The shockwave hit Kael square in the chest. He flew back several feet, crashing into the mud. Steam rose around him where the rain touched his skin.
He stood slowly, head tilted down. Blood dripped from his lip. His breath came out in shallow bursts. The voice inside him whispered again. She cannot stop us.
Equito raised her weapon, breathing hard. Her arms trembled slightly under the weight of her armor. She had struck harder than she meant to, and he was still standing.
Kael took another step forward. Then another. His movements were wrong now, too smooth, too fluid. The rain avoided him, bending slightly as if repelled by the heat coming from his body.
She adjusted her stance. The road beneath them had become a mire of water and ash. The storm above deepened, clouds swirling in unnatural patterns.
"Who are you," she asked, her voice barely audible over the rain.
Kael lifted his head slowly. His eyes glowed brighter. "I do not know anymore."
The thing inside him stirred. The scar on his arm pulsed once, light flickering through the cracks in his skin. His grip on the sword tightened until the hilt creaked. The metal itself began to glow.
Equito could feel the pressure change. The air grew heavy and electric. Her instincts screamed to move, to end this quickly before it grew worse.
She took one careful step forward. "Then I will stop you before you forget everything."
Kael's expression flickered. For a heartbeat, he looked almost human again. Then the light returned, and the thing inside him smiled through his face.
Their weapons rose at the same time.
The rain slowed to a crawl. The storm held its breath. The next strike would decide everything.