Aelina's eyes were filled with unshed tears as she reached out to Kael. "I want to tell you something," she said, her voice shaking with emotion. "I think I sense something, but it needs to come. I don't know what it is, but I need to tell you... YOU MUST NOT FORGET WHO YOU REALLY ARE. Please, from the bottom of my heart."
Aelina broke down into sobs, her body trembling.
Kael stood frozen, his mind racing. I didn't know at the time that I would miss you this much... His thoughts turned inward. I ran from you, from your parents, because I didn't understand what love truly meant. I was scared of losing something if I stayed, but I had already lost it the moment I stepped outside this house... Now... now it's time to repay my mistakes.
Kael swallowed hard, feeling the weight of his words. He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.
"I know I'm a fool. A loser. I tried to run, scared of loving something and then losing it. But now... I understand that was my sin. I'm so sorry... so sorry for running away." His face was a mask of sadness and regret.
Aelina looked at him with a mixture of confusion and pain. She wiped away a tear, her voice growing more desperate.
"But why did you run away from me, Kael?" she asked. "You know I put you first. You know I would sacrifice everything for you. Didn't you?"
Her voice trembled with emotion, and a hint of redness appeared on her face, but it was laced with deep sadness. "I want you by my side, every day, every night. Through the loops, through the threads... I LOVE YOU, Kael."
"I love you..." Kael tried to say, but he couldn't.
For a brief moment, time seemed to freeze. Kael looked into her sapphire blue eyes, and in that instant, he saw something terrifying.
A dark figure, lurking in the distance, tried to escape the Rift of eternity. The air grew cold, and the very essence of the world around them began to shift.
"No, no, no, no, no, what are you doing here? It was you, I saw you! That time when I used the silver threads, why now???" Kael screamed, his voice filled with anger and despair.
In the blink of an eye, everything changed. Aelina's body began to disintegrate into dust, the particles flying into the air, scattering like fragile remnants of what once was. Kael's eyes turned an eerie red as the world around him shattered. He screamed as loudly as he could, "Why is it her? Why does she need to go? Why? Why can't I stop this? I will kill you!!!"
The abandoned house vanished, replaced by winding tunnels. Kael ran, chasing the dust that once was Aelina, desperate to hold on. He cried out, "Don't go, don't go! I don't want to be alone again, please! Please, please!"
But as he ran, something strange caught his eye. A tunnel to his left—one that seemed familiar, yet distant. A reflection of himself, but not quite right. He could feel it. The emotion that seeped from it wasn't love. It was anger.
"Why is there another me? I don't understand. Why?" Kael muttered to himself.
"We are here for the same purpose, to take what is coming," the angry version of himself said.
Kael's confusion grew. "What is coming? What is at the end of this?" he asked, but there was no answer.
Then he turned his head to the right. Another tunnel. This one was different—its color was green, vibrant yet unsettling. There, another version of himself stood, grinning madly, a reflection of happiness that felt more like madness.
He turned again, and again, his eyes scanning the endless tunnels that stretched before him. Above left, above right, above middle, and then down—tunnels everywhere, each filled with a different emotion. Fear. Sadness. Joy. Hope. Anger. Each version of himself ran for the same thing. They all sought the same goal.
At the end of this maze of emotions, a final tunnel appeared, glowing with a brilliant light. The moment Kael stepped closer, his vision blurred, and he felt the presence of every version of himself pulling him forward. He was no longer just one; he was a multitude.
At the center, he saw it—a sword. Its handle was green, pulsating with energy, while the blade shimmered with golden light. All of Kael's emotions, his different selves, reached for it. Each one wanted to claim it. Each one believed it was their destiny.
Kael's hand trembled as he stretched toward the sword.
"Why? Why is it like this?" he whispered to himself, his tears falling as he looked at the blade. "I know that you are, but you're just her emotion, her love for me..."
Kael cried, his heart breaking in a way that seemed to crack the very fabric of the world. The glass of reality shattered around him, and he felt the weight of his emotions crushing him.
He realized that the choice before him was not just about the sword—it was about his very soul. Would he embrace his emotions, let them define him, or would he let them consume him entirely? The future rested in this one moment, and Kael was torn between holding onto his humanity or succumbing to the darkness within.