Nightfall changed the forest.
Not visually.
The trees still stood where they always had. Towering black pillars stretching endlessly beneath a sky smothered in clouds. The roots still twisted across the earth like buried serpents. The wind still moved through the leaves in long whispering breaths.
But once the sun disappeared, the forest stopped pretending it belonged to the living.
Somewhere high above the canopy, something screamed.
The sound cut off abruptly.
Silence followed.
Then—
Crunch.
A massive shape stepped through the undergrowth.
Branches bent.
Roots cracked beneath enormous weight.
The figure did not move carefully.
It moved directly.
Moonlight slipped briefly through the trees, illuminating pieces of him between shadows.
Dark fur cloak.
Broad shoulders.
Blood running down one arm in slow streams that did not belong to him.
Kagan stopped.
The forest breathed around him.
Then came the clicking.
Dozens of them.
Fast.
Erratic.
Moving between the trees.
Kagan slowly lifted his head.
Crimson eyes reflected in the darkness around him.
More appeared.
Then more.
Night creatures.
Thin bodies crawled upside down along tree trunks while others crouched low in the brush, their jaws twitching with anticipation.
Their limbs were too long.
Their movements too sudden.
Black saliva dripped from needle-filled mouths as they circled closer through the dark.
One of them hissed.
Another answered.
Kagan stared at them silently.
The creatures hesitated.
Not because they sensed mercy.
Because predators recognize when something else is feeding.
The largest creature lunged first.
Its body exploded.
A deafening crack ripped through the forest as Kagan's arm swung once.
Flesh burst across nearby trees in steaming ribbons before the remains even touched the ground.
The others scattered instantly.
Too late.
The forest erupted.
A creature flew between trees before smashing hard enough into a trunk to split it in half.
Another disappeared beneath Kagan's boot with a wet crunch.
Something shrieked behind him—
Kagan caught it without looking.
His massive hand wrapped entirely around its skull.
Pop.
Silence.
The corpse dropped limply into the dirt.
For several seconds, nothing moved except drifting steam rising from torn bodies.
Then the remaining creatures fled deeper into the forest.
Fast.
Desperate.
Kagan watched them disappear.
His breathing remained calm.
Measured.
Not a hunter exerting effort.
A force removing obstacles.
The forest eventually thinned.
The trees no longer stood shoulder to shoulder, allowing pale moonlight to spill across the earth in fractured silver.
Kagan stepped past the final treeline.
The ocean stretched endlessly before him.
And there—
Far in the ocean on a drifting rock—
The cottage stood beneath the night sky.
Or what remained of it.
Part of the roof had collapsed inward.
Several walls were split apart as though something enormous had forced its way through the structure from below.
Wooden debris littered the surrounding clearing.
One entire side of the cottage sagged toward the earth, barely holding together.
And towering above it all—
A giant white lotus bloomed through the center of the home.
Its massive glowing petals stretched outward into the night like pale hands opening beneath the moon.
The surrounding grass had turned ghostly white where roots spread through the soil.
Smaller lotus flowers blanketed the clearing.
Blooming.
Dying.
Blooming again.
Kagan stopped walking.
The wind shifted toward him.
Saltwater.
Blood.
White lotus.
His eyes narrowed slightly beneath the shadows covering his face.
"…The White Lotus."
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Like seeing an old wound reopened.
His gaze lingered on the enormous flower protruding from the ruined cottage.
Then lower.
Toward the shattered walls beneath it.
A long silence followed.
The ocean crashed against nearby cliffs.
Kagan's voice finally rumbled through the night.
"I knew it would smell like her."
The white lotus swayed gently in the darkness.
Kagan stared at it for another moment.
Then his eyes shifted toward the damaged cottage itself.
Toward the boy inside.
And he began walking again.
Sam drifted again.
Not asleep.
Not awake.
Somewhere between pain and silence.
The rubble above him groaned softly as distant impacts echoed through the ruined cottage.
Wood shifted.
Roots cracked through stone.
Far away, something screamed.
Then abruptly stopped.
Sam's body tensed weakly beneath the debris.
Errya remained perfectly still on his chest.
Listening.
Not afraid.
The violet glow along Sam's scar pulsed again.
This time the voices returned immediately.
"…found him…"
"…too early…"
"…the door is open…"
Sam winced.
"…stop…" he rasped weakly.
Errya's ears twitched.
"You hear them clearer now."
It wasn't a question.
Sam squeezed his eyes shut.
"…hurts…"
"Yes."
Calm.
Certain.
"As it did before."
Sam's eyes opened slightly.
"…before…?"
Errya looked down at him quietly.
For a moment, her eyes no longer looked animal at all.
They looked ancient.
"The first time you broke."
The words slipped into him strangely.
Not like information.
Like memory trying to surface through water.
The rubble trembled again.
Dust rained down around them.
Somewhere above, wood splintered beneath the weight of the massive white lotus roots still spreading through the cottage remains.
Sam's breathing grew uneven.
"…Maria…"
Errya finally shifted.
Not away from him.
Closer.
Her warmth pressed lightly against his chest as she lowered her head.
"She is still alive."
Immediate.
Absolute.
Sam froze.
Errya continued before he could speak.
"But not for much longer if you remain here."
Sam lurched violently onto his side.
Clear fluid and mucus spilled from his mouth onto broken wood and ash.
His lungs burned.
Every breath felt jagged.
Errya leapt lightly from his chest as another coughing fit wracked through him, landing soundlessly atop a fractured beam nearby.
Her green eyes never left him.
"I need to find the others," Sam rasped, pushing weakly against the debris trapping his legs. "Only I can protect them—ugh!"
Pain tore through his ribs as he shoved splintered wood aside.
The ruined remains of the cottage slowly revealed themselves around him.
Walls leaned at impossible angles.
Furniture lay shattered beneath collapsed beams.
Broken glass glittered across the floor like frozen rain.
The home that once carried warmth in every corner now resembled the aftermath of a battlefield abandoned mid-war.
And towering through the center of it all—
Maria's white lotus had erupted through the cottage itself.
Its massive petals stretched upward through the broken roof, glowing faintly beneath the night sky.
Thick roots pulsed through shattered floorboards and fractured walls like veins spreading through a dying body.
The light it emitted was weak.
Subdued.
Not dead.
Hurting.
The soft white glow barely reached the deeper sections of the ruined cottage, leaving entire hallways swallowed in unnatural darkness.
Errya watched the lotus silently.
Her expression shifted slightly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"…She forced it too early," she murmured quietly.
Sam looked toward her weakly.
"…What?"
Errya's gaze returned to him instantly.
"Nothing."
A lie.
But Sam was too exhausted to challenge it.
"U-Uncle?!" Sam shouted hoarsely as he forced himself upright against a collapsed support beam. "Uncle, do you hear me?!"
No response.
Only the sound of wood creaking somewhere deeper in the cottage.
But the abrupt shouting startled Errya.
"Are you crazy?" Errya hissed at Sam, "You need to keep your voice down before you attract them."
Sam staggered forward through the wreckage.
Then stopped.
"Attract what?" Sam replied tiredly.
Something metallic scraped lightly beneath his foot.
He looked down.
A sword rested partially buried beneath broken debris and lotus roots.
Stormglass.
Even in the dim light, the blade carried its strange translucent sheen, as though lightning had been frozen inside fractured crystal.
Thin arcs of pale energy flickered weakly beneath the surface of the steel.
Sam froze staring at it.
Then relief hit him so hard it almost hurt.
"…Stormglass…"
His hands trembled slightly as he picked it up.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the familiar hilt—
The pressure inside his chest eased.
Not completely.
But enough to breathe.
The lightning beneath his skin stabilized faintly, retreating from the edges of his nerves like a storm reluctantly pulling back from shore.
Errya watched him carefully.
"There," she said softly. "Better."
