Eva's voice cracked.
"Jian…"
Coox ..in Jian's body.. laughed softly. Coldly.
"He's watching. Every word. Every step. And he can't stop a thing."
And just like that..their hope, their fear, and their fight collided in a place that wasn't real.. but could kill them just the same. Eva took a step forward, her voice breaking through the echoing void.
"Jian," she called out, not to Coox, but to the boy behind him. "I know you're in there. I know you can hear me."
The thing on the throne tilted its head slowly, almost amused.
"He hears," Coox purred. "He screams, actually. But I've grown fond of the sound."
Mael clenched his fists. "You sick.."
"Elara," Eva said quickly, her voice tight. "Try with me."
Elara's eyes were trembling, but she nodded. She stepped beside Eva, clasping her hands together near her chest.
"Jian… it's me," Elara whispered, her voice barely above the wind curling around them. "It's okay. Just blink. Give us something. We're here."
For a moment.. just a flicker..the smile faltered. Not even for a full second. But enough for Eva to gasp,
"There. He's fighting."
Damien stepped forward now, eyes locked on the possessed Jian.
"We've been with you since the beginning. You're stronger than him ..you always were. Don't let him win, Jian. Don't let him take you."
A low growl escaped Coox's throat.
"You people," he hissed, voice distorting slightly. "You think love and loyalty are armor? They're weights. They drag him down. I set him free."
"You're a liar," Eva snapped. "He was never free with you. You use pain like a leash."
Coox stood from the throne. The ground beneath them cracked and buckled, but the group held their footing.
"Jian," Eva called again, more urgently now. "If you can hear me… remember what Voox told me. She's proud of you. She believed you could make it. We all do. Please…"
Silence.
And then... Jian's hand twitched. His fingers curled slightly at his side, like resisting the strings. Coox's eye twitched.
"No," the voice snarled. "No."
Inside..just under the surface..a sound. A pulse. Elara's heart leapt.
"That's him! That's his energy!"
"Keep talking to him!" Mael shouted.
Eva stepped closer again, tears running down her face.
"Jian. Remember your name. Remember us. You're not Coox. You're Jian. My Jian."
Another flicker. This time, his eyes twitched..one blink. Just one. But it was real. Coox roared, voice breaking into monstrous echoes.
"ENOUGH!"
The ground shattered beneath them and the dream began to twist, but they didn't run. They kept shouting, holding to the one truth that could still save him: Jian wasn't gone yet. They waited..hoping, begging, but nothing came.
No flicker. No twitch. No glimpse of Jian. Only Coox… standing tall in Jian's body, eyes now closed, a smug calm settling over his face like a curtain drawn on a performance.
"You're all fools," he said coldly, his voice dripping with disdain. "Stupid, fragile little things. Jian is gone. There is nothing left but me."
Elara collapsed to her knees. She sat on the broken ground, her shoulders trembling. Her head lowered until her forehead touched the cracked floor, hands clenched in her lap. Her voice broke the silence..soft and shaky.
"My Jian… you promised me. You promised you wouldn't leave me alone."
Her voice dissolved into muffled words, whispered too fast, too quiet. Just broken syllables that no one could fully understand.. a spiral of sadness that wrapped around her like a storm.
Mael turned quickly, the pain flashing through his face as he shouted,
"Elara, pull yourself together!"
But she didn't move. Damien stood frozen, wide-eyed, breathing uneven. His voice barely came out.
"No… no, this can't be it. Jian was just there. He was just there …"
Eva hadn't spoken since. She stood still, head lowered, her dark hair falling around her like a curtain. Her hands were clenched by her sides, and her breathing was quiet… too quiet.
Then she lifted her head..slowly. Her eyes were wide, glassy with the edge of tears, but underneath, something burned.Resolve. She looked straight at Coox, who now opened his eyes again.. Jian's eyes, but colder, hollow. And she took a step forward.
"You're still there, Jian… aren't you?" she whispered. "I know you can hear me."
Mael turned to her sharply. "Eva, stop !"
But she didn't. It was as if she didn't hear him at all. Like she wasn't truly with them anymore.. her eyes locked on Jian, or the thing wearing him.
Coox's lips curled into a quiet, satisfied smile as his eyes swept over them. There it was..the tension in their shoulders, the flickers of doubt in their eyes, the sharp edges of frustration and disbelief. And beneath it all… hopelessness. It clung to them like smoke. He savored it..the way their resolve cracked just enough to let the fear in. Not a word escaped his lips, but the silence itself felt cruel. He didn't need to gloat aloud. He only watched, and smiled.
Eva kept walking, slow and sure. Her voice soft, steady.
"You hear me. You always do. Even when you pretend not to."
Coox didn't move. But his jaw clenched. Something wasn't right.
Eva walked steadily forward, each step echoing like thunder in the dead silence of the space that wasn't theirs. She was so close now..close enough to see the faint twitch in Jian's fingers, the way his breathing faltered, just for a second.
