Kael
Dying is not the worst thing that can happen.
I had died once before.
I had felt the cold fingers of death crawl through my veins, stilling my heartbeat, stealing my breath. I had felt the world slip away, had felt my soul untether, had felt the pull of something greater—something ancient, something that whispered my name like it had been waiting for me.
And then I had come back.
Not the same.
Never the same.
And now, here I was again. Falling. Breaking. Dying.
Only this time, the abyss did not want to kill me.
It wanted to change me.
"Kael."*
Elias' voice was softer now, no longer sharp with accusation. But there was something else in it. Something dangerous.
"You could stay, you know."*
The abyss pulsed around me. Shadows curled at my feet.
"Stay?" My voice was hoarse.
"Yes."* Elias' silver eyes gleamed. "The world up there, Aeryn, Riven… they keep pulling you apart. But here? Here, you could be whole. You could be powerful."*
I swallowed. "At what cost?"
"You already know."* Elias stepped closer, lifting his hand, and for the first time, I felt the abyss respond to him. Like he wasn't just a memory, wasn't just a ghost. Like he was part of it.
Or maybe—
It was part of him.
"I don't understand."* My voice cracked. "You died."*
"I did."* His lips curved. "And then I was reborn."*
The air shuddered around us. My heart stopped.
"That's not possible."*
Elias let out a quiet laugh. "Isn't it?" He lifted his hand, and for the first time, I saw it—the power curling at his fingertips, dark and unnatural, raw and endless. It pulsed through him, breathed with him, like it had taken root in his very soul.
"I didn't just die, Kael."* His voice was quieter now, deeper. "I became something else. And you… you can, too."*
The abyss pressed against me, sinking into my skin, into my bones. I gasped, my vision twisting, my magic reacting—fighting against it, but also…
Craving it.
A whisper coiled around my mind. Let go. Let go. Let go.
I clenched my fists. "Elias, what did you do?"
His smile was slow, almost sad. "I did what you couldn't, Kael."* His voice was like smoke and steel. "I stopped being the one who was hurt. And I became the one who could hurt back."*
---
Aeryn
I didn't hesitate.
I stepped toward the abyss.
"Aeryn, wait—" Riven grabbed my arm, but I shoved him off, my breath ragged.
"No more waiting."* My voice was sharp, raw. "He's been in there too long."*
"You don't know what's on the other side—"
"I don't care."*
I turned to face him fully, my chest rising and falling with something deep, something wild. "If it were you, would you hesitate?"
Riven froze.
I saw it in his eyes—the way my words cut deeper than any blade.
"Exactly."* I turned back to the abyss. "Stay if you want. But I'm going."*
And then I stepped in.
Darkness swallowed me whole.
But I did not fall.
Instead—
I rose.
Something ancient shifted around me, something that recognized me. That knew me. My magic pulsed, not in fear, but in answer.
And then I saw him.
Kael.
But not the way I had last seen him.
His body was covered in light and shadow, in magic that did not belong to him. His eyes flickered between his usual deep blue and something else—something not human.
And across from him—
Elias.
Except it wasn't Elias.
Not really.
His silver eyes glowed, his entire being thrumming with something beyond mortal understanding. His magic was wrapped around Kael, pulling him closer, whispering something I couldn't hear.
And Kael…
He wasn't pulling away.
My breath hitched. "Kael!"*
His head snapped up. For a second, his eyes cleared. His lips parted.
"Aeryn?"
I surged forward, reaching for him—
But Elias' gaze snapped to me.
And the abyss roared.
Shadows exploded around me. Power lashed out, not to kill, but to warn.
"He's not yours to take back, Aeryn."* Elias' voice was quiet, steady.
I stilled.
And Kael?
He was looking at me—and at him.
Torn.
"Kael,"* I whispered, my heart pounding. "Come back with me."*
His expression flickered.
Elias stepped closer. "Kael, you don't have to go back to them. You don't have to be weak anymore."*
Kael's breath shook.
And for the first time—
I saw it.
The hesitation in his eyes.
He wasn't just trapped here.
Part of him wanted to stay.