Sam looked down at the blade.
"…Why does this help?"
Errya's tail flicked once behind her.
"Because it remembers you."
Sam frowned weakly.
"That sentence makes no sense."
"Not yet."
The darkness beyond the lotus light shifted slightly.
Sam immediately raised Stormglass.
The blade hummed faintly in response.
"This darkness isn't normal," he muttered, scanning the ruined hallway ahead of him. "I don't even know where I am in the cottage anymore."
He took another step forward.
Pain shot through his skull instantly.
Sam stumbled sideways into a cracked wall, one hand clutching his face.
His fingers brushed beneath his right eye.
Wet.
He pulled his hand away slowly.
Black blood coated his fingertips.
Sam stared at it silently.
The violet glow beneath the scar pulsed once.
Errya noticed immediately.
Her ears lowered slightly.
"…Do not listen to them," she said quietly.
Sam looked toward her.
"…Listen to who?"
Before she could answer—
Drag.
Something scraped slowly across the floor ahead of them.
Sam instantly raised Stormglass defensively.
The sword crackled faintly with pale yellow lightning.
Errya stepped soundlessly beside his leg.
Not hiding.
Ready.
"Who's there?" Sam called into the darkness.
No response.
Only another dragging sound.
Closer now.
Sam squinted harder into the blackness ahead.
"Xavier?" he shouted. "Xavier, is that you?!"
Nothing.
Then—
Eyes opened.
Four of them.
Deep in the dark beyond the lotus glow.
Watching.
Unblinking.
Sam froze.
The air thickened instantly.
More eyes opened beside them.
Then higher.
Then lower.
Dozens.
Red.
Hungry.
The shadows shifted with uneven movement as malformed bodies crawled slowly through the darkness beyond the light's reach.
Sam instinctively stepped backward.
Errya did not.
Her gaze narrowed coldly toward the creatures.
"…Night creatures," she murmured.
The creatures hesitated.
Not because of Sam.
Because they saw her.
Sam's breathing quickened.
"I-I have to get out of here…"
One of the creatures suddenly stood to full height.
Massive.
Its body unfolded unnaturally from the darkness as four muscular arms emerged first, followed by jagged gray scales glistening beneath the lotus light.
Black saliva dripped from rows of uneven teeth while crimson eyes locked onto Sam with starving intelligence.
The thing lunged.
Fast.
Too fast.
Sam barely raised Stormglass in time—
A silver flash tore through the darkness.
The creature's upper arm exploded away from its body.
Black blood sprayed across the ruined wall.
Before the monster could even scream, a blade plunged violently through its skull and pinned it to the floor.
The entire cottage shook from the impact.
The remaining creatures scattered instantly into the darkness.
A figure stood between Sam and the corpse.
Tall.
Breathing hard.
Xavier.
But wrong.
His armor was heavily damaged, several plates cracked or partially torn away entirely.
Deep claw marks carved across the metal over his ribs and shoulder.
Blackened blood stained parts of the silver plating.
One gauntlet was missing completely.
And for the first time in years—
Xavier looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Deeply.
Like he had just walked out of a war no one else witnessed.
His sword remained buried in the creature's skull as his eyes locked onto Sam.
Relief hit his face instantly.
Sharp.
Visible.
Almost painful.
"…Sam."
The tension left his body so suddenly it looked like his knees nearly gave out.
For a brief moment, Xavier simply stared at him like he needed visual confirmation the boy was truly alive.
Behind him, the giant white lotus loomed through the shattered cottage ceiling like a divine wound splitting the night apart.
Xavier's gaze flicked toward it briefly.
Toward the destruction surrounding them.
Then immediately back to Sam.
"Sam," he said again, quieter this time. "Are you okay?"
Sam opened his mouth to answer.
Nothing came out at first.
His body still struggled to settle after the collapse and his body's early convulsion, his entire body trembling beneath the weight of exhaustion and lingering pain.
Stormglass remained clenched tightly in his hand, faint arcs of pale lightning crawling beneath the blade's translucent surface.
"…I think so," he managed weakly. "Everything hurts."
Xavier exhaled quietly through his nose.
Relief.
Real relief.
The kind he rarely allowed himself to show.
"You're alive," Xavier muttered. "That's enough for now."
He ripped his blade free from the creature's skull with a wet sound before turning sharply toward the darkness again.
Listening.
The remaining creatures had retreated deeper into the ruined cottage, but the sounds of movement still echoed faintly beyond the collapsed hallways.
Scraping.
Breathing.
Claws shifting against wood.
Waiting.
Sam fell back onto the ground, stunned, and cannot help but look at the creature, realizing if it hadn't been for Xavier, he would've died.
"U-Uncle, what is that thing?"
Xavier notices Sam's fear and glances back at the creature.
"One of God's abandoned creatures. These creatures are called Grey Wendigos."
He looks back at Sam with a serious facial expression, holstering his sword.
"They are one of the many minions belonging to our enemy." Xavier helps Sam onto his feet, "If grey wendigos are here then that means the barrier was shattered…"
Xavier paused.
Only then did he notice the black cat standing silently beside Sam's leg.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
The animal stared back at him calmly beneath the lotus glow.
Still.
Unnaturally still.
Xavier's grip on his sword tightened.
"…That thing wasn't here before."
Sam blinked tiredly.
"Kitty?"
Errya's ears twitched irritably.
"Errya," she corrected calmly.
Silence.
Xavier froze.
Sam looked between them weakly.
"…Right. Sorry."
The cottage creaked loudly around them.
But Xavier barely heard it.
His eyes remained locked onto the black cat.
Not because she spoke.
Because something deep in his instincts reacted before his mind could.
Recognition.
Not complete.
Broken.
Like trying to remember a face from a dream half-buried beneath years of fog.
Errya held his gaze quietly.
And for the first time since revealing herself to Sam—
Her composure cracked.
Only slightly.
Only for a second.
But enough.
Pain flickered through her eyes.
Not physical pain.
Something older.
Something lonelier.
"…You forgot," she murmured softly.
Xavier's expression hardened immediately.
"What are you?"
The question cut sharper than intended.
Sam frowned weakly.
"Uncle—"
Errya interrupted gently.
"It is alright."
But it wasn't.
The curse lingered between them invisibly.
Heavy.
Cruel.
Xavier stared at her as though his soul recognized her while his mind violently rejected the memory itself.
His brow furrowed harder.
"…Those eyes…"
A flicker.
A sensation.
A memory trying to surface.
A woman laughing softly beneath white trees.
Black fur brushing against silver armor.
Golden dusk.
Warmth.
Then—
Nothing.
The memory shattered before it fully formed.
Xavier grabbed his head sharply.
A pulse of pain crossed his expression.
Errya looked away first.
"…Do not force it," she said quietly.
Not cold.
Protective.
That only made Xavier more unsettled.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
Errya remained silent this time.
The white lotus shifted overhead, massive petals groaning softly as roots continued spreading through the ruined cottage.
Sam looked between them in confusion.
"…Uncle, you don't know about kitty? She was always in the library."
Neither answered immediately.
And that silence told Sam more than words would have.
Xavier slowly lowered his hand from his head, eyes still fixed on Errya.
"…No," he said carefully.
But uncertainty poisoned the word halfway through it.
Errya watched him for a long moment.
Then quietly:
"You used to."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Xavier's sword lowered half an inch.
Not trust.
Instinct.
Because despite everything screaming at him to remain cautious…
Something inside him could not perceive her as a threat.
And that frightened him more than if she had attacked.
Another violent tremor shook the cottage.
Wood cracked somewhere above them.
The giant lotus pulsed faintly.
Errya immediately turned toward the deeper sections of the ruined cottage.
Her expression sharpened.
"…They're getting closer."
Xavier's attention snapped instantly toward the darkness.
The creatures had returned.