"Come back Jian ," she whispered, eyes locked on his. "Jian… please."
But Coox's expression twisted. His lips curled back into a cold snarl.
"Enough."
His hand rose..slow, deliberate, laced with that dark energy that had once obliterated Raven in a flash of death. The same motion. The same cruel elegance. Time seemed to bend. The air warped around his raised hand.
Eva didn't flinch. She didn't even close her eyes.
She just whispered,
"I'm not afraid of you "
But the strike never landed.
THWAM!
Damien surged from the side, grabbing Eva and shoving her hard to the ground as he dove with her..just in time. Coox's hand cut through the air like a blade, slicing the space where Eva's head had just been. A shockwave rippled out from the failed impact, blasting dust and energy through the strange realm like shattered glass in wind.
Eva and Damien rolled across the ground, crashing to a halt a few feet away. Damien was on top of her, panting, his arms wrapped around her shoulders.
"What were you thinking?! " he shouted breathlessly.
Eva blinked, dazed. "I… I could've reached him."
"No," Damien snapped. "That wasn't Jian. That was a killer. That was Coox ."
Eva stared past Damien, eyes wide, toward the figure now slowly turning to face them. Coox's face was a storm.. not rage, but something tighter, sharper. He looked down at his hand..the same one meant to kill.
Coox looked at his open hand, fingers twitching slightly..not from weakness, but anticipation. Then, slowly, deliberately, he turned his gaze to Damien and Eva, still on the ground, breathless and stunned.
A smile crawled across his face, a crooked, sharp-edged grin that didn't reach his eyes. It was the kind of smile that didn't belong to anyone human. A smile born from cruelty. Enjoyment. Power.
His head tilted, eyes gleaming with something dark and bottomless. Then he turned, scanning the room. Eva trembling, Damien rising to shield her, Elara still kneeling on the floor, lost in her silent grief, and Mael standing there, jaw tight, fists clenched at his sides, fury and disbelief mixing in his eyes. Coox chuckled low in his throat.
"I will enjoy ending your lives…" he said, voice like oil sliding across steel.
Then he tilted his head again, mockingly thoughtful.
"Experiments."
The word dropped like poison in the air. Mael took a step forward, teeth grinding.
"We're not your experiments."
Coox raised a brow as if amused by the defiance.
"Oh, but you are. You always have been. Pushed. Pressed. Broken. Reforged. Just to see… what you'll do next."
He stepped toward them, calm, elegant in his cruelty.
"One of you already fell." His gaze landed on Damien. "Another tried to play the hero."
Then his eyes shifted.. locking onto Elara.
"And one of you..can't even speak through the pain."
Elara didn't lift her head. But her hands curled into fists against the floor. Coox's voice dropped lower.
"You're mine now. All of you. Jian is gone. And this body…" He extended his arms wide, smiling wider. "It fits me better than I imagined."
Just then, the ground beneath the shuddered, as if the very realm was beginning to respond..to him. The air grew tighter. Heavier. The shadows bent inward, pulled toward Coox like he was the center of this strange world's gravity. And he was. Their reality had become his domain.
And he was ready to end them.. one by one. Unless something… or someone… could still reach what remained of Jian.
The atmosphere turned electric. The moment Coox stepped forward again, Mael moved.. fast, driven by sheer instinct. He summoned a burst of energy from within, a surge of light clashing against the oppressive darkness around them.
He leapt, blade in hand, aiming straight for Coox's chest. But Coox didn't flinch.With a lazy flick of his hand, he caught Mael's attack mid-air, the blade sparking in his palm.
"Predictable," Coox muttered, then shoved Mael back with a violent wave of force that sent him crashing into the twisted version of the room's wall.
Eva stood frozen… until Damien shouted,
"Eva, NOW!"
Her eyes widened. She nodded, then extended both her hands, channeling a golden, pulsing energy.. one she hadn't used since Jian had first trusted her with it. She threw it with a scream of pain and fury. The blast hit Coox square in the chest, forcing him to stumble back. He snarled.
"Ah. So there's still some bite left in the broken ones."
Damien jumped in, launching a flurry of strikes..not with magic, but sheer strength and precision. Each movement was fast, sharp… a desperate attempt to distract, to slow Coox down. For a moment, it seemed to work.
He shouted, "Elara, NOW!"
Elara rose from the floor, eyes burning through tears, lips trembling. Her hands ignited in glowing energy.. not as fierce as before, but steadier. The blast was bright… so bright it cut through the shadow for a split second, hitting Coox and staggering him backward, finally making him scream.
The voice wasn't just Coox's. There was a flicker. A sound. A breath that didn't belong to the monster.
"Elara…"
It was faint. Barely audible. But it was Jian's voice.
"Did you hear that?" Eva gasped.
"Yeah," Damien said, panting. "He's in there. I know he is."
Coox stood again, hunched, panting. His head twitched. And for just a second… his body faltered. Eyes flickering. Lips trembling. One hand clutching his head. Eva stepped forward, her voice shaking.
