The wind tastes like silence. Cold, empty, endless. It wraps around Kael's body like an unseen chain, pulling at his skin, whispering secrets only the abyss would know.
The storm has been raging for hours, but he stands unmoving at the edge of the cliffs, staring at the churning sea below. Dark waves crash against the jagged rocks, rising and falling like a beast breathing beneath the surface. The sky is fractured—storm clouds splitting apart, revealing glimpses of a moon that seems too distant to reach him.
Something stirs in his chest. Something nameless. A feeling too deep, too tangled, too suffocating.
He closes his eyes.
And then he hears it.
A voice. No, two voices.
One, soft like a whisper, laced with sorrow. "Come back."
The other, dark and possessive, curling around him like smoke. "You belong to me."
Aeryn and Elias. Light and darkness. Trust and hunger.
Kael exhales slowly, opening his eyes, watching as mist coils around his fingers. The abyss is inside him now. It has been for a long time.
He should choose.
But how does one choose between the sun and the void? Between warmth that might burn and shadows that might consume?
The waves roar below, and the wind howls through the cliffs, but it is the silence in his heart that frightens him most.
He lifts his hand. For a moment, the air crackles with magic—threads of light and abyss swirling in his palm. A balance that should not exist.
Then, he lets it fade.
Because deep down, he knows.
The abyss is patient. And it always, always takes what it's owed.
The storm has softened, but Kael still hasn't moved.
Elias watches him from the shadows of the cliffside, unseen. As always, Kael is unreachable, standing just outside his grasp.
The moon's light touches him, but it does not belong to him. The way it catches in his silver hair, the way it makes him look like a ghost trapped between worlds—Elias hates it. The moon should not claim what is his.
And Kael is his.
Elias steps forward. He doesn't care if Kael hears him. He wants him to.
"The wind listens to you," Elias murmurs, his voice cutting through the night like a blade. "But it doesn't answer, does it?"
Kael doesn't turn. He keeps staring at the sea, as if waiting for something. Or someone.
Elias steps closer, slow, deliberate. "If you want silence, I can give you that." His voice drops lower. "Or if you want to forget, I can make you."
Kael exhales sharply, amusement flickering in his tone. "You think I would ever let you inside my mind?"
"You already have." Elias's eyes darken, glowing faintly in the dim light. "You don't even realize it, do you?"
Kael finally turns, just enough for their eyes to meet. And in that moment, Elias sees it—a storm of emotions swirling beneath his calm exterior.
Not fear. Not hatred. Something else.
Possession is not always chains. Sometimes, it is knowing someone is already too entangled to escape.
Elias steps closer, lowering his voice to something almost gentle. Almost. "You keep running to the edge, Kael. Tell me… are you hoping to fall?"
Kael doesn't answer. But he doesn't look away, either.
Elias lets the silence stretch, lets the tension coil between them like a thread waiting to snap. Then, he leans in—just enough for his breath to touch Kael's skin.
"If you do," Elias whispers, "just know—I'll be there, waiting."
And with that, he steps back. Not because he wants to. But because the hunt is always sweeter when the prey believes it has a choice.
He disappears into the darkness, leaving only his voice behind.
"The abyss always answers, Kael. You just have to listen."
The night air is thick with the scent of salt and rain. The storm is retreating, but the wind still lingers, whispering across the cliffs like a warning.
Kael finally exhales, dragging a hand through his hair. "You always do this," he mutters.
Elias is still there, just out of reach, watching him like he already knows what Kael will say next. "Do what?"
Kael's fingers tighten at his side. "Talk in circles. Make it sound like you know something I don't."
Elias lets out a quiet laugh, low and knowing. "Maybe I do."
Kael turns to him fully now, gaze sharp. "And what exactly is it that you think you know?"
Elias takes his time answering. He steps closer, hands tucked behind his back, eyes never leaving Kael's face. "That you don't actually want to be alone."
Kael stiffens.
The wind shifts between them, silent and waiting.
Then Kael huffs out a dry laugh. "That's a bold assumption."
Elias tilts his head slightly, watching him the way a predator watches something just before striking. "Not an assumption. A fact."
Kael scoffs. "And what makes you so sure?"
Elias steps forward again, slow and deliberate. Close enough that Kael can feel his presence like a shadow curling around him. "Because if you truly wanted to be alone," Elias murmurs, voice quieter now, "you wouldn't be standing here, waiting for someone to stop you."
The words land heavier than they should.
Kael feels them settle in his chest, right in the place he's been trying to ignore.
He forces a smirk, even as something in his throat tightens. "You think too highly of yourself."
Elias doesn't move, but his expression shifts—something unreadable flickering in his dark eyes. "No," he says softly. "I just see you for what you are."
The silence stretches between them, deep and endless.
For a moment, Kael considers stepping back. But the abyss is already there, waiting.
And so is Elias.