Not alone this time.
Dozens of red eyes slowly opened throughout the ruined hallways beyond the lotus light.
Watching.
Waiting.
Hunting.
Sam tightened his grip on Stormglass.
His body screamed at him to collapse.
But he stayed standing anyway.
Xavier glanced briefly toward him.
Then toward the spreading darkness surrounding the cottage.
His battered armor shifted as he repositioned himself protectively in front of both Sam and Errya without even thinking about it.
"…Stay behind me," he said quietly.
Errya stared at his back for a long moment after he said it.
And something inside her broke all over again.
The red eyes lingering in the darkness did not move closer.
Not yet.
They watched.
Waiting for weakness.
Waiting for hesitation.
Xavier kept his blade raised toward the ruined hallway while speaking without looking away from the shadows.
"Where's Maria?"
The question landed immediately.
Sam's grip tightened around Stormglass.
Errya's ears lowered slightly.
For a moment, only the creaking of the ruined cottage answered him.
Then Sam spoke quietly.
"She's gone."
Xavier's expression darkened instantly.
"…Gone where?"
"I don't know."
That finally pulled Xavier's eyes away from the darkness.
He turned sharply toward Sam.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Sam flinched slightly beneath the intensity in his voice.
Not fear.
Pressure.
Because Xavier almost never sounded rattled.
And right now—
He did.
Sam swallowed hard.
"We were talking outside before everything happened," he said weakly. "On the porch."
His voice shook slightly as the memories returned.
"She wasn't doing well."
The white lotus above them pulsed faintly.
Xavier's jaw tightened.
Sam continued.
"She told me her condition was getting worse."
"…And?" Xavier asked quietly.
Sam looked down.
"She asked me to kill her if she ever lost control of herself."
Silence.
Even the distant creatures seemed quieter after those words.
Xavier's expression didn't visibly change much.
But something behind his eyes sank.
Like hearing a fear confirmed.
Sam kept talking before the silence could swallow him.
"Then the Whisperer showed up."
Xavier immediately looked back at him.
"…The Whisperer?"
Sam nodded.
"She came out of nowhere. Maria knew her."
Errya glanced toward Xavier briefly at that.
Watching his reaction carefully.
Sam leaned harder against the cracked wall beside him as exhaustion threatened to drag him back down.
"They argued about something. I couldn't understand most of it."
His brow furrowed painfully as he tried to remember.
"She kept talking like she wanted Maria to leave with her. Like something bad was coming."
Xavier's grip around his sword slowly tightened.
Sam's voice lowered.
"Maria didn't want to go."
The giant lotus groaned overhead.
Dust drifted softly through the pale light.
"But then…" Sam hesitated.
His face twisted slightly.
"…The Whisperer whispered something into Maria's ear."
Xavier went still.
Completely still.
Sam noticed it immediately.
"She started acting strange after that," he continued quietly. "Like she was trying to fight herself."
The memory made his chest tighten.
"Maria looked scared."
That word hit harder than anything else he'd said.
Scared.
Maria.
Xavier's expression darkened further.
"She opened some kind of portal," Sam continued. "The Whisperer dragged Maria through it while she was still resisting…"
His eyes drifted upward toward the massive lotus erupting through the ruined cottage.
"…And before they disappeared…"
The lotus pulsed faintly again.
"…Maria summoned this."
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Xavier slowly looked up toward the enormous white lotus towering through the shattered roof.
His battered armor creaked softly as he shifted.
There was no confusion in his face.
Only grim understanding.
"…I see," he muttered quietly.
Errya's eyes flicked toward him.
"You know the woman."
It wasn't a question.
Xavier didn't answer immediately.
That itself was an answer.
Sam looked between them weakly.
"…Who is she?"
Xavier's jaw tightened.
"…Someone dangerous."
Sam frowned.
"That doesn't explain anything."
"No," Xavier replied quietly. "It doesn't."
His expression sharpened instantly.
But Sam was already staring at him now.
Really staring at him.
At the shattered armor.
The blackened blood staining the metal.
The deep claw marks carved into his shoulder plates.
The exhaustion in his face.
Sam had never seen him like this before.
Not once.
"…What happened to you?" Sam asked quietly.
Xavier didn't respond.
Sam pushed harder.
"Where were you?"
The question carried more emotion than intended.
Not anger.
Something closer to abandonment.
"I called for you," Sam continued. "When the cottage started collapsing, when Maria…"
His voice caught briefly.
"…You weren't here."
That landed.
Xavier's eyes lowered slightly.
For the first time since arriving—
He looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with battle.
Sam stared at the damaged armor again.
"…I've never seen you hurt before."
Errya watched Xavier silently now.
Carefully.
Like she already knew what answer was coming.
Xavier looked toward the darkness outside the ruined cottage.
Toward something only he could still feel lingering there.
Then finally—
"I was fighting someone."
The atmosphere shifted immediately.
Sam frowned.
"…Someone did this to you?"
Xavier's silence stretched just long enough to become unsettling.
Then quietly:
"Yes."
Another tremor rolled through the cottage.
Not from the lotus.
From far away.
Something immense moving through the night.
Errya's gaze sharpened instantly.
"…She's close."
Xavier looked toward her immediately.
Not questioning how she knew.
Because deep down—
Part of him already trusted her instincts more than his memory allowed him to understand.
The cottage groaned again.
Not from collapse.
From pressure.
Something in the atmosphere had changed.
The darkness surrounding the ruined home no longer felt empty.
It felt attentive.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then the night creatures emerged.
They stepped slowly from the shadows, their massive skeletal frames unfolding unnaturally.
Their antlered silhouettes towered over the ruined clearing while smaller creatures crawled and slithered from the darkness behind them.
None attacked.
None roared.
None even looked at Sam.
Every single one of them stared upward.
Toward the giant white lotus.
Then—
In perfect unison—
They knelt.
Sam's breathing hitched.
"…What are they doing?"
Errya's eyes narrowed upward immediately.
And for the first time since Xavier arrived—
She looked genuinely uneasy.
Xavier slowly lifted his gaze toward the top of the massive lotus.
Sam followed.
Above the glowing petals—
A black sphere floated silently in the air.
Not solid.
Not liquid.
Something between both.
It drifted just above the lotus center like a suspended wound in reality itself.
And inside it—
A woman slept.
Naked.
Curled inward with her knees tucked against her chest.
Her skin was darker than shadow.
Darker than the shadows surrounding them.
It resembled the void between stars, decorated with intricate silver and white markings flowing across her limbs like living constellations.
She floated weightlessly within the black sphere.
Still.
Beautiful.
Wrong.
Sam felt his stomach tighten instantly.
"…What is that?" he whispered.
No one answered.
Then the woman opened her eyes.
Burning ember-colored light ignited within the darkness of her face.
The black sphere burst instantly.
Liquid exploded outward across the giant lotus.
Black rain poured over the clearing below.
Sam barely had time to react before the substance splashed across his face and shoulders.
He gagged immediately.
The liquid was cold.
Too cold.
It clung to his skin unnaturally as though trying to sink beneath it.
Sam aggressively wiped at it while coughing violently.
"Gh—what is this?!"
Beside him, Xavier calmly wiped the black fluid from his armor without panic.
Around them—
The night creatures screamed in ecstasy.
Not pain.
Joy.
The night creatures tore at the black liquid coating the ground, consuming it desperately while smaller creatures rolled through it like starving animals bathing in blood.
Errya immediately leapt onto Sam's shoulder, claws lightly digging into his torn clothing as she stared upward at the woman atop the lotus.
Her fur stood slightly on end.
Not fear.
Recognition.
Sam froze suddenly.
The smell.
His eyes widened slightly as he stared at the remaining black liquid coating his trembling fingers.
"…This…"
His voice lowered.
