I felt the weight of the word pressing against my mind like a living thing. Erase.
It promised absolution, finality, and silence. It promised freedom. But it also promised oblivion—not just for the other Kael, not just for the fragments, not just for the fractured city, but for everything.
My scar burned. The white letter above me pulsed violently, threatening to shatter the fragile world if I hesitated. The other Kael's eyes bore into mine, pleading and accusing all at once.
I inhaled. The fragments shrieked, the city bent, the hum quaked—but for the first time, I felt something steadier than fear: clarity.
I did not speak the word.
Instead, I clenched my fists and whispered something entirely new, born of desperation, instinct, and understanding.
"Balance."
The white letter exploded into brilliance, cascading across the city in waves. The fragments froze, no longer attacking, no longer fleeing. They began to weave into the cracks in the streets, forming patterns I could barely comprehend—structures of meaning that tied the broken reality back together.
The other Kael blinked, surprised. His scars flickered. "Balance…?"
"Yes," I said, my voice steady for the first time. "Not erase. Not destroy. We survive together. The words… the cycle… it's ours to guide, not end."
The hum softened, flowing into harmony. The city stopped bending, the sky's pale colors settling into a fragile spectrum. The fragments merged with the patterns I had woven, not as monsters, but as part of the living language of this world.
The other Kael stepped closer. His eyes softened, the fury in them replaced by something that almost looked like respect. "You… chose differently."
"Yes," I said. "And maybe this time, the sky won't forget its color."
The white letter pulsed one final time before dissolving into the cracks of the pavement. My scar lingered, glowing faintly—a reminder, not a threat.
I looked up. The sky above me shimmered in impossible hues, neither blue nor gray, but alive with potential.
The world hadn't ended.
The cycle hadn't broken—but it had changed.
And I was no longer just a shadow of who I had been.
I was Kael.
I was awake.