I fall again.
Not physically.
Not really.
I fall inward.
Darkness closes around me like something familiar.
Like something waiting.
I'm standing in front of the house.
Kyirk.
It's intact.
Too intact.
The walls aren't burned. The roof hasn't collapsed. The door still stands.
It's wrong.
I know it's wrong.
But I push it open anyway.
My father is there.
Standing tall in armor. No blood. No wound.
He looks at me the way he used to.
Back when I was still… someone.
"Aydan."
His voice is calm.
Too calm.
"You've grown."
I try to speak.
Nothing comes out.
He circles me slowly. His gaze lowers to my hands.
"Your hands are dirty."
I look down.
They're covered in blood.
Fresh.
Thick.
"You were meant to protect," he says. "Not become this."
I shake my head. I want to explain. I want to say I tried. That I had no choice. That it was them or—
"Enough."
My mother stands behind me.
I didn't hear her move.
Her hand rests gently on my shoulder.
I tremble.
"Why are you still breathing?" she asks softly.
Her voice is warm.
Too warm.
"Why are we the ones who died?"
I turn.
Her face is untouched.
Her eyes are empty.
"Why not you, Aydan?"
The ground cracks.
The walls split.
The house collapses.
They fall.
Their bodies hit the floor in front of me — twisted, broken, torn open.
Their mouths move at the same time.
"Why?"
"Why?"
"Why are you alive?"
I stumble back.
Slip.
Fall to my knees.
"I… I killed…"
The words finally come.
My voice doesn't sound like mine.
"I killed… a man…"
Blood spreads from my hands across the floor like a black ocean.
"One?" my father repeats.
"More than one," my mother corrects.
They rise.
Walk toward me.
"And you'll do it again," my father says.
"And you'll like it," my mother whispers.
Their faces draw closer.
Too close.
"Look at yourself."
I scream.
I wake up screaming.
My throat burns. My chest heaves. Tears spill without permission.
"Aydan!" Serah cries.
She rushes to me, kneels, grips my shoulders gently.
"Are you okay? Aydan, look at me!"
I can't breathe properly.
"Where… where is Brask?"
My voice cracks.
Kaïros sits against the wall, watching carefully.
"You were unconscious for over ten hours," he says calmly. "Night is almost here. We're still hidden. Brask is… captured."
The word cuts.
Serah lowers her gaze.
Selene sits near the cave entrance, silent and hollow.
"I used the last of my mana to heal you," Kaïros adds. "I'm empty."
I sit up slowly.
My body feels fine.
Too fine.
But my mind—
is shattered.
I stare at my hands.
Clean.
Too clean.
"I'm a murderer," I whisper.
The air shifts.
Not visibly.
But something tightens around me.
My fingers tremble.
"I lost control…"
The throat.
The finger.
The soldier's eyes.
"Because of me… Brask was taken. Serah got hurt. Kaïros too."
My voice breaks.
"This is my fault."
My breathing spirals.
Too fast.
My vision blurs.
Why did I do it?Why didn't I think?Why did I let hatred decide?
Kaïros watches.
Analyzing.
But he doesn't interrupt.
Serah turns to him, desperate.
"Why aren't you saying anything? He's not okay!"
She moves closer to me.
Places her hand on my back.
"Aydan…"
I look at her.
I must look terrifying.
Broken.
"How can you know?" I whisper. "You don't even know why I killed them."
She doesn't move her hand.
"I don't know why," she says softly. "But I know there is a reason."
I shake my head.
"We barely know each other."
She gives a small, tired smile.
"Maybe. But I can feel it."
She inhales deeply.
"Aydan… breathe."
I follow her rhythm.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
My heart slows.
The tremor weakens.
Kaïros closes his eyes briefly.
He understands.
He knows exactly what's happening.
But he says nothing.
Elsewhere.
The forest at night is different.
Quieter.
More dangerous.
Elëv moves through the trees with his squad.
Silent.
Precise.
They find a body.
A student.
Torn apart.
"Animal," one soldier mutters.
Farther ahead—
Another body.
Throat cut clean.
Elëv kneels.
Studies the wound.
"Not an animal," he says quietly.
"Wide blade. Controlled strike."
He rises.
"Some students are already dead."
They move again.
Through the trees, a camp emerges.
Torches.
Crude barricades.
Earth soldiers.
Cages.
And inside—
teenagers.
Injured.
Beaten.
Barely conscious.
Then he sees them.
Three boys.
Bound.
Dragged.
"Students," Elëv murmurs.
He straightens.
"We strike tomorrow night," he orders. "Minimal noise. No alarm. Silent extraction."
His squad nods.
They disappear into the dark.
Back in the cave.
I lift my head.
"We find the camp."
Kaïros looks at me.
"Why?"
"To get Brask back."
Serah nods instantly.
Selene hesitates.
Her lips tremble.
"Oryn… wouldn't have done that for me."
She looks at us.
"I don't want to stay with him."
Her voice is fragile.
"I want to stay with you."
Silence.
Then she whispers:
"I'm sorry."
Serah gives her a small, genuine smile.
"It's okay."
I look at Serah.
That smile.
For a second, I see my mother.
I smile back.
Kaïros raises an eyebrow.
"Oh? The demon smiles now?"
I let out a quiet laugh.
Then his expression hardens.
"If we go," he says, "we commit fully."
I nod.
"We're bringing him back."
Fear is still there.
Exhaustion too.
But something else has settled inside me.
I'm done running.
Not this time.