"…This is the same as the blood that comes out of me…"
Xavier's hand immediately moved toward the hilt of his blade.
"Be calm, Sam," he said firmly. "This is tenebrous."
The black rain continued dripping from shattered petals around them.
"It feeds on fear," Xavier continued. "Negative emotion strengthens its ability to alter perception and influence thought."
His eyes sharpened toward Sam.
"Do not let it inside your mind."
Above them, the woman slowly rose from atop the lotus petals.
For a moment, she simply stared upward at the moon and stars like someone awakening after centuries beneath water.
Then she extended one hand slowly toward the sky.
"Mother…" she whispered reverently.
The night creatures went still.
Completely still.
"Our black queen…"
Black spider legs erupted violently from her back.
Long.
Jagged.
Endlessly sharp.
They lifted her slowly upright above the lotus bloom.
"...our malevolent highness."
Her voice echoed unnaturally through the clearing as shadows gathered around her body like living fabric.
A dress formed from darkness itself, writhing softly around her limbs while a crown of twisted black thorns emerged slowly atop her head.
Sam stumbled backward instinctively.
His pulse hammered violently in his ears.
Every instinct inside him screamed that something deeply unnatural stood before them.
"Your harbinger has returned," the woman declared softly.
Fog began spilling outward from the lotus immediately afterward.
Thick.
White.
Freezing cold.
It rolled through the destroyed cottage ruins like living breath, twisting together with the darkness until the entire clearing became a shifting sea of pale mist and black shadow.
Sam shivered violently.
The temperature dropped so suddenly his breath became visible.
Errya's claws dug slightly deeper into his shoulder.
"…This is bad," she murmured quietly.
Xavier stepped directly in front of Sam without hesitation.
Protective.
Sword already raised.
The woman's ember-colored gaze lowered slowly toward them through the fog.
Toward Sam specifically.
The atmosphere tightened instantly.
Sam's fear spiked hard enough to make Stormglass hum in his grip.
The woman tilted her head slightly.
Her burning eyes narrowed.
"That hair…" she whispered.
Sam froze.
"The scar…"
Errya's eyes widened suddenly.
"No—"
"Those eyes…"
The woman's expression shifted violently.
Confusion.
Disbelief.
Then something far worse.
"…A-Almos—"
She vanished.
The ground exploded beneath Xavier a fraction of a second later.
CLANG.
Xavier intercepted her strike inches from Sam's chest.
The impact cracked the earth beneath them instantly.
"Ngh!" Xavier growled through clenched teeth as the woman's hand pressed against his blade hard enough to deform the metal slightly.
She wasn't using a weapon.
Her bare hand alone carried monstrous force.
At impossible speed, Xavier twisted sideways and slashed upward, severing several spider legs erupting toward Sam from behind her back.
Black fluid sprayed through the fog.
"MOVE!" Xavier shouted as he shoved Sam violently backward.
Errya leapt from Sam's shoulder at the same instant.
The woman ignored Xavier completely.
Her ember-colored eyes locked entirely onto Sam.
Rage swallowed her expression whole.
Not hatred.
Recognition twisted into madness.
"ALMOS!!!"
Her scream tore through the cottage hard enough to shake the lotus petals overhead.
Every night creature in the clearing erupted at once.
They roared.
Smaller creatures surged forward in waves through the fog.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Sam's heart nearly stopped.
They were everywhere.
Xavier planted himself between Sam and the oncoming horde despite his damaged armor and exhausted body.
Even wounded, he looked immovable.
For a moment.
Only a moment.
Then even he realized the truth.
They were completely overwhelmed.
Xavier glanced back sharply toward Sam.
Fear flashed across his face for the first time all night.
Not for himself.
For him.
"RUN, SAM!!!"
Sam moved instantly.
Pure survival instinct ripped control away from thought as he turned and sprinted blindly into the fog-choked ruins while the creatures charged after him with primal screams echoing through the shattered cottage grounds.
Behind him—
Xavier's sword collided against the harbinger again.
And the sound that followed did not sound human.
Sam ran blindly through the ruined cottage.
The fog swallowed everything beyond a few feet ahead of him.
Broken walls emerged suddenly from the mist only to vanish again behind him as he stumbled over shattered beams and torn floorboards.
The screams behind him never stopped.
Claws scraped violently across wood.
Something massive smashed through a collapsed section of wall somewhere to his left.
Another creature shrieked directly above him.
Too close.
Way too close.
Sam nearly slipped on black liquid coating the floor before catching himself against a broken support beam.
His breathing came in ragged gasps now.
Pain shot through every part of his body with each step.
Stormglass pulsed faintly in his trembling grip.
"Sam!"
Errya's voice cut sharply through the fog.
He looked up just in time to see her silhouette sprinting across a collapsed bookshelf ahead of him.
Her glowing eyes turned toward him briefly.
"Follow me!"
A Wendigo burst through the wall behind Sam.
Wood exploded outward as the towering gray creature lunged into the hallway with a roar that shook dust from the ceiling. It scraped violently against the narrow corridor while black saliva poured from its jaws.
Sam's stomach dropped.
He ran.
As fast as he could.
The Wendigo smashed through the hallway after him, its elongated limbs tearing through the ruined cottage walls as though the structure itself no longer mattered.
"LEFT!" Errya shouted.
Sam turned instantly.
A clawed arm slammed through the space where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.
Splinters tore across his face.
The Wendigo shrieked in frustration behind him.
Errya darted ahead through the darkness impossibly fast, leaping between debris and collapsed furniture with unnatural precision.
Sam could barely keep her in sight.
The fog thickened.
The cottage no longer felt familiar.
Hallways stretched strangely.
Rooms looked wrong.
The shadows moved when he wasn't looking directly at them.
Tenebrous.
Xavier's warning echoed in his head.
Do not let it inside your mind.
Something crawled across the ceiling above him.
Fast.
Sam looked up just as a smaller night creature unfolded itself from the darkness overhead.
Its limbs bent backward.
Its jaw split too wide.
Red eyes burned through the fog.
It dropped directly toward him.
Stormglass moved on instinct.
CRACK.
Yellow lightning burst from the blade as Sam slashed upward wildly.
The creature exploded apart midair in a spray of black blood and twitching limbs.
Sam froze briefly staring at the sword.
He didn't remember swinging.
"MOVE!" Errya screamed.
The floor behind him collapsed instantly as the Wendigo crashed through another wall in pursuit.
Sam sprinted again.
The cottage groaned around him like a dying animal.
Everywhere he looked, lotus roots pulsed through the structure beneath the floorboards and walls. Massive white roots split apart rooms entirely, glowing faintly beneath the fog like veins beneath skin.
The sounds behind him multiplied.
Not one creature.
Many.
Scraping.
Breathing.
Skittering spider-like movement across ceilings.
He could hear them climbing over each other trying to reach him first.
Errya suddenly skidded to a halt atop a fallen beam ahead.
"Stop!"
Sam planted his feet hard enough to nearly fall forward.
A heartbeat later—
The hallway in front of him shifted.
Not physically.
Wrongly.
The darkness peeled backward like wet fabric revealing there had never been a hallway there at all.
Only a collapsed section of floor descending into blackness beneath the cottage.
Sam's face went pale instantly.
"I-I didn't even see that…"
"The tenebrous wants you afraid," Errya said sharply. "It wants you lost."
A low growl emerged behind them.
Then another.
Red eyes appeared through the fog again.
Closer now.
Errya turned immediately.
"This way!"
She bolted sideways through a narrow opening between collapsed walls.
Sam squeezed through after her just as claws ripped violently through the space behind him.
A creature shrieked inches from his ear.
Hot breath brushed the back of his neck.
Sam swung Stormglass backward blindly.
Lightning exploded through the fog again.
A body slammed hard against the wall behind him with a wet crack.
No time to look.
Run.
Just run.