"Jian… It's me. Eva."
"No…" Coox growled, voice layered — like a war of two souls.
"You made a promise," she continued, walking slowly toward him. "You told me… you wouldn't let go."
Coox screamed ..loud, furious. The realm itself trembled, cracks forming in the dark walls around them. The sky above split with violent thunder.
But Eva didn't stop.
"You think you've won, Coox?" she whispered. "You don't understand. Jian isn't something you can erase. He's not yours to take."
Elara stepped right in front of him now, eyes locked with the storm behind his.
"Because even if he's breaking, even if he's buried... he's still Jian. He's still ours."
Tears streamed down her face.
"And I still love you, Jian."
Then her voice broke..raw, desperate, and she's screamed with everything she had:
"COME BACK TO ME… JIAAN!!"
Everything froze. Time itself seemed to pause for a breathless second. Coox's form twitched violently… body jerking as if something inside was fighting to take control. Mael and Damien watched in silence. Then Jian's voice came again..clear this time, and broken:
"…Elara?"
His eyes blinked.. one flicker of gold beneath the darkness. Elara reached out her hand, trembling.tears slipping freely down her cheek Her voice cracked as she whispered,
"Jian ? "
She stepped closer, voice shaking but full of love
"Come back to me ... Please..Jian"
The air trembled.
Elara's whisper still hung in the silence, suspended like a fragile breath of hope. Jian's eyes blinked again, and this time, it wasn't just a flicker. His head tilted forward slightly, his hand trembling at his side.
Then it stopped.
A low rumble echoed from deep beneath their feet.
"No," Coox snarled, but this time his voice cracked. For the first time, there was fear in it.
The shadows around him pulsed and writhed, trying to tighten their grip, but something was breaking through. Golden threads of light began crawling up Jian's arms, searing through the black like veins of fire under skin.
Damien stepped forward, stunned. "What is that?"
Mael stared. "That's not magic... that's him. That's Jian."
Coox's body staggered.
"STOP," he bellowed. "You don't know what you're doing.."
"Yes, we do," Eva whispered. "We're reminding him who he is."
Suddenly, Jian dropped to his knees, clutching his head, screaming. But this wasn't Coox's scream. This was human. Real. Raw.
Elara ran to him. She didn't care about the danger, the shaking earth, or the dark storm churning above. She fell to her knees in front of him and took his face in her hands.
"Jian. Jian, look at me. I'm here. I'm right here. Come back to me."
He looked up.
His eyes..one golden, one still black..met hers.
"I... I can't..." he whispered, voice hoarse, broken. "He's too strong."
" Eva said, stepping beside Elara. "We are here. You're not alone."
Damien, Mael, all of them gathered around now, hands glowing, hearts unified.
But then...he smiled.
Not gently. Not broken.
A slow, curling, unnatural smile that sent a chill down Mael's spine.
Damien's eyes widened instantly. "Wait.."
Mael stepped forward sharply. "That's not him."
Jian's eyes snapped fully open..no gold this time. No warmth. Just void. Cold, seething void.
Coox was back. And he'd been watching.
Jian's body twitched once, unnaturally, and then....without warning..his hand shot upward, glowing with a violent pulse of dark energy.
"MOVE!" Damien roared.
In a single, instinct-driven motion, he lunged, grabbing Eva around the waist. Mael did the same, pulling Elara into his arms just as..
BOOM.
A wave of raw destructive force exploded from Jian's hand, tearing through the space they had stood in just a heartbeat ago. The floor cracked open like shattered glass, the very air distorting from the blast. A searing, silent heat rushed past their ears as they hit the ground, hard, but alive.
Damien covered Eva with his body, shielding her from the debris.
Mael skidded to a stop, Elara still trembling in his arms.
They looked up, breath caught in their throats.
Coox now fully in control again..stood tall in Jian's body, arm still raised, his expression void of mercy. The smile had gone from eerie to monstrous.
"Touching," he said coolly. "But enough sentiment. You had your moment."
Eva looked up from Damien's arms, eyes wide with heartbreak.
"No," she whispered. "No, he was right there…"
Mael's jaw clenched as he looked at the carnage where they'd just stood.
"We almost lost everything in one second."
Coox tilted his head. "And next time… you will."
Then, his smile faded. His voice dropped to something sharper, darker..almost a whisper, yet it struck like a scream.
"If I cannot have him," he said coldly, "I will destroy him."
The words echoed like a death sentence across the fractured space.
Eva's breath hitched. Elara let out a strangled sob. Even Mael stiffened, his pulse pounding.
"You'd kill your own vessel?" Damien growled.
Coox's grin widened again, eyes burning with ancient madness.
"He was never mine. Just a cage I broke open."
The ground beneath them started to pulse..slow, rhythmic… like a countdown.
The shadows coiled tighter around Coox, drawn to him like gravity obeying a new law. The twisted realm itself seemed to bend at his will now, as if even the fabric of reality had given in to him.
And the real nightmare had just begun.
To be continue ...