[3rd Person POV – Soul Chamber Beneath Elmer Academy]
As the cube clinked against the dais and rolled to a stop, silence fell.
The silence was reverent. Thick and suffocating.
Saelira broke it with a breathless whisper, stepping closer, her hands clasped over her heart like she might actually faint from admiration.
"What now, my lord?" she asked softly. "What's the plan?"
Kael'ven didn't look at her. He stood before the siphon now, eyes fixed on the pulsing black-gold core that beat like a second heart. The air around him warped faintly, every glyph trembling under his presence.
"At first," he murmured, "I intended to pick up where I left off. Rebuild the Circle. Expand the flock. Draw in the desperate, the hungry, the broken."
His voice was low, smooth, as though reciting scripture only he understood. He placed his hand atop the siphon.
"I'd use their emotions, their stories, to strengthen the strands of my own soul. Devotion is power. Sacrifice is currency."
Saelira nodded eagerly, hanging on every syllable.
"But now…"
He turned slightly, just enough for the shadows to shift across his face.
"Now, I've seen something far more useful."
He held up his bracerless arm, still faintly etched with Fin's runic brand beneath the skin.
"The System."
Saelira blinked.
"I… don't understand."
"I wouldn't expect you to."
Kael'ven's voice didn't carry scorn, only truth. Like he was speaking to a child who couldn't comprehend the shape of fire.
He turned fully toward her now, smiling faintly.
"That boy… Fin. He came from another world. A world unlike this one. A past life, fused with this new one through the aid of a divine mechanism. A gift so vast even the gods of this world couldn't see it."
Saelira's eyes went wide.
"You mean… another realm?"
Kael'ven nodded slowly.
"Yes. And within him, the key to every realm. An endless garden of dominion."
He spread his arms slightly, as if to encompass everything.
"This world is no longer the goal. It's the foundation. From here, I will grow. Consume this plane. Establish dominion over its ley lines, its nations, its gods. And then…"
His gaze lifted toward the chamber ceiling, past it, as if seeing into infinite stars.
"I will pierce the barrier. Find these other worlds. These other Systems. I will rewrite the rules of creation and become the sovereign of existence itself."
A beat.
Then:
"Every. World. Will. Kneel."
Saelira's breath hitched.
Then she dropped to her knees.
Tears shimmered in her eyes, her voice trembling with awe.
"I always knew it. I always knew you were more than just a man. That you were destined for everything."
Kael'ven looked down at her, expression unreadable.
"But I never dreamed…" she whispered, almost reverently. "The multiverse… you'll rule everything."
She reached out, fingertips brushing the hem of his robe as if touching something holy.
"I'll follow you anywhere, Father. To the end of all things."
Kael'ven didn't answer.
The hum of the siphon filled the air.
A voice cut through the rising hum.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't grand.
But it cut.
"I'm not letting you take him."
Both Kael'ven and Saelira turned.
At the far edge of the chamber, between flickering glyphlight and drifting ash, stood Helga.
Barely.
Her golden greatsword dragged behind her, leaving a streak through her own blood. She used it now more like a crutch than a weapon, leg trembling, ribs cracked and screaming, hair clumped to her bloodstained face. One of her eyes had swollen shut. Her lip was split. Her breathing was ragged.
But she stood.
Even if the act defied reason.
Even if every inch of her was torn open.
Even if it took everything she had left in the marrow of her soul.
Kael'ven's brows rose, genuinely taken aback.
"Well," he said slowly. "I'll admit. I didn't expect you to move, let alone crawl through that rubble."
Saelira's jaw dropped, aghast.
"Impossible. That soul prison was..."
Kael'ven held up a hand to silence her.
He stepped forward, slowly, deliberately. Each footfall echoed like a drumbeat. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. Smooth. A parody of warmth.
"You shouldn't be up, Helga," he said, his tone almost...fatherly. "You're injured. Hurt. I never wanted this for you."
Helga didn't flinch.
Her grip on the sword tightened. Her arms trembled beneath her weight.
"If you cared," she spat, "you wouldn't be wearing my son like a cloak."