Errya led him deeper through the ruined cottage ruins while the nightmare behind them kept growing louder.
The cottage shook violently again.
A deafening crash erupted somewhere behind them as something massive tore through multiple walls at once.
Sam flinched instinctively.
Xavier.
The sound that followed barely resembled swordplay anymore.
It sounded like buildings colliding.
The fog pulsed with bursts of pale silver light before plunging back into darkness.
Then came the scream.
Not Xavier's.
Not human.
The harbinger's voice warped through the ruined cottage like metal grinding beneath water.
"WHERE IS HE?!"
The force behind the scream shattered nearby windows instantly.
Sam nearly lost his footing.
Errya didn't slow down.
"Keep moving!"
She darted through another fractured hallway while lotus roots twisted across the walls around them like living nerves.
The cottage no longer felt stable.
Rooms shifted strangely whenever Sam looked away from them.
Doorways led into places they shouldn't.
The tenebrous was spreading deeper now.
Stormglass pulsed anxiously in Sam's hand.
Another violent impact rocked the structure.
A body crashed through the ceiling somewhere behind them, obliterating floorboards before smashing into the level beneath with enough force to shake dust loose from every wall around them.
Xavier's voice roared through the chaos.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Then lightning exploded.
Silver this time.
Sharp.
Violent.
For half a second the entire ruined cottage illuminated through the fog.
Sam saw silhouettes moving impossibly fast through collapsing walls.
Xavier.
The harbinger.
Spider limbs.
Steel.
Then darkness swallowed everything again.
Errya suddenly leapt onto a collapsed cabinet near the end of the hallway.
"Here."
Sam stumbled toward her breathing hard.
"What is this place?!"
"The library entrance."
Sam blinked through sweat and dust.
"This isn't the library."
"It used to be."
Errya pressed one paw against a lotus-covered section of wall.
The roots there pulsed faintly.
"There should be stairs beneath this section."
Sam frowned weakly.
"Should?"
Before Errya could answer—
BOOM.
Something crashed through the wall behind them.
Sam whipped around instantly raising Stormglass.
A Wendigo lunged from the debris with its jaws stretched unnaturally wide.
Lightning erupted from Stormglass before Sam consciously moved.
CRACK.
The creature's skull split apart mid-charge.
Its body collapsed twitching onto the ruined floor.
Sam staggered backward breathing hard.
"…I didn't mean to do that."
Errya looked at him sharply.
"You are running out of time."
The cottage groaned again.
Then suddenly—
Silence.
Everything stopped.
No creatures.
No movement.
No screaming.
No crashing.
Even Xavier's battle sounds vanished completely.
Sam's chest tightened instantly.
"…Errya."
She already knew.
Her fur stood fully on end now.
"Do not move," she whispered.
The fog thickened around them unnaturally fast.
The temperature dropped hard enough to make Sam's fingers numb around Stormglass.
Then came the sound.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Spider legs.
Slow.
Measured.
Approaching from somewhere beyond the fog.
Sam's pulse hammered violently in his ears.
The sound circled them.
Not hunting blindly.
Searching deliberately.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Errya slowly stepped in front of Sam now.
Tiny compared to what approached.
But unmoving.
Protective.
The fog shifted.
A tall silhouette emerged slowly through the white mist.
Long spider limbs dragged across the ceiling and walls around her as ember-colored eyes burned through the darkness directly toward Sam.
The harbinger had found them.
But she no longer looked enraged.
That somehow felt worse.
Her expression now was empty.
Wrongly calm.
Like she was looking at a ghost she desperately wanted to touch.
"…Almos…" she whispered.
Sam froze.
The way she said the name made his stomach twist.
Like grief sharpened into obsession.
Errya's voice came low and dangerous.
"He is not him."
The woman's gaze slowly shifted downward toward Errya.
For the first time since appearing—
Emotion crossed her face.
Recognition.
"…You," she whispered softly.
Errya did not back away.
The harbinger stared at her for several long seconds.
Then quietly:
"…You survived too."
The cottage trembled violently overhead.
Far away, Xavier screamed her name with furious desperation somewhere through the fog-filled ruins.
The harbinger ignored him completely.
Her burning eyes returned to Sam.
And the moment they did—
Every night creature in the cottage began screaming again.
"RUN!" Errya screamed.
Sam's body obeyed before thought could catch up.
He turned and bolted through the fog-choked ruins as the screams of the night creatures erupted from every direction at once.
The harbinger moved behind him.
Not running.
Following.
Like something inevitable.
Sam's heart slammed violently against his ribs, terror and adrenaline crashing together so hard it made his vision shake.
His breath came in panicked bursts as guttural growls echoed through the ruined cottage around him.
The creatures were everywhere now.
Crawling across ceilings.
Bursting through walls.
Skittering beneath shattered floorboards.
The sounds alone were enough to break thought apart.
Desperation fueled every step.
Don't stop.
Don't fall.
Don't let them catch you.
Errya sprinted ahead through the fog, her black fur barely visible between pulses of lotus light and drifting tenebrous mist.
"This way!"
Sam nearly crashed through a collapsed doorway following her.
Behind him—
Persephone finally moved.
Her ember-colored eyes locked fully onto him.
Then she raised one hand.
Darkness exploded outward.
A wave of black energy surged through the ruined cottage toward Sam, devouring floorboards and walls as it came.
"The sacred and the profane…" Persephone whispered.
Her voice echoed everywhere at once.
"Almos…"
The wave struck behind Sam hard enough to rupture the floor beneath him.
The cottage exploded apart.
Wood splintered violently upward while cracks raced through the walls and ceiling. Moonlight poured through fresh openings torn into the structure as sections of roof collapsed inward around them.
Sam stumbled hard as the ground crumbled beneath his feet.
"To think…" Persephone continued calmly while pursuing him through the destruction, "…that all the time I searched for you…"
Another impact shook the cottage.
"…you were here."
Errya leapt across falling debris ahead of him.
"Sam!"
"…Reborn."
Persephone's voice deepened unnaturally.
"…Playing pretend."
Sam looked back for one fatal second.
She was walking through the destruction untouched.
Spider limbs carried her effortlessly over shattered beams while darkness curled around her body like smoke beneath water.
And her eyes—
Those burning eyes never left him.
Fear tightened around Sam's throat so hard he almost couldn't breathe.
"Were you hoping this would be your escape?" Persephone asked softly.
The cottage walls exploded outward again as black pressure radiated from her body.
"From what you and the other gods have done?"
Sam's footing slipped.
He barely caught himself against a fractured support beam before the floor behind him collapsed into darkness.
"There is no escape," Persephone whispered.
The night creatures shrieked in worship around her.
"From the monster you created."
Errya suddenly skidded to a halt atop a fallen bookshelf.
"DOWN!"
Sam dropped instantly.
WHOOOOOM.
Two massive black chakrams screamed through the air where his head had been a split second earlier.
The weapons tore through the ruined hallway like divine sawblades.
Walls split apart instantly.
Lotus roots exploded into fragments.
Everything in their path was demolished.
Sam stared in horror as the spinning weapons curved through the cottage leaving trails of darkness behind them.
The chakrams themselves looked alive.
Jagged black edges rotated around glowing runes pulsing with malevolent light while horrifying scenes seemed to shift beneath their surfaces. Endless voids. Screaming silhouettes. Things trapped inside darkness forever.
The air hummed around them with unbearable pressure.
Sam scrambled backward desperately.
The chakrams curved sharply through the air again.
Returning.
Errya's eyes widened.
"MOVE!"
Sam dove sideways just as one of the chakrams obliterated the wall beside him.
The impact hurled debris across the hallway.
Stormglass nearly flew from his grip.
The chakrams arched gracefully back through the fog before settling once more into Persephone's waiting hands like obedient predators returning to their master.
Then they dissolved.
