Chapter 4: The Beast of Stone
The Spirit Realm was nothing like Elior imagined.
The air shimmered with silver light, and rivers of stars flowed across the sky like threads of a tapestry. Trees glowed faintly blue, their branches swaying without wind. The ground beneath their feet was soft, alive, as if it pulsed with a heartbeat.
"It's… beautiful," Liora whispered, her eyes wide with awe.
Kael gave a low whistle. "Beautiful? Try unsettling. Feels like the forest is staring at us."
Elior couldn't answer. His chest was tight, the voices of his dreams louder now, echoing through the strange world. They weren't whispers anymore—they were songs, faint and broken, carried by the air itself.
"Elior…"
He turned sharply, but no one was there.
Then the ground shook.
The earth split open before them, and from it rose a creature carved from stone. Its body towered above the trees, jagged and terrible, with eyes burning like molten fire. Each step it took made the land quake, the rivers above rippling in the sky.
The beast lowered its head, its voice like thunder.
"You are nothing. A boy with no name. A shadow without worth."
The words struck harder than the monster's roar. Elior staggered back, clutching his chest. They were the same words the villagers had whispered, the same fear that gnawed at him every day.
Kael stepped forward, staff trembling in his hands. "Shut your mouth, rock-face. He's not nothing. He's my brother."
The beast laughed, a sound like grinding stone. "Your loyalty cannot change his truth."
It swung an arm, the force of it tearing trees from the ground. Kael grabbed Elior, shoving him aside just in time. The earth cracked where they had stood, dust exploding into the air.
"Elior!" Liora's cry pierced through the chaos. She rushed to his side, helping him up. Her eyes burned with fire. "Don't listen to it. You are not nothing!"
But Elior's legs trembled. His hand shook as he gripped the small blade his uncle had given him years ago. I can't fight this. I'm weak. I've always been weak.
The beast raised its arm again. This time, Kael darted forward, swinging his staff with a cry. The strike barely chipped the stone, but the sound rang through the air like defiance itself.
Kael glanced back, grinning despite the danger. "Elior! You don't need a past to matter. You matter to us—right now. Stand with me!"
Elior froze. The words tore through his fear like light through shadow. He looked at Kael, bruised and still grinning, and at Liora, her hand gripping his like an anchor. For the first time, he realized—he wasn't alone in this fight.
The beast roared and charged.
Elior lifted his blade. His heart pounded, not from fear, but from something else—resolve. He ran forward, Kael at his side. Their weapons struck together, cracks splitting across the beast's chest.
"Again!" Kael shouted.
Together they struck once more, light sparking from their blows. The cracks deepened, spreading like veins of fire. The beast let out one final roar before shattering into a thousand fragments, stone scattering across the ground like broken chains.
Silence followed. Only the sound of Elior's breath, ragged and heavy, filled the air.
Kael clapped him on the back, grinning through the sweat. "See? Told you. You're not nothing."
Elior stared at the shattered stones, his chest heaving. For the first time, the voice of doubt was quiet. Not gone, but quieter.
He lifted his eyes to Kael and Liora. "I'm not nothing," he whispered, as if trying the words for the first time.
Liora's hand found his, her smile soft and fierce. "No, Elior. You never were."
Above them, the rivers of stars flowed on, brighter now, as if the Realm itself acknowledged his first step toward remembering who he was.