The creature wearing Kaelith's face circled her, barefoot across the dreamscape's scorched soil. Shadows coiled around his limbs like living snakes, and his grin was too wide—too knowing.
> "You think love can unmake me?" it hissed. "You're too late. He called me. When his pain peaked… when you broke his trust."
Seraphina's heart thundered.
"I never broke him," she said. "I was the only one who—"
> "You left," it snapped. "You promised to stay. But in the timeline you rewrote… you hesitated. And that crack was enough."
The air trembled.
Suddenly, the world blurred. The corrupted garden dissolved into something else—a corridor of fire and glass, screams echoing down endless halls.
Seraphina stumbled, clutching her ears. "What is this?!"
> "His worst memory," the entity said with glee. "You want to free him? Then feel the truth."
---
Scene Break – The Night of Ashes
Seraphina opened her eyes.
And gasped.
She was no longer herself.
She was in Kaelith's skin—his height, his weight, his agony.
A boy's voice rang in her ears—his voice—raw and panicked.
> "Mother? Mother, where are you—?"
The hallway was caving in. Flames licked the walls. Soldiers stormed the estate, cloaked in royal insignias.
He was ten years old.
And he was running for his life.
> "Traitor's son!" one guard yelled. "By order of the Crown, the bloodline ends tonight!"
Kaelith turned a corner and saw her—his mother—bloody, kneeling, eyes wild.
> "You have to go," she sobbed. "Run! Don't look back!"
She stood between him and the soldiers, raising a glowing sigil—
And was struck down before she could cast it.
Seraphina screamed.
But the scream came from Kaelith's mouth.
---
Scene Break – Shattered Trust
The memory faded—but not before Kaelith's child self whispered through sobs:
> "I'll never trust again. I'll never need anyone. Never. Never…"
The world snapped back into the soulscape.
The demon stood waiting.
Its grin was fainter now.
"You see?" it whispered. "You can't save someone who's made a home in pain."
Seraphina wiped her eyes. Her voice was hoarse, but certain.
> "You're right. I can't save him if he won't fight."
She turned, walked away.
Toward the pillar where Kaelith still hung in chains, motionless.
She reached up—
> And grabbed a chain.
It burned her palms. Her skin split.
But she pulled.
> "Then I'll fight for him. Until he remembers who he was before the pain."
---
Final Scene – The Soul Cracks
The demon screeched.
"No! He belongs to me! His rage, his fear—I am what keeps him alive!"
Kaelith groaned, the first sound from his lips in what felt like hours.
His eyes fluttered.
"Seraphina…?"
The chain in her hands shattered.
> And for a breathless moment… light surged across the void.
But the demon launched forward, fangs bared, voice thundering.
"You want him back? Then die for him!"
It struck.
And everything turned to white.