After all his years as a Time-Keeper, he believed he had seen it all. The strongest warriors. The deadliest Leviathans. The fiercest battles. Then the new recruit arrived. At first, Lorith had dismissed him as an above-average recruit: quick on his feet, skilled, but nothing extraordinary. Their training only reinforced that belief. Until it didn't. Their fight confirmed what he had feared when Selara first brought Kai to the Primarium Castrum.
Their spar felt fairly normal, until that one point. When Kai began to effortlessly dodge and parry his attacks, he felt as if something had changed about the kid. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, was it the sudden shift in his presence? or was it the strange glint in his eyes? When Kai had effortlessly closed the distance between them, for the first time in years, Lorith's instincts flared up. He felt a chill run down his spine, and right when Kai was about to strike him, his aura flared up instinctively almost as if he felt...threatened. He had developed the ability to flare up his aura in a sudden burst of energy, as a last ditch effort against a powerful monster. He only used it when he felt that his opponent had the potential to kill him, a feeling he hadn't experienced in a very long time.
The shockwave from the explosion shot Kai backwards at breakneck speed. The moment stretched, too fast to stop, too slow to look away. Before Lorith or Kai fully process what had happened, Kai slammed into one of the crystalline spikes Lorith had created during their battle. The jagged structure skewered him, piercing clean through his back and jutting out from his chest. For a heartbeat, neither of them moved. Then Kai coughed: a wet, ragged sound. Blood dribbled from his lips, his fingers trembling as his sword slipped from his grip, clattering uselessly to the ground. He looked at Lorith, his expression a mix of shock and disbelief. "Oh shit....KID!" Lorith said as he lunged towards Kai, his chest tightening. Kai's eyes went blank as his Temporal Aura flickered out and his body hung lifeless. His body began to glow in a bright azure light, then dissolved away into small azure embers, drifting into the air like dying stars.
Lorith stood frozen, his breath caught in his throat. His massive hand hovered uselessly in the space where Kai had been. "Oh shit..." His voice barely came out. "That... that wasn't supposed to happen." The realization sank in. His fists clenched. "Why? Why did I do that?" he muttered to himself. Lorith stood there, motionless. The air still crackled with the remnants of Kai's aura, but the embers were fading, as if he had never been there at all. His massive hands clenched and unclenched at his sides, his mind racing. That wasn't supposed to happen. He had fought countless battles, torn through monsters that could annihilate entire realities...but he had never done this. He had never killed one of his own. Lorith exhaled sharply, stepping back. He had to tell the others.
Darkness, Not the cold, suffocating kind...but something else. Then, a faint, rippling sensation beneath his feet. Solid ground. Kai inhaled sharply, his mind disoriented. "Where am I?" he thought to himself. Looking down, he realized that he now looked like a ghost. His translucent body glowed with a soft azure light as he found himself standing on an obsidian-like surface: smooth, cold, unnaturally reflective. It stretched endlessly in all directions, a void of black glass beneath his feet. But in the distance, something moved. A shape, shifting and writhing in the deep shadow of an enormous black structure. Kai squinted, trying to make sense of it. The structure towered over everything, vast and unknowable, its surface a jagged mass of darkness that seemed to consume light itself. The figure within its shadow was twisted, barely visible, but its presence was suffocating. Then.....it spoke.
A weak, rasping growl vibrated through the space, not just a sound but a feeling, scraping against the edges of Kai's mind like claws against stone. Then words, raw with venom and unrelenting fury: "Nightshade... When I find you, I will make sure you suffer a fate worse than DEATH." Kai's breath caught in his throat. What is this thing and how does it know him. The moment the final word was uttered, the obsidian ground beneath him cracked His stomach lurched as he plunged downward, the broken shards of reality spiraling past him into the bottomless void. Wind howled around him, a rush of emptiness consuming everything.....