Kael'ven chuckled, shaking his head with something between pity and amusement.
"Always the bite with you. Even now." He gestured loosely, palm up. "But you are safe, Helga. The hard part is over. He'll be gone soon. And you? You can rest. No more running. No more hunting shadows in alleys. You survived, and I, well, I'd like to think I played some part in that."
"You did," she growled, eyes dark. "You died."
That stopped him. Just for a second.
The grin returned, colder this time.
"You're really going to try and fight me like that?"
His eyes ran down her broken form with deliberate slowness.
"Helga... look at yourself."
He stepped closer, cocking his head with something bordering pity.
"You're shaking. Half-dead. You can barely lift that sword. You look like an old dog still barking at the lightning."
Saelira giggled behind him, nervously, like a child unsure if she was meant to laugh.
Kael'ven's smile widened.
"Put it down," he said, voice almost coaxing. "You've done enough. You tried. You failed. You loved him, and he's died anyway. There's no shame in that."
Helga's voice came sharp and low.
"If I can kill you once…"
She raised the blade, even as her muscles screamed.
"…I can do it again."
Kael'ven's expression didn't change.
But something behind his eyes narrowed.
And the air between them grew still.
...
[Fin's POV - Void Realm]
The trees were all wrong.
They shifted with every blink. The clearing where I killed the dire wolf was gone, no moonlight, no silence.
Just him. The wolf.
It looked the same. Hungry and cruel. Its eyes glowed like coals, and behind them, I could feel him. Kael'ven. His voice layered beneath each snarl, leaking into my skull.
Every step it took made my body ache harder.
I'd tried everything.
Flash-stepping. Igni. Dismantle.
Didn't matter.
Nothing worked here.
No energy. No System or Ali. No magic bracer. Just me.
Just flesh.
And right now?
That flesh was torn open.
My leg was bent wrong. My left arm hung limp at my side, ripped open from shoulder to elbow. My ribs were shattered, each breath a new reason to scream. Blood soaked the forest floor like spilled ink.
And still it circled.
Still, it waited.
Kael'ven's voice slithered through the air.
"This is what you are."
Another bite. Teeth like jagged obsidian tore into my side.
I screamed.
"Weak."
The wolf smashed me into a tree.
"Unloved."
I spat blood and tried to stand. My knees buckled instantly.
"You pushed everyone away. Helga. The girl. And the hologram."
I groaned.
My fingers curled against the dirt.
"Ali…"
The name was bitter. Guilt-slick.
I coughed.
"Goddammit. I didn't mean that. I didn't mean,"
The wolf pounced again, pinning me, its weight cracking my sternum.
"Fuck—!"
Claws raked across my chest. I tried to reach for anything, cursed energy, magic, something, but the void gave me nothing back.
No warmth. No light. No System.
Just the sound of Kael'ven's voice, low and venomous.
"You were given everything. Twice. And still, you beg for scraps like a dog."
Another impact. My head rang. The forest warped. My thoughts blurred.
I was going to die here.
Again.
My breath came out in broken gasps, bubbling against the blood leaking from my mouth. My ribs ground together with each twitch, and every time I tried to push up, my arms gave out. The wolf just stood there now, unmoving, its breath steady. Watching.
It didn't need to rush.
I wasn't going anywhere.
My fingers twitched against the dirt. There was nothing left. No more clever moves. No more systems. No more tricks. My body shook.
And then the tears came.
Ugly. Loud.
I started sobbing, not because of the pain.
But because I knew.
I hadn't changed at all.
All this power. All this "second chance."
And I was still the same worthless fuck I'd been in my last life.
A guy who died in the middle of a goddamn street because he couldn't be bothered looking both ways. A guy who screamed at the one person who cared about him and pushed everyone else away. A guy who thought the world owed him something just for being him.
I sobbed harder.
"I didn't do anything," I croaked out, voice breaking like wet glass. "I had all of it, and I didn't do anything."
The wolf took a step forward. I didn't move.
I couldn't. I didn't even want to.
My head dropped.
I hated myself.
