They say when a mortal defies Death, the world bends to correct it.
But sometimes, the world breaks instead.
The night after the confrontation, Aarav didn't sleep — at least, not willingly.
He sat by his son's hospital bed, eyes half-closed, exhaustion crawling over his body like a parasite. Machines beeped softly beside him, their rhythm steady and soothing. Aarush's face looked peaceful, his chest rising and falling with small breaths.
That was all that mattered.
Yet the mark on Aarav's palm wouldn't stop burning. It pulsed faintly beneath the bandage — a heartbeat that wasn't his.
He rubbed it, whispering under his breath, "What are you?"
The answer came hours later, not through words — but through a nightmare.
At first, it felt like falling.
Aarav drifted through endless blackness, the kind that feels thick, heavy, alive. There was no ground, no sound — only a suffocating hum vibrating deep in his chest.
Then, distant whispers. Thousands of them. Soft at first, then rising — screams, cries, laughter, madness.
The dark began to move.
Shapes formed from the void: faces twisted in agony, hands clawing at him, eyes burning with faint light. Souls — hundreds, thousands — floating like dust in a storm.
"You touched the chain."
"You broke the gate."
"Now it's open."
Aarav tried to speak, but his voice vanished into the void.
Suddenly, the ground formed beneath him — a cracked marble floor stained with something darker than blood. Far ahead stood a mirror, tall and ancient, framed with writhing serpents.
His reflection was not human.
It was him, but not — his eyes glowed gold like molten fire, veins etched with black sigils. From his shadow sprouted tendrils of smoke that pulsed with every heartbeat. In his right hand was the same chain he'd seized from Death's servant — but it no longer looked like a weapon. It looked alive, coiling like a serpent hungry for souls.
He stepped closer. The reflection smiled back, though his own lips didn't move.
"Do you want to save him?" the reflection asked, voice deep and layered, as if a thousand souls spoke through it.
"Yes," Aarav breathed. "Whatever it takes."
"Then know this—every life you restore will demand another. That's the rule of the Dominion."
"Dominion?"
The reflection's golden eyes burned brighter.
"The power that flows through the boundary between life and death. You touched it. It marked you. You are bound now—to it, and to Him."
"Death?" Aarav whispered.
The reflection tilted its head.
"No. To me."
The mirror cracked.
Darkness surged outward, wrapping around Aarav's arms. The marks on his skin lit up, forming sigils that crawled like living veins of gold. He screamed, feeling both agony and power flooding his veins. Visions burst behind his eyes — chains slicing through reapers, souls bending to his will, flames of light reversing death itself.
And then, he saw Kael.(The Herald)
Not as the man in the hallway, but as something else — wings of ash and light unfurled behind him, eyes like eclipses staring down at Aarav from a throne made of shifting stars. His voice echoed through the nightmare.
" Don't defy the fate, don't hold his hand, your son has lived his life, unbind the chain."
Aarav's eyes snapped open.
He was still in the hospital room, drenched in sweat, his heart pounding like thunder. His right hand burned with golden light — the sigils from his dream now faintly etched across his skin.
He stumbled back, panting. "What… was that?"
Then he heard it. A whisper. From the corner of the room.
"A dream… or a memory of what's awakening in you?"
He turned sharply.
Kael stood there — same black suit, same calm expression, but his aura felt heavier now, less human. The shadows bent subtly around him, like the world was afraid to touch him.
Aarav's instinct screamed danger, but his exhaustion held him still.
"You again," he said bitterly. "Come to finish me and my son?"
Kael's lips curved faintly. "If I wanted you dead, I'd have never warned you."
"Warned me?
"I tested you," Kael replied.
Aarav stepped closer, fists clenched. "You and your Death God can stay out of my life."
Kael sighed, brushing imaginary dust from his sleeve. "You misunderstand, Aarav Malhotra. You're in our domain now. Whether you wish it or not."
"What are you talking about?"
Kael's gaze sharpened. "You broke the chain of transfer. You interfered with a soul claim. That mark on your hand — it's not a blessing. It's a claim of Dominion. Death's power runs through you now, unrefined and unstable. If you lose control, it will devour you… and everything near you."
Aarav felt the chill crawl up his spine. "The god or whatever he saw in his nightmare is not something he wanted to get attached with but he can't let death claim his only reason to live.
I lost everything one after another, whoever was dear to me died a tragic death, I had nothing left, but then my son came into my life gave me a reason to live and you want to take him away as well.
Take me instead, I'm ready to die, take this chain, I don't want to be some soulbreaker, take it back."
Kael's faint smile returned. "If I could, I would. But the moment you tore that Servant apart, you became something between mortal and reaper. Something that shouldn't exist."
Silence stretched between them. Aarav's heartbeat echoed in his ears.
Finally, he whispered, "Why me?"
Kael's answer was quiet but sharp. "Because your will was stronger than your fate."
He turned toward the window, the city lights glimmering beyond the fog. "And now that strength is both your weapon and your curse."
Aarav stared at his hand — the faint golden marks glowing softly beneath the skin. "You're saying I can… control it?"
Kael's voice dropped lower. "Eventually. If you survive the awakening."
"Awakening?"
"Did you really think that dream was just a dream?" Kael looked over his shoulder. "Your body is trying to adapt to the Dominion's power. But your mind—" he tapped his temple "—isn't built to comprehend it. You'll keep seeing fragments of what lies beyond. The Veil. The souls. The threads of fate."
Aarav stepped closer, eyes burning. "Then teach me how to control it."
Kael raised an eyebrow, genuinely amused. "You think I'm your mentor now?"
"I think," Aarav said, "you wouldn't be here if you didn't have a reason."
Kael studied him for a long moment. Then, with a faint, almost reluctant smile, he nodded. "Clever mortal."
He approached Aarav slowly, his presence pressing like gravity. "Listen carefully. Death does not forgive disobedience. My Lord knows your name now. He has sent others — stronger, less patient than I — to retrieve what you stole."
Aarav's expression hardened. "They'll come for my son."
"They'll come for both of you."
Kael's tone softened, almost pitying. "The Dominion feeds on your bond. The stronger your love for that boy, the brighter your soul burns — and the easier it is to find."
Aarav clenched his jaw. "Then let them come."
Kael smirked. "You're brave. Or suicidal."
"Maybe both."
Kael's smile faded, replaced by something unreadable. "You don't understand the scale of what you've done, Aarav. Mortals live by the laws of time and death. You just broke both."
He turned to leave, his form already fading like mist.
"Wait!" Aarav called. "Why are you helping me?"
Kael paused. "I'm not."
"Then why warn me?"
Kael's eyes glowed faintly — not with malice, but something else. Regret. "Because I've seen it before. Someone who tried to save what was already gone. And I watched the world burn for it."
With that, he vanished into shadow.