The silence inside the room thickened..dense and suffocating like stormclouds just before they shatter.
Jian stood frozen. His shoulders trembled, fists clenched, breathing shallow and erratic. Across from him stood Voox… wearing Eva's face, her body, her presence. But it wasn't her.
"You felt it, didn't you?" she said, voice quiet..almost gentle. "The pull. The fracture deep inside. Coox… is almost through."
Jian's throat tightened. His gaze dropped to the floor.
"I don't want to hear this."
"But you have to ," Voox pressed, stepping closer. "Because denial doesn't stop what's already inside you. You're changing, Jian. You know that. You feel it." He took a breath, shaky and sharp.
"I'm not him."
Voox tilted her head. "Not yet."
The words sent a cold lance of fear straight through his chest. Jian's knees buckled suddenl..he dropped to the ground, not fully collapsed but kneeling, barely holding himself up. One hand splayed against the floor, knuckles scraped, sweat dripping from his brow as if gravity itself had become unbearable. He didn't look up. He couldn't.
"You're saying… the only way to stop Coox is to let you die?" His voice cracked. "To let Eva die?"
"No," Voox answered, softer now.
She knelt in front of him, not touching, but close enough that he could feel the unnatural warmth radiating from her.
"Eva will return. But I'm the one who has to go. My presence is keeping her soul from fully surfacing. I'm holding her back."
Jian clenched his teeth, hand still pressed to the floor for balance.
"There has to be another way."
"There isn't," she whispered, firmer now. "Coox is already stirring. His influence grows stronger by the second. If I don't do this, he will take you, and when he does, there will be nothing left of Jian. And without you…" she glanced toward the wall, as if sensing Elara's distant presence, "Elara won't survive either. None of them will."
Jian's breath caught. A shudder ran through his body. "But… if Coox is me..."
"He's a shard of you," she interrupted. "A sliver formed from pain, regret, and power no one should have touched. But he is not your heart, Jian."
He slowly lifted his head, his eyes glossy and wide. She met his gaze..soft, mournful, unwavering.
"I can burn the darkness out," she whispered. "But I go with it."
Jian opened his mouth, trying to speak, but no words came. Just the sound of his heart, hammering in his ears. Voox moved closer, so their foreheads nearly touched.
"Jian," she said, voice trembling for the first time, "I loved you in silence. In stillness. In shadows. But I'm not the one you belong to."
His breath hitched again, and he leaned back slightly, still on one knee, hand gripping the floor harder now like it was the only thing anchoring him to reality. Her voice broke.
"I love you, Jian."
He didn't answer. Couldn't. Then she smiled sadly. Reached up, touching her lips with two fingers.
"Let the kiss be our secret."
She stood..slow, elegant, final. Her body began to glow, cracks of golden light crawling over her skin like living veins of fire. Jian reached out blindly with one hand, eyes wide, mouth open in wordless protest.
"Wait.."
But it was too late. Her form dissolved..light unraveling into thousands of brilliant shards, floating and fading into the air like ash from a dying star.
And in the silence that followed, a breath..a real, fragile, gasping breath..filled the room. Eva collapsed to the floor in front of him, eyes wide, lungs desperate for air. Alive...Returned.
Jian remained on his knees, hand still planted against the cold ground, trembling..not from weakness, but from the weight of everything he'd just lost… and everything he still had to protect. And for a long, hollow moment… He couldn't lift his head.
--------------------
Mael gritted his teeth as he cradled Elara in his arms..her body limp, breath shallow, skin like ice. A faint glow pulsed beneath her skin, flickering like a dying star. He pressed her tighter against his chest, trying to will her strength back with his own warmth.
Behind him, Damien's pace quickened. Shadows rippled at his heels like wolves on a leash. They reached the door.
With a violent swing, Damien thrust it open, stepping into the room like a storm..eyes sharp, taking in everything in a heartbeat. His gaze darted from Jian to the collapsed form of Eva on the floor.
Then he saw the gold dust still faintly glowing in the air..the remnants of Voox's light. The silence was so loud it rang in all their ears. Jian was still on the floor, kneeling. His hand trembled against the stone, his body heavy with the weight of what had just occurred. His eyes didn't rise to meet them..he couldn't.
Damien's voice cut through the tension like a blade.
"What the hell happened here?"
Jian didn't answer. His throat clenched, lips pressed tight. Every breath felt like glass scraping his lungs. Eva stirred beside him, slowly lifting her head. Confusion swam in her dazed eyes as if waking from a long, submerged dream.
"J-Jian…?"
Mael stepped in behind Damien, carefully lowering Elara onto the ground. Her fingers twitched slightly..alive, but weak. Too weak. He looked from her to Jian, and something in his chest twisted.
Damien walked toward Eva, kneeling beside her but keeping one eye on Jian.
"Eva…?"
She blinked, her breath shaky.
"I'm... here," she whispered, barely audible.
Jian finally spoke..his voice rough, cracked.
"She came back…"
Damien narrowed his eyes.
"At what cost?"
The question hung in the air like a guillotine. Jian looked up then..his face pale, eyes hollow.
