A faint memory, flashes of what might've happened.
images of his dad, demons and a fight that seemed to never end
Kai falls to one knee as these glimpses overwhelm him but he grits his teeth as he looks up at these demons.
A voice cut through the darkness, low and cold
"Pathetic."
His eyes faltered as the demons disappeared, a chill prickling down his spine. "What... who's there?"
"Don't bother looking around," the voice sneered.
"I'm right here. I'm the power you think you've been wielding so skilfully." said in a mocking tone
"I've been here all along, watching every miserable attempt you've made."
He froze, heart pounding. This voice... it was in his head, yet seemed to echo all around him.
"You...you can talk? Why now? I've been using you for months, and you've never---"
"Yes. I've been watching you, fumble and fail, for months," the voice said, contempt thick in every word. "Every time you've drawn on me or even attempted, it's been nothing but a pathetic display of hesitation and doubt."
He clenched his fists, jaw tightening. "I... I've been doing my best. I've tried to save people! You don't get to judge me... You're supposed to help me!"
The voice scoffed, cold and dismissive. "Help you? Why would I bother helping someone as weak as you? You risked their lives with your incompetence and called it heroism."
The accusation hit hard, ripping the open wound of a close friend's death even wider. "I tried, what could I have done differently? I tried my best so how am I wrong!"
"Oh, you're a regular saint, aren't you?" the voice mocked.
his anger and shame twisted in his gut. "Maybe if you showed me how to use this ability, instead I had to try to figure it out on my own."
"And what a mess you've made of it," the voice said, its tone cutting like a blade. the voice continues
"Learning me you say? Was that what you were doing when you stood by, paralyzed, as your friends bled out? Watching your so-called comrades fight and fall, while you cowered behind your 'fear'? Pathetic."
"you talking about before with Haydon? And now with Ethan, yes I failed both times but that makes the one in the wrong? I was afraid. I thought I'd make it worse in Haydon's case but this time I couldn't move" Kai replies
"Yes, let's talk about your fear shall we?" The voice was unrelenting. "Your endless excuses. Always hiding behind them, cowering in your weakness. You keep saying you're 'trying' but trying is for the weak. Trying is for people who hope they're capable, rather than knowing they are."
He could feel his face growing hot, a mix of anger and humiliation twisting inside him. "I've done plenty. I don't see many others put their life on the line like I do."
"Oh, putting your life on the line? is that what you call your feeble attempts at heroism? Flinching, stumbling, praying you don't mess up? People depend on you, and you're too weak to handle it."
The words stung like slaps to the face, but he refused to back down. "You think I haven't tried?" he said, voice shaking. "you think I don't feel it every time I mess up? I know I've made mistakes, but at least I'm out there doing something at least I'm willing to face it, to keep trying."
The voice gave a low, mocking laugh. "Trying. Always trying. Never doing. There's no conviction in you, only desperation. You don't command me...you merely flail around, hoping something good will come of it. It's pathetic. If you weren't so weak, You'd know how to wield me by now. Real power isn't begged for."
"So what, then?" he snapped, frustration boiling over.
"You think I should just give up?"
Silence fell, heavy and final, before the voice answered, cool and unyielding.
"Honestly? Yes, I would... you crumble at every choice, every mistake. But we're here now, aren't we? And I suppose... you're all I have." the voice spoke like a master forced to acknowledge his unworthy pupil.
"Then why bother speaking to me at all?" he challenged, voice raw. "Why not stay silent and let me keep failing on my own?"
A dark amusement flickered through the voice. "Because even I can't stand to watch you struggle any longer. Either you rise above your pathetic excuses, or you collapse under the weight of this power. It's time to stop playing pretend, stop trying to be something you're not. You either command me... or let me consume you. Do you understand?"
He nodded, his jaw set, fists clenched. "Yes," he whispered. "I understand it now."
"Good," the voice hissed. "Because there will be no more warnings. Flinch again, hesitate even for a moment, and I will strip you of every ounce of power you think you possess."
The world felt sharper as if some weight had settled in his bones, a heavy understanding. The voice gave one final, almost amused sigh.
"Now," it said, each word laced with a bitter challenge. "Are you finally ready to be worthy of me?"
He took a slow, steadying breath, the remnants of fear ebbing into something fiercer, something resolute. He raised his head, a glint of defiance in his eyes.
"I am," he replied, voice steady.
The voice chuckled, dark and full of doubt.
"Then prove it."
everything goes dark as Kai falls through the mist.
his eyes snap open
Kai stood. An ethereal blue aura swirled around him. shifting like mist, alive with an otherworldly energy. It pulsed, casting a cool, eerie glow that made him appear both powerful and untouchable. His hair was pure white, almost silver in its brilliance.
Kai stood alone in the rubble of what was once a city building, the air thick with the scent of smoke and decay. His hands trembled as he realised the death of a close friend, this thought quickly vanished as he turned to where the dead body was and it had disappeared, he threw these thoughts of where is his body to the back of his mind as he knew the fight wasn't at its end yet.
For the first time, he felt the pull of the soul vault, closer than ever, like a beating heart that he could no longer ignore. The energy surged within him.
The ground beneath him trembled. A laugh echoed through the shattered streets.
Clown revealed in the chaos he had sown. He jumped down from the debris that had built up from the chaos, as he landed he spun around, his dark red and black cloak trailing behind him like the shadow of a nightmare.
Another card appeared in his hand, glowing ominously. The Ace of Spades. The card pulsed with a dark energy, ready to warp reality itself. With a cruel flick of his wrist, he threw it into the air. The space around it began to distort, bending and twisting as the fabric of reality itself was torn asunder.
"You're all so predictable. You think you can fight me, turn this into some game,"
Clown said as he headed toward Kai with a menacing smile
"I am the game, and there's no winning when I'm the one in control."