Kael
The abyss was not just darkness. It was alive. It breathed with me, moved with me, whispered in voices only I could hear.
And the strangest part?
It felt like home.
I could feel the roots of ancient trees curling through the void, unseen but felt—old, wise, waiting. The air tasted like rain before a storm, thick with something on the edge of breaking. And in the distance, I could hear the steady hum of something ancient, something that had always existed, long before me—a pulse, a heartbeat, the rhythm of nature itself.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn't afraid.
"You feel it, don't you?" Elias' voice was quiet, but I felt it settle into my bones. "The way the abyss isn't just emptiness. It's the space between all things. Between life and death. Between nature and the wild magic that runs deeper than the gods themselves."*
I closed my eyes. I could feel it, beneath my skin, within me.
Power. Not fire. Not light. Not shadow.
Something older.
Something that belonged to me.
"You always fought to be part of their world, Kael,"* Elias murmured, stepping closer, his silver eyes gleaming like moonlight on dark water. "But you were never meant for it. You belong to something bigger. Something deeper."*
The wind shifted. Leaves rustled, though there were no trees. Water dripped, though there was no river. The abyss was becoming something else.
And so was I.
Aeryn's voice cut through the silence. "Kael, don't listen to him."*
I turned, my breath catching.
She stood at the edge of the abyss, her magic flickering in shades of gold and deep green—the colors of life, of the world above. The moment she stepped forward, the abyss recoiled, curling away from her like it wasn't meant to touch her.
Like she didn't belong here.
"I came to take you back."* Her voice was soft but firm. "Come with me, Kael. You don't have to stay in this place."*
I opened my mouth to answer.
But before I could, Elias' voice curled around me like smoke. "Why should he go back, Aeryn?" He tilted his head, watching her. "To a world that never truly saw him? A world that let him break?"
Aeryn's jaw tightened. "He's not meant for this place."*
"And yet, it welcomes him more than your world ever did."* Elias' voice was almost kind. "Can't you see? The wind calls to him. The earth listens. He's not just part of the world above, Aeryn. He's meant to be all of it."*
The abyss shuddered.
And deep within me, something shifted.
I wasn't sure what I believed.
But I could feel it—the truth in Elias' words.
The abyss had never tried to consume me. It had tried to claim me.
To make me its own.
Aeryn stepped forward, her gaze burning into mine. "Kael, please."* Her voice dropped. "Don't let this place take you."*
I hesitated.
And then—
The storm came.
The wind howled, the abyss split, and the very earth shook beneath us. Lightning crashed, not from the sky, but from the very air itself—wild, untamed, striking in waves of silver and green. The roots of unseen trees coiled around my feet, pulling, binding, whispering.
And in that moment, I understood.
This wasn't about choosing the abyss or the world above.
It was about choosing who I wanted to become.
I turned to Elias. "You were reborn here."*
He nodded. "And you can be, too."*
I turned to Aeryn. "And if I leave?"
Her eyes searched mine. "Then you stay Kael."*
The storm raged. The abyss waited.
And I stood between life and something else entirely.
Kael
The storm roared. The abyss pulsed.
And I—
I stood between them, torn between two halves of myself.
Aeryn's voice was steady, but I could hear the shake beneath it. "Kael, look at me."*
I did.
She looked nothing like the warrior the world feared. Nothing like the unshakable force that had stood beside me in battle after battle. Right now, she was just Aeryn. The person who had fought for me when I had no fight left.
"I know what this feels like."* Her voice was low, careful. "The power. The pull. It tells you that you belong here. That you've always belonged here."*
The wind lashed around me. I clenched my fists. "What if it's right?"
"It's not."* She took a step forward. "Kael, you're not made for this emptiness. You're made for life."*
I opened my mouth, but Elias' voice cut through before I could speak. "Life?" He laughed, quiet and sharp. "Life is what killed him. Life is what shattered him. And now, life is what's afraid of what he could become."*
Aeryn's eyes snapped to Elias, burning with an anger that could have set entire worlds ablaze. "I'm not afraid of him."*
Elias tilted his head, a knowing smile curving his lips. "Aren't you?"
The air shuddered.
I felt it move through me, deep in my bones, in the spaces between each heartbeat.