A sharp gasp tore from Kai's lips as his body jerked upright. His breath came in ragged pulls. His mind scrambled to make sense of what just happened. The dream. The voice. The fall. But....no. He was here. Not in the void. Not on that obsidian ground. His vision cleared, the disorientation fading into something familiar. His Solarium. High above him, the ceiling shimmered with shifting constellations. His fingers curled against the soft silk-like fabric beneath him. He was alive....but how? His chest.....Kai's hand shot to where the wound should have been. No pain. No blood. No sign that he had ever been impaled. "What the hell...?" he whispered. And then, the dream came rushing back. The obsidian ground. The black structure. That thing shifting in the shadows. Its voice, raw with fury..."Nightshade... When I find you, I will make sure you suffer a fate worse than DEATH." Kai's breath hitched. His pulse hammered against his ribs. Nightshade. That was his last name. The realization settled like ice in his veins. Who.....or what had spoken his name? And why did it sound like it wanted him dead?
A sudden knock echoed from the door. Kai tensed, his body still rigid with shock. He had to compose himself. Then, a familiar voice. Smooth, slightly teasing, but laced with quiet concern. "Kai? You awake? Mind if I come in?" Elyssar asked. Kai swallowed hard, pushing the thoughts, the fear to the back of his mind. "Yeah... come in." The door slid open and Elyssar stepped inside, her golden-amber fur catching the light of the room. Her striped tail flicked once behind her as she studied him, her sharp feline eyes analyzing every inch of him. "You look like you've seen a ghost," she said, crossing her arms. Kai forced a breath out through his nose. "I-" He hesitated. How was he supposed to explain what just happened? Elyssar tilted her head slightly. "Let me guess. You remember dying?" Kai stiffened. "Yeah."
A small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips. "Relax, darling. You're a Time-Keeper now. If you die within the Primarium Castrum, you just respawn in your Solarium." Kai blinked. "Respawn?" Elyssar's tail flicked again. "What, you think you're special? This happens to everyone at least once." Kai let out a slow breath, trying to process everything. He had died. He had felt himself die. But he was back. No wounds. No scars. Just.....a dream that refused to fade. His fists clenched against the fabric of his bed. He didn't know what that thing was. But he knew one thing for sure....he couldn't let anyone find out.
Kai barely had time to process Elyssar's words before it spoke. A voice.....ghostly and ancient, yet somehow strangely familiar. It was the same voice that always lurked at the back of his mind whenever he wielded Hex. "Tell her to leave." The whisper slithered into his thoughts, low and insistent. Kai's muscles tensed. His eyes darted around the room, searching for a source.....but there was nothing. "Tell her you need rest. Now." His mouth felt dry. The voice had never spoken so directly before. Elyssar, still standing a few feet away, raised a brow. "You good, bucko?" Kai forced himself to nod. "Yeah. I just..." He exhaled, running a hand through his hair. "I think I need some rest." Elyssar studied him for a moment, her feline gaze unreadable. "Alright," she finally said, though there was a hint of hesitation in her tone. "Get some sleep. You've been through a quite an experience."
With one last flick of her tail, she turned and strode toward the door. It slid open with a soft hiss, then closed behind her. Silence filled the room Kai let out a slow breath, waiting and listening. And then, the voice returned. "Good. Now we can talk." Kai's fingers curled into fists. He had a lot of questions. "Who the hell are you?" His voice came out rough, edged with unease. "And what do you want from me?" The voice didn't answer right away. It lingered, almost as if considering him. "I wish to meet you, Kai. But to do so, you must enter your own Inner Nexora." Kai frowned. "My... Inner Nexora?" "The realm within yourself. The place where your essence, your true self, resides." the voice responded Kai's pulse quickened. Another plane of existence within him? "How?" he asked, wary but intrigued.
"You already know the rhythm in your soul. You draw upon it to wield your Hex. But this time... do not pull it outward. Instead, command it to surround you." the voice instructed Kai inhaled deeply. He had never attempted anything like this before, but something about the voice convinced him to listen. He closed his eyes and reached inwards. He focused on finding the rhythm deep within his soul. The rhythm was there, a silent pulse within him, an unseen flow woven into his very being. Normally, he channeled it. Directed it. But now He willed it to wrap around him. The moment he did, the world around him melted away, as darkness swallowed him whole.