Black liquid collapsed inward into swirling orbs resting above her palms.
Persephone's expression twisted suddenly.
Pain.
Real pain.
A growl escaped her throat.
Low.
Animalistic.
She clawed violently at her own skin while continuing forward.
Errya froze.
"…No…"
Persephone's body began changing.
Black fur spread beneath her skin in pulsing waves.
Her teeth sharpened into monstrous fangs while veins of tenebrous spread visibly beneath her flesh like liquid darkness pumping through her veins.
Bones cracked loudly beneath the fog.
Her fingers elongated into claws.
Her ribs split open.
Black crab-like limbs erupted outward from her sides.
Her throat expanded unnaturally while massive black wings tore violently from her back in sprays of dark liquid.
The night creatures stopped chasing Sam immediately.
Every single one dropped to its knees.
Terrified.
Reverent.
The Wendigos bowed their heads low enough to touch the floor while smaller creatures shrieked worshipfully into the darkness.
The air vibrated with their devotion.
Sam could barely move.
His mind struggled to process the nightmare unfolding behind him.
Persephone rose higher into the collapsing cottage on spider limbs and fractured wings, her transformed body silhouetted against moonlight pouring through the shattered roof.
Then she roared.
The sound detonated through the cottage like the scream of something ancient waking beneath the world.
Walls ruptured.
Glass exploded.
The giant white lotus trembled violently overhead.
Sam dropped to one knee covering his ears as blood trickled from his nose.
Errya stood frozen staring upward at Persephone.
Not just afraid.
Heartbroken.
"…What did they do to you…" she whispered.
Errya's eyes widened as the towering creature above the ruined cottage roared into the night.
Not from fear alone.
Recognition.
"No…" she whispered.
The black wings spread wider against the moonlight.
The spider limbs twitched violently.
The burning ember eyes glowed through the fog like collapsing stars.
Errya stared upward in disbelief.
"…Persephone."
The name left her softly.
Like mourning.
Sam looked toward her immediately, still shaking from the roar reverberating through his bones.
"You know her?!"
Errya didn't answer right away.
Her gaze remained fixed on the transformed harbinger towering above the cottage ruins.
"…That is what they call her now," she murmured quietly.
Now.
That word lingered strangely.
The night creatures continued bowing around them while Persephone's monstrous form breathed heavily overhead, black liquid dripping from claws and wings onto the shattered cottage below.
Errya finally looked back toward Sam.
And for the first time since revealing herself—
She looked afraid for him.
"We cannot keep running," she said quietly.
Sam stared at her in disbelief.
"…What?"
"She will not stop."
The fog thickened around them.
"She has already chosen you."
Sam's chest tightened painfully.
Errya stepped closer.
"If we continue fleeing, she will destroy everything around us until there is nowhere left to run."
Another roar shook the cottage.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
Sam tightened his grip around Stormglass desperately.
"…Fight?" he asked weakly. "Against that?!"
Errya opened her mouth to answer.
Something slammed into Sam from the side.
A night creature burst through the fog snarling violently, its elongated jaws snapping inches from his face as both of them crashed through a fractured section of floor.
Sam screamed.
The world flipped violently around him.
Wood splintered.
Darkness swallowed everything.
The creature clawed frantically at him while they tumbled downward together through the black pit beneath the cottage.
Its jaws snapped wildly toward his throat.
Hot black saliva splattered across Sam's face.
He jammed Stormglass sideways between its jaws with both hands, straining desperately to keep the creature from biting into him.
Its strength was horrifying.
Its claws tore into his shoulder as they spun through darkness.
Sam gritted his teeth and screamed as lightning burst violently from Stormglass directly into the creature's mouth.
CRACK.
The thing convulsed midair.
Then both of them smashed into the ground below with a brutal impact.
Sam's body bounced hard against stone.
Pain detonated through his ribs and spine.
For several long seconds he couldn't breathe.
The creature beside him twitched once.
Then went still forever.
Dead from the fall.
Sam groaned weakly.
Everything hurt.
His ears rang violently.
The only light down here came from thin cracks overhead where moonlight filtered faintly through broken floorboards.
Slowly—
Painfully—
Sam forced himself onto shaking knees.
Stormglass slipped from his fingers momentarily before he grabbed it again.
Then he heard it.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Sam froze.
Something crawled in the darkness behind him.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
He turned.
Persephone crawled into view upside down across the fractured ceiling.
Eerily graceful.
Her spider limbs pierced into the stone above while her ember-colored eyes remained locked entirely onto him.
But as she approached—
Her body began shrinking.
The monstrous black fur receded beneath her skin.
The crab limbs withdrew slowly into her ribs with sickening cracks.
Her wings folded inward and vanished into darkness itself.
Step by step—
Crawl by crawl—
She returned to her original form.
Smaller.
Almost human again.
Almost.
But the hunger in her eyes only intensified.
The moment she fully saw him—
She moved.
The tunnel exploded apart.
Persephone surged toward Sam like a living nightmare, destroying everything between them as stone and debris erupted outward from the force of her approach.
Sam tried to stand.
Pain ripped through his face instantly.
His scar burned.
No—
Pulled.
Sam screamed as violet energy burst visibly through the cracked skin beneath his eye.
It felt like something inside him was trying to claw its way out.
He dropped hard onto one knee clutching his face in agony.
Persephone reached him instantly.
Her hand wrapped around his throat.
Sam barely had time to gasp before she slammed him violently across the stone floor.
Stormglass flew from his hand, skidding into darkness.
The lightning around the blade vanished immediately.
Persephone dragged him across the ground effortlessly before smashing him against the cavern wall hard enough to crack the stone behind him.
Sam coughed violently.
His vision blurred.
Then color vanished entirely.
The world disappeared.
Sam stood suddenly within a dead landscape beneath swirling crimson storms.
Black clouds twisted endlessly overhead while red lightning split apart the sky.
Figures moved through the shadows around him.
Crawling.
Begging.
Screaming.
Their faces twisted with agony.
Whispers flooded the air immediately.
Every fear he had ever buried returned all at once.
"You failed."
"She left you."
"You destroy everything around you."
"You are not human."
Sam clutched his head desperately.
Then Persephone's voice echoed through the nightmare itself.
"My world is a wasteland," she said softly.
A burning world tree appeared before him.
Massive.
Ancient.
Engulfed entirely in black fire.
Its ashes drifted downward onto a sprawling metropolis below.
And the city screamed.
Night creatures tore through crowded streets ripping apart men, women, children beneath endless darkness. Their glowing eyes illuminated the slaughter while crimson blood flooded the brick roads like rivers.
Sam fell to his knees vomiting violently as the visions assaulted him faster and faster.
"And those who made it this way…" Persephone whispered.
The city burned brighter.
"…still have their own."
Sam screamed toward the crimson sky while black blood streamed from his eyes and mouth.
The visions would not stop.
Each one tore away another piece of his sanity.
"They built their world on lies and shadows," Persephone continued.
Her voice no longer sounded hateful.
Only exhausted.
"But the truth will rise eventually."
The burning world tree collapsed.
"I will burn their world to the ground as they did mine."
The nightmare intensified.
Bodies.
Chains.
Darkness.
Screaming.
Gods standing silently while entire worlds suffered beneath them.
"My family will be avenged."
The whispers became deafening.
"Malevolent will reclaim her rightful place."
Then suddenly—
Reality returned.
Sam gasped violently.
He was still pinned against the wall by Persephone's hand around his throat.
The visions stopped.
But the horror remained clawing inside his mind.
Persephone stared directly into his eyes now.
Not roaring.
Not monstrous.
Just broken.
Sam coughed weakly.
"…Persephone…"
His voice barely worked.
"Your pain…"
He struggled to breathe beneath her grip.
"…what they did to you…"
Persephone's expression flickered slightly.