"Voox gave herself up. She burned away what remained of her… so Eva could return." His voice dropped. "She knew Coox was waking… and if she didn't do it now, none of us would survive."
Damien stared at him for a long moment, unreadable. Then he glanced at Elara, her faint breathing growing slower.
"She's still tethered," Mael muttered, his voice tight with urgency. "But her soul is fractured. Something is still wrong."
Jian pushed himself to stand..wobbling, legs weak, but he rose.
"That's because Coox is still stirring," he said. "She's tied to me… to what's inside me. If I lose control..he consumes all of us. Not just me. Not just Elara. Everything ."
Mael's jaw tensed. "Then kill him now."
Jian turned to him, fury flashing behind his exhaustion. "You think I want this? You think I asked to be a goddamn vessel?"
Damien stood abruptly, standing between the two. "Enough. We don't have time for this. If Coox is still inside, then this..." he gestured toward the glowing cracks in Elara's skin "...is just the beginning."
Eva was sitting up now, her hands trembling as she reached out toward Jian.
"We still have time, don't we?" she asked, desperate.
Jian looked at her, at Mael, at Damien. Then down at Elara.
"No," he said quietly. "We don't."
Outside, the wind howled..a sound like a scream rising from the earth itself. The light in the room flickered. Somewhere far below, a tremor shook the floor.
-----‐-----------
Eva's fingers slowly rose to her lips, her touch soft—uncertain. The warmth still lingered, haunting, familiar yet unfamiliar. Her breath hitched.
"Why… why do I feel this strange feeling?" she thought, confused.
Her eyes shifted toward Jian. He wasn't speaking. His head was slightly lowered, face unreadable..almost haunted. The silence between them grew heavier, more suffocating.
"What… did she do?" Eva's voice never left her mouth..it echoed only in her mind, trembling with the beginnings of dread. Her heart thudded harder.
"No… I hope she didn't do what I think she…"
Her thoughts trailed off as her eyes locked with Jian's for just a second. In that second, everything inside her stilled. His silence told her everything.
Her throat tightened. Her gaze dropped, lips parted, and sorrow filled her eyes. Then came the breaking whisper in her mind.. "You sacrificed yourself for me too…"
A tear welled in the corner of her eye. Slowly, quietly, it slid down her cheek, leaving a cold trail. Jian didn't move, but something in his shoulders collapsed inward..like someone bearing a weight far too great.
Eva's hand dropped slowly from her lips and curled into a trembling fist over her chest. Her head bowed slightly, grief blooming in silence.
She looked at Elara..fragile, still in Mael's arms. The soft aura pulsing around her body was flickering now, like a light about to go out.
Jian's breath came shakily. His hands were clenched, his jaw tight.
Damien, standing at the doorway, broke the moment with a sharp breath. His voice was gritted steel.
"If Coox is waking, we move now. There won't be a later."
Eva turned to Jian, tear-streaked but calm now..resolute.
"Then we finish what she started," she said.
Jian gave a slow nod, his eyes shadowed with pain, but behind them, something unbreakable began to burn again.
Another tremor shook the ground beneath them. The walls trembled..first subtly, then violently. A pulse of dark energy rippled through the air like a shockwave. The light in the room dimmed unnaturally, as if shadows had swallowed the very essence of light.
Mael held Elara tightly as her body stirred in his arms. Damien stepped forward instinctively, positioning himself between her and the growing sense of dread. Jian, still on the floor, supported himself with a trembling hand. He was barely able to stand, his limbs weak, breath shallow, heart pounding like a war drum.
Then— A crack.
A deep, unnatural rupture in the wall across from them. Not broken by force, but peeled back...like a curtain drawn open on the edge of existence .And through it, Coox stepped forward.
The room dropped into an eerie silence, broken only by the sound of Coox's footsteps..measured, deliberate, echoing like a heartbeat carved from nightmare. But it wasn't his monstrous presence that froze them. It was his form .
Identical to Jian. Same eyes. Same face. Same build. But twisted..sharpened features, aura like ice and fire meshed, and a smile that carried centuries of malevolence.
Damien whispered sharply under his breath, eyes narrowed, "Like a copy of Jian…"
Mael, his voice low and tense, added, "But he looks more… scary ."
Elara's eyes widened, flicking rapidly between Coox and Jian. Her lips parted slightly, breath held as her mind tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Her gaze locked between them..did not waver.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore. As Coox stepped closer to Jian, the air thickened like tar. The temperature dropped, breath turning to mist.
"Finally…" Coox spoke, his voice like a thousand broken voices speaking at once. "All of you… together."
Everyone stood still. Even Damien didn't raise his blade. The pressure was suffocating, crushing, alive. Eva clenched her fists, still catching her breath, her body weakened but her spirit sharp. Her eyes locked onto Coox..confused, but burning with defiance.
Jian looked up, shaking slightly. The presence before him wasn't just familiar..it resonated. It vibrated in his bones, in the part of himself he tried to lock away.
"You've denied me long enough," Coox hissed, walking closer. "But you know it, don't you? You were always mine."