The abyss had stopped whispering.
Now, it was listening.
Waiting.
"Kael."* Aeryn's voice pulled me back. "Do you really think I would come here—step into this place—if I was afraid of you?"
Her magic flickered, gold and green, a reflection of the world above. But for the first time, I noticed something else—roots curling through the energy, vines twining through the magic like nature itself was holding onto her.
She was afraid. Not of me.
Of losing me.
Elias let out a quiet sigh. "You're asking him to go back to a world that never gave him a choice."*
Aeryn's jaw tightened. "And you're asking him to become something he's not."*
"How do you know what he is?"
I inhaled sharply, my chest tightening.
They were both right. And they were both wrong.
I looked at my hands. Magic curled at my fingertips—not fire, not shadow. Something else. Something that felt wild, untamed. Like the storm itself had made a home beneath my skin.
"Kael."*
Aeryn reached for me.
Elias didn't move.
The abyss curled at my feet, shifting, changing, waiting.
And I—
I had to choose.
---
Aeryn
He hesitated.
The storm lit up the abyss in flickers of silver and green, but all I could see was him—Kael, standing between everything he was and everything he could be.
My heart pounded. "You don't have to stay here."*
Kael exhaled slowly. "And if I leave?"
"Then you're still you."*
"And if I stay?"
I swallowed hard. "Then I'll find a way to bring you back."*
Elias let out a soft chuckle. "Stubborn as ever, aren't you?"
I ignored him. My eyes stayed on Kael. "You're not alone in this, Kael."* My voice dropped, raw and open. "You never were."*
The abyss shifted.
Kael's magic cracked like thunder.
And for a single moment—
I didn't know what he was going to do.
Kael
I wasn't ready to choose.
But the storm didn't care. The abyss didn't care.
And neither did the magic pulsing beneath my skin, waiting for my answer.
Aeryn's eyes held mine, steady and sure, like she already believed I would choose her. Choose life. Choose the world I had always known, the one that had hurt me but had also given me love, friendships, memories.
And then there was Elias.
He didn't say anything. Didn't try to convince me anymore. He just stood there, watching me with something that almost looked like understanding.
Like he already knew what I would do.
My fingers curled into fists.
The magic inside me—it wasn't just the abyss. It wasn't just the world above.
It was both.
The storm cracked overhead, but I wasn't afraid of it anymore.
Because I was the storm.
I exhaled slowly, and as I did, the wind around me shifted, responding to me—not as something to be fought, not as something to be feared, but as something that had always been mine.
I turned to Elias. "I don't have to stay in the abyss to be powerful."*
Something flickered in his gaze. "And you think they'll accept what you are now?"
I didn't answer.
I turned to Aeryn. "And I don't have to go back as the same person I was."*
Her breath caught, but she nodded. "Whatever you are, you're still Kael."*
The magic answered.
Lightning lashed through the sky, striking the ground between us, splitting the abyss wide open. The storm raged, but this time, it was mine to control.
And as I took a step forward, the world shifted.
I wasn't choosing between them.
I was choosing myself.
Kael
Silence wasn't emptiness.
It was alive.
It moved like water through unseen spaces, curling between shadows, stretching over the sky. It wasn't absence. It was a presence—one that watched, waited, whispered.
I stood in it now.
The wind had stilled. The storm had quieted. The abyss no longer pulsed beneath me, but it hadn't disappeared. It had simply become—woven into the fabric of me, no longer something separate, no longer something to fear.
Elias was the first to break the silence. "You feel it now, don't you?"
I did.
The world wasn't just light or dark. It wasn't just life or death. It was everything in between.
And I had become part of that in-between space.
Aeryn's voice was soft. "Kael, where do you stand now?"
I turned to her. The way she looked at me—like she was still seeing the person she had fought beside, the person she had sworn to protect—made something in my chest tighten.
"Everywhere,"* I murmured. "Nowhere."*
A slow exhale. "That doesn't sound like you."*
I tilted my head, watching her, feeling the pull of something I couldn't name. "Maybe you never saw all of me."*
Her lips parted, but she said nothing.