"…it's horrible."
Sam weakly grabbed at her wrist.
"But I'm not who you think I am."
For the first time since finding him—
Persephone hesitated.
Only slightly.
The shadows around her wavered uncertainly.
"So why…" Sam whispered painfully.
"…Why does my world have to end too?"
Silence.
Persephone's ember-colored eyes trembled faintly.
"For too long…" she whispered slowly, "…the gods have remained unpunished."
Her grip tightened again.
"I was chained."
Images flickered behind her eyes.
Pain.
Torture.
Endless obedience forced upon her by beings she once trusted.
"They made me their servant while they drowned themselves in excess."
Darkness pulsed around her body.
"I have endured every betrayal. Every punishment. Every cruelty."
Her voice cracked slightly.
"And every day sharpened my resolve."
The cavern trembled around them.
"They turned me into their monster."
Her burning eyes locked onto his again.
"Their greatest weapon."
Black tears streamed slowly down her face.
"I will have my divine vengeance."
Sam's strength faded rapidly beneath her grip.
But despite the terror crushing him—
A flicker of empathy surfaced painfully within him.
Because for the first time—
He understood.
Not completely.
But enough.
His fingers weakly loosened around her wrist.
His eyes slowly closed.
"…So…" he whispered faintly.
"…you were cursed too…"
Then consciousness slipped away from him.
Sam hung limply against the cracked cavern wall.
Persephone's hand remained wrapped around his throat while darkness pulsed softly around them both.
For several long moments—
Nothing moved.
Then Sam twitched slightly.
Persephone noticed immediately.
Her ember-colored eyes narrowed as his head slowly lifted.
But something was wrong.
The terror was gone.
The exhaustion.
The confusion.
Gone.
What looked back at her now was not Sam.
Ancient calm settled behind violet glowing eyes as the energy beneath his scar stabilized into something colder. Older.
Wiser.
Persephone froze.
"…No…" she whispered.
Then he spoke.
"Persephone," the voice said firmly.
Not Sam's voice.
Deeper.
Layered strangely beneath itself like multiple echoes speaking at once.
"You fool."
The cavern trembled softly.
"We have both suffered beneath the tyranny of the gods."
Persephone stared at him in stunned silence.
"But I have found another path," Almos continued. "A way to break free from their chains without continuing the cycle of sin."
The moment the name fully settled into the air—
Persephone's expression cracked.
"This feeling…" she whispered faintly.
Her grip loosened slightly without realizing it.
"…your voice…"
Almos stared at her solemnly through Sam's body.
His presence alone carried overwhelming authority. Not dominance. Weight. The burden of someone who had survived ages of regret and sacrifice.
For the first time since awakening—
Doubt entered Persephone's eyes.
A dangerous thing.
Then suddenly—
She smiled.
Not kindly.
Knowingly.
"You really did it," she murmured.
The shadows around her softened slightly as she studied him more carefully.
"You hid yourself inside this child…"
Her ember-colored gaze drifted slowly across Sam's face.
"…knowing full well he carries my other half within him."
For the first time—
Almos visibly tensed.
Only slightly.
But Persephone noticed immediately.
A pleased look crossed her face.
"That's your plan?" she asked softly. "To kill me and Malevolent using her own power?"
The darkness around them pulsed.
"You would not be the first to try, Almos."
"All those who failed…" Almos replied quietly.
"…were not me."
Persephone's expression sharpened instantly.
Her grip tightened again.
"You may have hidden yourself inside this child," she hissed, "but my strength was never merely power."
Darkness coiled around her fingers.
"It is my will."
Almos remained calm despite the pressure crushing Sam's throat.
"Just like the boy," he said firmly, "I have seen what you plan to do."
The cavern flickered with fragments of Persephone's visions. Burning cities. Endless night. The world tree collapsing beneath black fire.
"And it is a lie."
Persephone's expression darkened immediately.
"Committing that sin will only continue the suffering that has plagued this world for generations," Almos continued. "Malevolent desires only the destruction of the peace that once existed."
"Peace?"
Persephone's voice cracked sharply.
"Peace?!"
Her eyes burned brighter.
"You speak to me of peace after everything they did to us?"
The cavern shook violently beneath her rage.
"My sisters and I seek a new order beneath Malevolent's guidance!" she snarled. "One where we are no longer chained like obedient animals beneath the whims of those who call themselves gods!"
Her fingers dug deeper into Sam's throat.
"You know…" she whispered darkly, "…I sensed something wrong with this boy the moment I saw him."
Almos said nothing.
"Even now…" Persephone murmured, "…I can feel my power sleeping deep inside him."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Silent."
A pause.
"But still mine."
Darkness pulsed violently through the cavern.
"It is inevitable," she whispered. "All three of us are bound to the cycle of sin until only one remains."
Almos' expression hardened.
Persephone tilted her head slightly.
"My memories may be visible to you…" she continued softly. "But your fate is visible to me as well."
A flicker crossed her eyes.
Recognition.
Understanding.
"Throughout your life," she whispered, "you committed atrocities for survival no different than the gods you condemn now."
Almos remained silent.
And that silence confirmed enough.
"You survived the First Sin War through monstrous means," Persephone continued. "And if necessary…"
Her burning eyes sharpened.
"…you would do it again."
Then her expression changed suddenly.
Interest.
Curiosity.
She looked slowly across Sam's body.
"This child…" she whispered.
The darkness around her quieted slightly.
"I remember him now."
Almos' eyes narrowed subtly.
"One of the twins belonging to Eudora and Dorian."
The cavern suddenly felt colder.
"Raised to believe he could change the world."
Persephone smiled faintly.
"I thought I killed him while slaughtering his mother."
The words landed like knives.
"But it seems…"
Her gaze sharpened.
"…a miracle intervened."
Almos' composure cracked.
Only briefly.
But enough.
Persephone saw it instantly.
"To remain hidden this long is impossible without assistance," she whispered thoughtfully. "Someone with immense power helped create this arrangement."
Her ember-colored eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Perhaps Mizeria's mother?"
For the first time since awakening through Sam—
Almos looked genuinely shaken.
Persephone smiled faintly at the reaction.
"But I will not repeat that mistake again," she whispered.
Her voice softened strangely.
Not hatred.
Acceptance.
"Almos…"
The cavern trembled softly beneath the weight of ancient history between them.
"We are destroyers."
Her eyes lowered slightly.
"Products of their cruelty."
Then finally:
"Fated enemies."
Almos winced as her grip tightened painfully around Sam's throat again.
But determination still burned within his eyes.
"This child…" he rasped.
"…and I…"
Violet energy pulsed beneath Sam's scar.
"…will stop you no matter the cost."
Persephone stared at him for several long seconds.
Then slowly—
She smiled.
A tired smile.
Bitter.
Knowing.
"As you should."
Her grip loosened completely as she stepped back.
"Heavy is the crown," she murmured softly. "The Black Queen says that often."
The violet light beneath Sam's scar flickered violently.
Almos' presence weakened immediately afterward.
Then suddenly—
Sam gasped violently back into consciousness.
Color returned to his eyes.
Fear crashed into his expression instantly as he looked up at Persephone standing over him.
He had no idea what just happened.
Only fragments.
Voices.
Pain.
A strange familiarity lingering inside his chest.
Persephone stared down at him quietly.
"Let us bring an end…" she whispered softly.
"…to the cycle of sin."
Then she raised her free hand.
Her fingers sharpened instantly into a black dagger-like point aimed directly toward Sam's heart.
Sam froze.
Too exhausted to move.
Persephone thrust downward—
"Meow."
The movement stopped instantly.
Errya stood silently behind Persephone atop a fractured stone beam, her tail swaying calmly through drifting darkness.
"That's enough, Persephone."
Persephone glanced sideways toward her.
Then smirked.
