Chapter 13 - Echo XI — Flame & Metamorphosis

No sooner had the words left his lipsthan a strange bluish-black auraslowly escaped his own body.The air thickened with an invisible pressure.Kael was suddenly engulfedby a feeling of terror —not fear itself,but the fear of darkness.As if that intangible presencewas trembling before something far greater,something ancient.⋯It felt as if the entire worldwas bending beneath the weightof a wrath buried deep within him.A violent storm of pain,hatred,and bloodlustinvaded Kael,until his mind felton the verge of shattering.But instead of being swallowed by that darkness…⋯A gentle warmth reached out to him.An embrace he couldn't see,but felt deeply.It was her.He was certain.Her cries,though silent,were there.Like a wave of sorrowweaving its way toward him.⋯It was as if this entityfelt the same pain,the same hatred as he did…And in that suspended moment,their souls touched.Understood each other.He couldn't see her with his eyes,but in the faint halo of energy surrounding him,Kael glimpsed a humanoid shape.A silhouette made of aura,folding gently around him,holding him in a palpable tenderness.— Sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry... sorry...The entity's words,almost desperate,echoed endlessly in the air.As if she felt responsible.As if, somehow,she believed she had caused his suffering.⋯He didn't yet know the exact reason,but one thing was clear:This entity wanted only one thing —to ease his pain.She felt his agony.She drew it into herself.To free him from it.⋯Kael felt a strange sense of peace settle in,as though all that sufferinghe carried withinwas dissolving through her tears.Through her gentleness.He could feel his dark emotions,corrosive and consuming,being absorbed,swallowedinto some invisible abyss.A release.A form of catharsis.⋯It was as if the entitywas allowing him to purge all that poison inside.As if she was cleansing him.Lifting the weight of immense suffering.He felt as thoughall the darknessthat had built up inside himwas vanishing.Drawn into her.Carried away in an infinite mist,far from him.⋯Once he regained control of his emotionsand had calmed down,Kael made a gentle gesture.One of care.As if the aura itselfwere his sister.Wanting to comfort her.To ease her sorrow.⋯A few minutes passedin a soft stillness,where they simply stayed together,saying nothing.The only sound he could hearwas the entity's steady breath.A soothing melody.Almost hypnotic.⋯Then Kael felt ready to ask a question.But before he could even say the first word —"Do you…" —the entity interrupted him.Her voice calm and soft:— "Close... eyes... breathe... slow..."⋯She continued.With that surreal slowness,as if each wordhad to stretch across time.Kael, slightly intrigued, obeyed.He closed his eyes,inhaled deeply.A strange trusthad quietly formed between them.As if something greater than either of themwas uniting them in this silence.— "Slow... gently... breath... feel..."⋯Though perplexed,Kael allowed himself to be guided.He followed her instructions seriously.He shut his eyes tighter,breathed calmly.— "Then... smoke... black... like... vapor... all... around..."⋯His eyes remained closed.His mind focused.He understood each word more clearly,each inflection.It was as if the entity's languagewas becoming easier to graspthe more he listened.A few minutes passed.Then…Kael began to feel a presence.⋯A strange energy.A light mist.Hard to define.It felt like a blendof something familiarand something entirely new.An almost fragile sensation,yet undeniably powerful.The mist wasn't tangible,but he felt it deep inside.Like an invisible touch.But ever-present.— "Success... you... feel... energy..."⋯A pause.As if she wantedKael to fully focus on her next words.— "Now... you... inhale... energy...like... vortex... inside... you...then... exhale... outside...and... energy... stay... in... you..."⋯Kael, eyes still closed,focused.He could sense the invisible energy,like a wave approaching,but didn't know how to grasp it.It was a strange feeling.Hard to describe.But every part of his beingtold him to let it in.⋯He inhaled slowly,imagining himself as a vortexdrawing the energy inward.The air around him shimmered.He followed her guidance.Focused.Serious.A soft pressurefilled his lungs,as if the air itselfhad grown heavier.Then he exhaled slowly,intentionally.And the energy…remained.⋯For the first time since arriving here,he felt the energywasn't slipping away.It stayed within him.Like an invisible treasuredeep in his core.The entity seemed ready to praise him.But Kael…guided by a sudden instinct…repeated the process again.⋯His hands clenchedaround the forming energy,and almost reflexively,he inhaled once more.This time,something changed.⋯A flameignited in his stomach.Not in his heart.Not in his mind.But there.In that deep part of himself.It grew with every breath.And with it…a strange motionswirled around him.It was no longer mere mist.Nor a gentle, manageable energy.It was a dark wavespreading steadily,like a calm but powerful current.Darkness unfolded.Coiling slowly around him.It wasn't a threat.But a dense presence.A weight.Kael hadn't tried to amplify it.And yet…The force of this energyseemed almost eagerto take form.To spread.To unfold.⋯The vortex,once timid,transformed.Becoming a fluid motion.Hypnotic.It was drawing in everything around him.Kael could feel the black vaporinterlacing the space.A sensation both familiar and new,as powerful as it was delicate.It wasn't evil.Nor good.It was a primordial energy.Raw.Without judgment.⋯The entity,invisible yet present,seemed surprised.There was no fear.No confusion.Only…a sense of awe.She watched this unknown potential,this dark manifestation…And Kael could almost feelthat she was impressedby the depthof what he had just unleashed.⋯Kael, though astonished himself,kept his focus.The energy swirled around him.Intensified.He tried to guide it.But each movementonly hastened the expansion of this force.He was no longer simplybreathing in mist.He was absorbing a deeper essence.Something that livedat the intersection of shadow and light.An energythat existed beyond the simple notionsof good and evil.⋯Suddenly,the entity cried out.Her voice worried, almost desperate:— "Stop!... Stop... now... or... reservoir... break... Kael... danger..."Kael opened his eyes, startled.But before he could respond,another phrase dropped,graver still:— "Kael... already... exceed... expectation... me...but... push... too far... dangerous..."⋯And in that moment…Kael understood.He had just crossedan invisible boundary.A limitthat even this entityhad not foreseen.