The chamber reeked of scorched stone and old blood. Dust still drifted in the air like slow-falling snow. Kaelis's hand tightened on her sword, but the figure before her was no longer simply Aloysius.
His posture was the same.His voice when it came was the same timbre.But the cadence… the intent behind each word… was foreign.
"I see you, Kaelis," he said, stepping closer, the sound of his boots echoing too sharply. "And I see… what you hide from yourself."
Elyon moved in front of her, his staff glowing faintly. "Name yourself. Are you Aloysius, or are you the First Fragment speaking through a stolen vessel?"
The answer came as a smile. "There's no difference anymore."
For an instant, the gold-violet light from the fissure flared again, and they both saw it something vast and formless coiled behind his eyes. Not a parasite, not entirely a master either, but a fusion that made it impossible to tell where one ended and the other began.
The ground quivered again, and the fissure's edges crumbled, spilling shards of black crystal into the pit. Each piece disintegrated before it touched the bottom. The whispers grew louder, now audible to Kaelis and Elyon:"The world as you know it wanes. This one holds the key. Kneel, or be erased."
Kaelis refused to move. "If you've taken him, I'll cut you out."
Aloysius tilted his head curious, almost amused. Then his gaze softened, and for a flicker, the boy they knew was there. "Kaelis… don't. I can use this. It doesn't have to control me."
Elyon's jaw tightened. "And when it decides your will is just a grain of sand? You'll be swept away, and we'll be left facing something we can't kill."
From deeper in the ruins, a new sound emerged a low, grinding rumble, followed by a cold wind carrying the scent of rain and iron.
The First Fragment through Aloysius turned toward it with something like recognition. "Ah. The Hunter comes. And it doesn't care which of us wears this body."
The air grew heavier, as if the world itself were holding its breath.