"Long time no see, Errya."
Errya's eyes narrowed sharply.
Sam looked between them weakly while struggling to breathe.
Something passed silently between the two women.
History.
Pain.
Recognition.
Errya spoke first.
"I see you haven't forgotten me."
Persephone chuckled softly beneath her breath.
"How could I?"
Errya's gaze sharpened.
"And if you're here…"
Her voice lowered carefully.
"…then Dorian and Eudora are dead."
Persephone nodded once.
Not proudly.
Certainly.
"No one will stop the dream of my Black Queen."
Sam froze.
The names hit him strangely.
Dorian.
Eudora.
His parents.
Even without memories of them, hearing their deaths confirmed felt like something inside his chest tearing open.
Persephone lowered her gaze briefly.
Almost lovingly.
"The world tree…" she whispered.
Then she smiled.
That smile chilled the cavern worse than the tenebrous ever could.
"May chaos take the world."
Errya visibly shuddered.
Her fur bristled sharply.
"You're mad."
Persephone's smile widened slightly.
"Madly in love."
SHING.
Silver flashed through darkness.
Persephone's arm severed instantly.
Black blood sprayed across the cavern wall.
Sam collapsed hard onto the ground gasping for air as Xavier appeared between them with terrifying speed, sword extended through the follow-through of the strike.
His armor was drenched in blood now.
Deep cracks spread across the silver plating while black fluid dripped from his blade onto the stone floor.
He looked furious.
Exhausted.
And absolutely lethal.
Errya stared at him wide-eyed.
"…Xavier?"
Persephone staggered sideways from Xavier's strike, black blood pouring from the severed arm still twitching across the cavern floor.
For the first time since her arrival—
She looked vulnerable.
Sam saw it.
And something inside him snapped.
Before fear could stop him, before doubt could creep back in—
He moved.
Sam surged forward and drove his foot hard into Persephone's chest.
THUD.
The impact forced her backward across the fractured stone.
At the exact same moment—
Xavier vanished.
"NGGHHHHAHHH!!!!"
His battle cry detonated through the cavern as silver flashes erupted around Persephone at impossible speed.
SHING.
SHING.
SHING.
Xavier's blade carved through darkness itself as he unleashed a relentless barrage of strikes.
Persephone's remaining arm blurred upward just in time to deflect several blows while sparks and black blood exploded across the cavern walls.
Then she pointed at him.
Darkness erupted.
BOOOOM.
Xavier was blasted violently backward through a stone pillar hard enough to shatter it completely.
"XAVIER!" Sam shouted.
But rage carried him forward before panic could.
For the first time—
Without Stormglass.
Lightning erupted directly from Sam's hand.
A blade formed instantly.
Pure crackling intent condensed into violent yellow-white energy.
The cavern illuminated in blinding flashes as electricity spiraled wildly around Sam's arm.
Errya's eyes widened.
"…He did it again."
But this time felt different.
The blade was unstable.
Angrier.
Because Sam no longer wanted merely to survive.
He wanted Persephone dead.
Sam lunged.
The lightning blade screamed across the cavern toward Persephone's chest.
She twisted gracefully aside.
Too graceful.
Like dancing through violence itself.
Dark orbs spun around her fingers before unfolding into her dual chakrams once again.
Xavier burst back from the rubble immediately afterward.
Together—
They rushed her.
Steel.
Lightning.
Darkness.
The cavern erupted into chaos.
Persephone moved between them with terrifying fluidity, her body spinning and weaving through their attacks as though battle itself were music only she could hear.
Sam slashed downward.
Persephone deflected it with a chakram while simultaneously blocking Xavier's thrust behind her back without even looking.
CLANG.
Sparks exploded.
She spun low beneath Xavier's next slash and kicked Sam backward hard enough to crack stone beneath his feet.
But Sam came back immediately.
Xavier's relentless pressure forced Persephone to pivot sideways directly into Sam's next attack.
The two moved instinctively around each other now.
Xavier created openings.
Sam attacked through them.
Persephone laughed softly while defending against the storm of strikes.
"Good," she whispered. "Struggle."
Sam spun across Xavier's back as Xavier crouched beneath him mid-combat, launching him higher toward Persephone.
Lightning exploded around the cavern as Sam unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes downward.
Persephone smirked while deflecting every single one with spinning chakrams.
Fast.
Too fast.
Then Xavier appeared beside her.
SHINK.
His blade drove directly through Persephone's thigh and deep into the cavern floor beneath her.
Pinning her in place.
Her eyes widened briefly.
Using the momentum from his landing, Sam twisted and kicked Persephone directly across the face.
Black blood sprayed through the air.
"PERSEPHONE!!!" Sam screamed.
The rage inside him finally erupted completely.
"YOU KILLED MY PARENTS!!!!"
The words echoed violently through the cavern.
Even Sam looked shocked hearing them leave his mouth.
He had never met them.
Never known them.
But now—
Knowing she murdered them—
The fury consuming him felt endless.
I never even knew them…
The thought burned through his mind.
And yet this rage feels unbearable.
His grip tightened around the lightning blade.
She won't get away with this.
Sam lunged forward again.
This time intending to kill.
Persephone's expression changed instantly.
"SACRED ART—"
SHING.
With Stormglass in hand, Xavier slashed violently across her face before she could finish.
"FINISH IT, SAM!!!" Xavier roared.
Sam screamed.
"RAHHHHH!!!!"
Everything exploded forward at once.
Sam drove the lightning blade directly through Persephone's chest and rammed her violently into the cavern wall behind her.
The impact cracked the entire wall apart.
Stone fractured outward in massive spiderweb patterns while debris rained from above.
"I can't hesitate, I won't lose anyone else!"
Persephone gasped sharply from Sam's increasing strength.
"Sam!" Xavier shouted.
Then Sam saw it.
Stormglass.
Flying towards his direction.
Without hesitation he grabbed it—
And slammed it through her body too.
The cavern shook violently from the impact.
Lightning erupted across the walls around them as both blades pinned Persephone completely against the stone.
Her ember-colored eyes widened in genuine shock.
Electricity crackled viciously around the wounds in her chest while black blood streamed downward across the cavern wall.
For the first time since awakening—
Pain overtook her expression.
Real pain.
Yet despite that—
A faint smile still touched her lips.
Almost proud.
Sam staggered backward, breathing hard.
Both weapons remained buried through Persephone's body.
Her head hung forward limply now while black blood pooled slowly beneath her feet.
Silence filled the cavern.
Heavy.
Unreal.
Xavier stepped beside Sam slowly and placed a hand on his shoulder.
His armor creaked from damage.
Blood covered nearly every inch of him.
But his voice remained calm.
"…Hold your focus," Xavier warned quietly. "Keep her pinned."
Sam stared upward at Persephone's motionless body.
"W-We…"
His breathing shook violently now.
"…We did it."
But Xavier's expression remained grim.
"This battle is not over."
Sam nodded weakly.
Then looked back toward Persephone.
And immediately felt sick.
A tremor spread through his hands.
Cold.
Violent.
"What…" Sam whispered faintly.
His stomach twisted hard enough to make him nauseous.
"I…"
His eyes drifted across Persephone's lifeless form.
Black blood trickled from her mouth.
The once terrifying harbinger now hung silently against cracked stone beneath dim moonlight filtering into the cavern above.
Still.
Broken.
Dead.
Sam swallowed hard.
My family was threatened.
She wanted me dead.
She destroyed my home.
Maria…
Xavier…
Errya…
I had to protect them.
So why—
Why do I feel like this?
His breathing became uneven.
A horrible pressure built inside his chest.
I thought I was ready for this.
His eyes locked onto Persephone again.
The reality finally settled over him completely.
Not battle.
Not survival.
Death.
He killed her.
Sam's lips trembled faintly.
"…I killed her."
To Be Continued.