I couldn't speak not because of the fear , but because i had no answer. My whole life was covered in the questions.
It cut deeper than the blade.
"To give everything up."
She waited.
"I lost everything. Family. Home. My past. It vanished. I thought… what's left?, but regardless i ran away from what i should've protected , comforted. I left it all because.... i knew i was too weak".
I swallowed.
"I destroyed what i loved, i made a choice which i couldn't change."
Sorry to disappoint you but my identity as no meaning, because i don't know who i am or what i should be. Am just one if the numerous survivors which lost meaning in surviving.
Her hand struck the dashboard.
"Shut up."
She wasn't angry as i thought she was but something worse.
She was broken, i thought she was just upset of what i said but those were lies.
And for some reason, she hated seeing me reflect that same fracture. Maybe i had reopened a wound which should have been kept closed.
"You think you're the only one?" Her voice cracked. "The only one who's blamed themselves?".
Her eyes—glassy, trembling.Slowly filling with tears, her scent was becoming more toxic. I could feel the air thinning around her.
"I did that. I lived it. I lost more because I couldn't forgive myself.But i found that even if i didn't forgive, i would always forget it."
The pain is what gave me the urge to grow stronger, to survive through the deaths and misery.
I didn't want to cry.
But I did.
"…Thank you, Rose."
She didn't reply
The toxic scent was replaced in an instant with a sweet scent of roses.
But as the car swam in the scent of roses—
I slept.
---
I woke in quiet.
A coat draped over my shoulders.
Warm.
Rose stood among flowers. Alone in a field of bloom.
"Sleep well?" she asked, voice soft.
I nodded.
" I was wondering how you were able to keep calm when i was releasing the poison, but it seems your just calm."
I was a bit surprised that the toxic smell was poison but i tried my best to hide that fact.
I looked at her again and asked.
"Where's the Academy?"
She hesitated.
I can take you there but,
"I can't come with you."
She pressed a rose into my hand. And whispered.
"Don't take this as a threat, but its best you grow stronger in those few weeks, or else, i can guarantee you won't survive the scape"
"It was nice meeting you, Night."
Then the world blinked out.
And when my breath returned—
I was standing before towering gates.
The Academy.
---
Stone walls rose into the sky, towering like a barrier made to keep the seekers away from the open world.
They weren't just cold—they pressed in from all sides. Still. Heavy. The kind of silence that said no one leaves unchanged.
The gates yawned open.
A deep groan echoed, slow and drawn out. I stepped forward, i was very sad that i couldn't roam in the around in the city. But nothing could change the ominous feeling of the scape calling.I was suddenly alerted as soon as i felt the shadow kin trait activate, revealing a lone shadow.
And then saw whose it was.
Dark grey hair—wild, untamed. Eyes that cut deep. He didn't look surprised. Just curious, like he already knew why I was here.
"Looks like Rose brought someone… unusual."
That was all he said.
Then something shifted.
The air behind me bent. Hunger rose like a whisper.
It lunged.
I didn't see it—I felt it. Six steps behind.
Shadow Kin trait was active. Through the creature's shadow, I sensed its speed, its path and all i could feel through its shadow.
I dodged. Just barely.
It missed me. With a slight manuver, it came back.
Wind rushed past. Claws scraped through the air as it nearly cut my face in half. Then silence.
My eyes opened. Focused.
He hadn't flinched. Still watching.
"It seems that a lot of talented seekers were awakening nowadays," he said.
I frowned, what did he mean but seekers,
Then I felt her.
A different presence.
Bright. Fierce. Cold.
My skin felt like it was gonna peel off.
I turned.
A girl stood at the edge of the hall.
Silver-purple hair. Violet eyes.
She didn't speak. Just stared at me, the look in her eyes were clear that she had experienced alot.
But what was beneath them was something far incomprehensible than anything i ever felt..
There was also rage in her eyes...
Not aimed at me. Not yet. But it was there, waiting.
Who was she?
---
They questioned me thoroughly, i was expecting it a little since rose told me before hand.
Most of the questions were centered on things like the Spire. The trial. The seals and the traits i might have awakened there.
I told them what I could, and that did not include anything about the forgotten king, the task as well as the black flame.
When it was over, they gave me a keycard. No explanation. Just silence.
They led me to a room.
Small. Cold. A bed. Four walls.
Twenty-six days had passed since I entered the trial.
Since I had fallen.
Winter Solace was near.
Now I understood almost everything.
Each year, on Solace, the Dreadscape calls the Marked.
The dread scape just like its name is a soul realm, where abominations and unspeakable things wandered.
Since it was a soul realm, only the soul is be pulled in, which meant, once the seekers soul is killed or devoured, there is no way to heal it or bring it back.
The dread scape is not as easy to leave as a trial. When it calls —there is no escape.
If your strong , you live .
If not you die.
And if your death births a key to its depths.
A Dread Gate is born.
One that never closes.