Elias chuckled softly. "You're finally beginning to understand."*
He stepped closer, the darkness moving with him, a natural thing, not something forced. The abyss wasn't something he wielded. It was simply part of him, the way the wind was part of the sky.
"Power isn't just about taking, Kael."* He lifted a hand, and between his fingers, the air cracked—not with fire, not with shadow, but with something deeper. "It's about knowing when to hold on… and when to let go."*
Aeryn took a step forward, her magic flickering around her like golden embers in the dark. "And what do you plan to do with it?"
I let the silence stretch between us before answering.
"Everything."*
The stars above us flickered.
And the world shifted.
Kael
Silence wasn't just a lack of sound.
It was a weight. A presence that pressed against my skin, curling through the air like unseen fingers. It carried something unspoken, something that neither Elias nor Aeryn dared to name.
And in that silence, the night breathed.
The stars above me didn't just shine—they watched. Distant. Endless. Unreachable. Yet, somehow, they felt closer than ever, like they had been waiting for this moment, waiting for me.
Aeryn's gaze locked onto mine. She was waiting, too.
"You don't have to carry this alone, Kael."*
Her voice was soft, but I felt the weight of it. It wasn't just words. It was a plea. A thread of warmth in the cold void stretching between us.
But before I could answer, Elias' voice sliced through the night like a slow-moving blade.
"And yet, alone is the only way he's ever survived."*
I turned to him, feeling something deep inside me shift—a pull, a fracture, a quiet fury that had been waiting beneath my ribs for far too long.
"You think I need to be alone to be strong?" My voice was calm, but the magic at my fingertips said otherwise.
Elias didn't flinch. He only smiled—slow, knowing. "I think the world has always tried to control you. And I think you're finally realizing that you were never meant to be controlled."*
The darkness around him flickered, not consuming, not destroying—but existing. Like it belonged to him, and he belonged to it.
And then I realized something.
Elias wasn't bound by the abyss.
He was the abyss.
Aeryn's magic burned brighter, gold against the blackness, like a sun fighting to hold its place in the sky. "Kael, you don't have to become like him."*
I exhaled. "And if I already have?"
Silence.
The stars shivered. The wind shifted.
And deep in the void, something awoke.
Kael
Obsession was not a wildfire. It did not burn out of control, consuming everything in its path.
It was gravity—slow, inescapable, pulling, binding.
It was the way Elias' voice curled around my name, the way Aeryn's gaze clung to me like she was afraid to let go. It was the way I stood between them, feeling them both like forces of nature, pushing, pulling, waiting for me to break—or choose.
But what they didn't realize was that I had already been claimed.
By this power. By this moment. By the hunger coiling in my chest, refusing to be silenced.
"You're not the same, Kael."* Aeryn's voice was quiet, but I could hear the tremor beneath it. "This place is changing you."*
I met her eyes, stepping closer, feeling the way her breath hitched. "Or maybe it's just revealing what was always there."*
Her lips parted, words hovering between us, but she didn't speak them. She couldn't.
Because she knew—I wasn't afraid anymore.
Elias let out a soft, amused chuckle. "And now you see, don't you?" His voice was silk over steel, threading into my thoughts like a whisper I couldn't shake. "You were never meant to be tamed. You were meant to be worshiped."*
The air between us was too thin. Too sharp.
I took another step, closer to him now. "And you think you're the one who can teach me?"
His smile didn't waver. "I think you already know."*
Aeryn's magic flared—bright, desperate, something like heartbreak laced in the heat of it. "Kael, stop."*
I turned back to her, and for a moment, I felt something tighten in my chest. A flicker of something old, something real.
But the abyss didn't wait for love.
And neither did I.
"You're afraid of losing me."* My voice was quieter now, sharper, something dangerous curled beneath it. "Tell me, Aeryn—do you fear losing me… or losing the version of me that you thought you could save?"
She inhaled sharply, but she didn't deny it.
And that was the moment I knew.
She wanted the Kael she had always known.
But Elias—
Elias wanted all of me.
Kael
"You're insufferable," Aeryn huffed, arms crossed as she glared at me.
I grinned. "Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"Well, it felt like one."
