"Not all shadows are outside you… some dwell within you, waiting for you to break, to rise on your ruins and declare sovereignty."
From Kain's thoughts
✦ From Kain Swan's perspective ✦
... Darkness.
No sound, no shape, no time.
I try to breathe… nothing.
I try to move… but do I have a body to move?
Am I… existing?
Or am I a dream? An idea? An illusion lost in nothingness?
Maybe I was once a human… or a soul… or something in between.
But now… I am nothing.
I no longer feel except the fatigue… old fatigue, deep, extending for thousands of years.
"Tired of fighting… just let me… rest."
And suddenly…
Sound of explosion. Red light.
The world shatters.
Land splits, sky falls, stars extinguish.
I looked around me. Nothing is stable. Everything collapses.
But I was existing, and… I was something else.
I looked at my hand, at my body, then my breath was held – or what resembles breath.
I was not Kain as I know him.
I was a legendary creature.
My body was covered with dark blue scales, from each of them celestial faint lights shining, intertwined as if they were a cosmic network. Every step I took was making ripples in the void, tearing the air and reshaping it. My wings behind me, from the fabric of lightning, pulsing with a pulse that does not stop. My horns shining with an aura of primitive power, extending from my forehead as if they were swords of pure energy. My eyes? No, they were not my eyes, but two flames… merciless.
I was a dragon. Legendary. Supernatural. Frightening.
But despite that… I did not feel power. But fear.
I felt something watching me… challenging me.
I turned.
And I saw him.
Another dragon.
But not like any dragon.
His color was red, like flame, like hell.
And everything in him… made me tremble.
I did not know him. But I… hated him.
I felt hatred, loathing, disgust. As if he was part of me… I do not want him.
And suddenly… the scene changed.
I was… Kain. In my human form.
And I was screaming.
A scream that made the universe tremble.
And I was carrying two bodies.
A man and a woman… my parents from my previous world.
I cannot remember their faces. But they were drowned in blood.
And above me… it was him.
Shine.
The same red dragon… but in a human form. Handsome, demonic, calm, and… cruel.
He said in a voice unforgettable:
"This is your punishment, Kain… for rejecting our eternal destiny. We were not made to live a peaceful life."
"You are the one who started this, I only take revenge for your actions."
I flipped the two corpses in my lap, I felt the emptiness inside me burning.
I screamed: "Shaaaain!!! I will kill you!! I will kill youuuu!!!"
The world exploded around me.
Land cracking, meteors falling, seas boiling. Everything exploding with my anger.
But he… laughed.
Then said something… something I could not hear.
His words were distorted, like broken chants.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Then… darkness.
I returned to the first place.
The nothingness.
I murmured: "Just… leave me. I want nothing. Go away from me. Let me sleep."
And I sank.
But it was not over.
I saw a new scene.
I saw Bella. And Charlie. And Renée. Then… Alice.
All of them… dead.
Their eyes glassy. Their bodies covered with blood.
And above them… Shine.
Standing as a king on a throne of terror. Holding Alice's severed head in his hand.
Then… a voice.
Inside me. A voice I do not know its source. Not Shine, nor me.
A cosmic, eternal voice:
"This is what happens when you refuse to wake up. The universe does not wait for those who retreat. Wake up, Caaaaain!"
I trembled. I screamed: "No! No! I will not allow him to find them. If I remain asleep, he will not be able to reach them. He wants me, not them. Stay away from me… let me sleep!"
But the voice returned:
"And do you think… he has not found you? Do you think… your transformation was not noticed? That explosion… that power… the whole universe felt it. Shine… is coming."
My pulses quickened. I tried to ignore the voice. But it added:
"If you do not wake up… the price will not be paid by you only. But the world… all worlds.
Watch."
Then… visions.
Worlds destroyed.
Planets burning.
Civilizations collapsing.
Kingdoms of humans and vampires and sorcerers and demons… all crushed. All melting before the same energy… Shine's energy.
I saw creatures of light vanishing.
Cities of crystal destroyed.
Dimensional worlds folded.
I screamed: "Enough!!!"
But no one answered.
Everything was collapsing. And I was… helpless.
Then Shine appeared again.
He said: "Your struggle has not ended, Kain. Rest… does not suit you. We are not created to rest, but to fight.
And now… fight."
And the light exploded.
I was screaming.
I was waking up.
Reality returned.
Light returned.
The first sound I heard… was not a sound. It was a touch. Soft. Warm.
I felt something… a face.
I raised my eyelids slowly.
The light in the room dim, but the eyes that looked at me… were not ordinary. They were her eyes.
Alice.
She looked at me, and her mouth was trembling. She was smiling, as if the world returned to life.
I whispered, in a tired voice but returning:
"Hello… Alice."
Her face trembled, as if hidden tears were trying to escape… but they did not fall.
And I returned, Kain. But I was no longer as I was.
🌀[End of Chapter Fourteen]
✦ Next Chapter: "Awakening of Steel and Shadow" ✦
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Sorry for the delay.