"I'm not…" Jian gasped, still holding himself up, "I'm not you…"
"You are me, Jian. I'm the truth you buried. I'm the chaos you feared. And now I'm free."
Dark tendrils slithered behind Coox like sentient smoke, drawn to Jian's trembling form. Eva stepped forward, voice steady.
"You're not taking him."
Coox tilted his head toward her, amused.
"Oh, Eva… I already have. I wonder what part of her lingers inside you."
Damien shouted, "Get Elara away...now!"
But it was too late.
A pulse of black energy burst from Coox's body, sending everyone flying . Mael slammed into the wall with Elara shielded in his arms. Damien skidded across the floor, sword clattering away. Eva hit the ground, groaning.
Only Jian remained kneeling, unmoved by the blast. It didn't touch him. Because it wasn't meant to. Coox approached, his steps almost gentle now.
"Let go, Jian. You feel it, don't you? The truth… beneath your skin."
Jian stared at him, eyes wide. His hands shook, his heart pounded. Something inside him… responded. Eva reached toward him, voice shaking.
"Jian… don't…"
But Jian's body jerked slightly, his breath hitching...something in him pulsing, awakening. And behind them, Elara's eyes snapped open Golden. Brilliant.Wrong. Something in her gaze screamed danger.
The atmosphere thickened instantly. Coox's presence twisted the very air, chilling it to a frozen silence that pressed on their lungs like a stone. His eyes..cold, merciless..locked onto Jian with a predator's focus. But it wasn't just the fear of what Coox was that gripped them all..it was the undeniable proof that he had complete control.
Elara, weak and trembling in Mael's arms moments before, suddenly stirred. A flicker of light sparked behind her eyelids, growing brighter, fiercer, as if a storm was raging beneath her skin. Her breathing deepened, chest rising and falling with newfound strength.
Coox's lips curled into a cruel smile.
"See?" His voice slithered through the room like venom. "You all doubt me, yet here she is..Elara, reborn from weakness to power by my hand."
He lifted a hand slowly, fingers twitching like a conductor about to unleash a symphony of devastation.
Elara's eyes snapped open.. blazing gold, fierce, filled with unnatural power. She struggled to lift herself, but it was as if an invisible tether bound her. Yet she did not resist. Her gaze was hollow, her will bent to Coox's mastery.
Mael's face darkened, fists clenched tight. Damien's eyes narrowed, muscles tense, but even he seemed reluctant to act, haunted by the undeniable truth that this was no ordinary foe.
Coox stepped forward, every movement deliberate, an embodiment of fear made flesh.
"You think you can fight me? I am the shadow in Jian's soul..the nightmare he tried to bury. I am the echo of destruction, the fracture that unravels your hope."
His voice dropped to a chilling whisper as he leaned toward Jian, eyes burning with cruel triumph.
"And now, with Elara by my side..weakness is a forgotten word."
Elara's chest heaved, her body glowing faintly with dark energy. She raised a trembling hand..not in defiance, but in obedience to Coox's silent command. The power radiating from her surged like wildfire, a terrifying reminder that everything was truly under his control.
Jian's breath hitched. His mind screamed to fight, to resist, but his body felt like lead. The overwhelming presence of Coox was a crushing weight.
Damien's voice cut sharply through the tension, barely more than a hiss.
"We're running out of time... before she's completely his."
The room felt smaller, darker. Every heartbeat was a countdown toward doom. And Coox was the darkness swallowing it all whole.
Coox's voice echoed like thunder in the room.
"Elara… end him."
Her eyes flickered for a split second—blank, unreadable. Then, without warning, she vanished from Mael's side in a crackle of energy. A shockwave blasted through the chamber as her figure reappeared in front of Jian like a flash of lightning.
Eva, still leaning weakly against Damien, felt the shift before she could process it. Her eyes widened in horror.
"No...Elara!" she screamed, her voice laced with desperation.
A breathless moment..her fist flying toward Jian's face with devastating speed. But it never landed. Elara's hand halted..barely an inch from Jian's face. The force of her movement sent a gust through his hair, but not a touch marred his skin. The entire room froze.
Coox's expression twisted in shock and disbelief. He had not commanded her to stop. Jian blinked, wide-eyed, staring at the trembling fist in front of him. Damien took a sharp step forward, confused. Mael's arms tensed, breath held in anticipation.
Elara slowly lowered her fist. Her body stood tall, no longer shaking, no longer weak. She stared at Jian, then down at her own hand as if something unfamiliar was guiding it. Her lips parted in a whisper only Jian could hear, but the silence in the room made it echo like prophecy:
"…Thank you, Voox."
Jian's heart stopped for a beat. His eyes glistened. Coox took an involuntary step forward, rage and confusion burning behind his gaze.
"What…?"
Mael's voice broke the silence, hushed but full of awe.
"Voox's sacrifice… it's working. She's breaking free."
Damien's eyes darted from Elara to Jian, then to Coox. He spoke low, a hint of a smirk touching his face. "She gained her power back through Coox… but she didn't submit to him."
Elara turned her gaze to Coox now..no longer clouded, no longer vacant. Her eyes shimmered not just with strength, but with will. She was no longer his puppet.
To be continue ...