Elias let out an amused sigh. "You know, Kael, for someone standing on the edge of an existential crisis, you're surprisingly smug."
I spread my arms. "What can I say? I thrive in chaos."
Aeryn pinched the bridge of her nose. "You don't thrive in chaos. You are chaos."
"Again, I'm hearing compliments."
Elias smirked. "And I'm hearing denial."
Aeryn shot him a look. "Don't encourage him."
"Oh, but it's so fun."
I gasped dramatically. "Finally! Someone who understands me!"
Aeryn groaned. "I don't have time for this."
"Sure, you do," I said, stepping closer, lowering my voice to a whisper. "Admit it—you'd miss me if I were gone."
She stared at me, deadpan. "I'd miss peace and quiet."
Elias chuckled. "Liar. You love the chaos."
She opened her mouth, probably to argue, but then stopped. Blinked. Groaned again.
And walked away.
Elias and I watched her go.
I turned to him. "Should I be concerned that she didn't deny it?"
He smirked. "No. But you should definitely run before she decides to set you on fire."
I considered this. "Fair point."
And then I ran.
Kael
You ever have that feeling where you just know someone is about to kill you?
Yeah. That's where I was.
Aeryn's magic crackled behind me, golden sparks lighting up the darkness as she stormed forward. "Kael, if you don't stop running, I swear I'll—"
"You'll what?" I called over my shoulder. "Set me on fire? Because that's definitely what a good friend would do!"
Elias jogged beside me, hands in his pockets, not running at full speed, because apparently, he wasn't afraid of death.
"Should I step in?" he asked lazily.
I glared at him. "And do what? Narrate my tragic demise?"
He smirked. "Well, I was thinking I'd just let nature take its course. You do love the drama."
Aeryn growled, and the air heated.
"Okay, first of all," I panted, dodging a spark that nearly singed my hair, "I do not love drama. Drama loves me. There's a difference."
Elias hummed. "Mmm. No, I think you actively invite it."
Aeryn threw a fireball.
I yelped and ducked behind Elias. "HELP ME."
Elias raised a brow. "Why would I do that?"
"BECAUSE I'M YOUR FRIEND!"
Aeryn shot him a look. "You're really considering saving him?"
Elias thought for a long moment. Then he turned to me. "Tell me, Kael—on a scale of one to 'I've made horrible life choices,' how much do you regret this?"
I scowled. "I regret nothing."
Aeryn hurled another fireball.
I dodged. Barely.
"Okay, maybe a little!" I admitted.
Elias sighed. "Fine. I'll help."
Aeryn narrowed her eyes. "If you're about to teleport him out of here, I swear—"
Elias smirked.
Then, before Aeryn could react, he teleported himself.
Not me.
Himself.
I blinked at the empty space where he had been.
Aeryn turned to me slowly.
I swallowed. "I, uh…"
She took a step forward.
"I have made… terrible life choices."
And then I ran. Again.
Kael
I should have seen it coming.
Elias had that look. That smug, entertained, I'm-absolutely-going-to-betray-you-for-the-sake-of-comedy look.
And yet, like an idiot, I still thought—for half a second—that he might actually help me.
But no.
He vanished.
And left me.
Alone.
With Aeryn.
Aeryn, who was now staring at me with the slow, terrifying patience of someone who knew vengeance was inevitable.
I swallowed hard. "Aeryn, let's be reasonable—"
Her fingers twitched. Flames curled between them, warm and angry. "Reasonable?" She let out a slow breath, like she was actively restraining herself from setting me on fire. "Kael, do you want to explain why I shouldn't roast you right now?"
I raised a finger. "Because you like me?"
She took a step forward.
I took three steps back.
"Because I make life exciting?" I tried.
The fire sparked higher.
"Because—uh—I have a very flammable personality?"
She stopped. Blinked. "That's not even a valid argument."*
I shrugged. "And yet, you hesitated."*
A long, tense silence.
Then, with the slow, dramatic menace of a queen sentencing a fool to execution, she said, "Run."*
I bolted.
Like my life depended on it. (Because it did.)
Somewhere in the distance, I swore I heard Elias laughing.
Betrayal. Absolute betrayal.