Not because I was weak. But because I was still that scared little bastard.
Just louder now. Just angrier. Just covered in blood instead of shame.
My breath hitched again. The last of it. The last shred of dignity.
I'm sorry, I mouthed.
And then, the wolf stopped.
The shadows shifted behind it.
And then he stepped forward.
Kael'ven.
No monster form this time. No projection.
Just him.
Tall and composed. His eyes met mine, glowing like coals forged in a furnace of hate and understanding. He crouched beside me, quiet for a moment.
Then reached out a hand.
The way a father might.
"Shhh," he said softly. "That's enough now."
I couldn't even look at him.
"You're not built for this," he continued. "You never were. All that noise in your head, the regret, the guilt. It's too heavy, isn't it?"
He gently pushed a blood-matted strand of hair from my face.
"I can make it stop."
I stared.
His voice dropped, soft as poison.
"You don't have to fight anymore. You don't have to keep failing. Just let go. Give in. End this."
He leaned closer.
"Kill yourself… for me."
His hand hovered over my chest.
"Just stop breathing, little one. I'll carry the burden. You can sleep."
My lips parted. My chest trembled...
I might as well.
...
[3rd Person POV – Soul Chamber Beneath Elmer Academy]
Kael'ven could feel it.
Submission.
The boy was cracking.
He chuckled under his breath, a deep, oily sound. "Almost there."
Then a sound, steel dragging.
Helga.
She lunged again, golden greatsword raised in one shaking hand, the other barely able to support her frame. Her ribs were clearly broken. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her stance staggered.
And still, she came.
Kael'ven turned toward her lazily, weaving back as the sword sliced through the air, missing by inches.
He laughed.
"My, my," he mused. "The old guard is still kicking."
Helga snarled and came again, a wide, overhead arc.
He stepped aside.
Again.
Another swing. Sloppy. Off-balance.
He caught the blade with a hand covered in soulsteel, stopping it mid-air with a loud clang.
She yanked it free and struck again, blood running down her forearm like paint, dripping from her fingertips.
"Still clinging to that stubborn will of yours, hmm? Trying to strike down a son you couldn't save?" Kael'ven whispered, voice slick with mockery. "It's almost beautiful. If it weren't so pathetically desperate."
Helga dropped to a knee, her breath ragged.
She gripped the sword tightly.
One more swing.
She screamed with it, all pain, no control.
Kael'ven sidestepped effortlessly.
And then...She paused.
Sword held up. Shaking. Chest heaving.
Her eyes locked on the thing before her.
Not Kael'ven.
Not Fin.
Both.
The abomination wearing her son's skin. With his mouth and Kael'ven's eyes. His stance. His strength. His voice.
A weapon with her child still buried somewhere inside.
And suddenly her expression broke.
Not into more pain.
Not rage.
But something else entirely.
A soft exhale left her lips.
Her shoulders dropped, not in defeat, but in realisation.
She stared at him. Truly looked.
And her broken, bloodied face lifted into a smile.
Not big.
Not proud.
But warm.
Gentle.
A mother's smile.
"...There you are," she whispered.
Kael'ven's brow twitched.
He frowned.
Helga's knees hit the ground fully, but her grip on the sword didn't loosen. Her smile remained, faint and trembling.
"I still see him."
Helga's fingers tightened around the hilt of her golden greatsword.
Her body shook. Blood ran freely from her knuckles, her legs barely held her weight, but her eyes… her eyes burned with something pure.
Kael'ven readied himself again, raising a hand in preparation for the strike, expecting one last reckless slash. He'd catch it. He'd break her arm. Maybe tear her spine out this time. Let her die looking at what she couldn't save.
But...
She didn't swing.
She dropped the sword and lunged forward.
Right into him. Not with violence, but with arms.
Helga wrapped herself around the monster that wore her son's skin.
Held him. Held him.
Tight. Heart-to-heart.
Kael'ven froze.
For a split second, he didn't move. His body rejected the touch like oil repelling water. But Helga held on, with everything she had.
Her voice broke through, trembling, raw.
"Fin…" she whispered. "I'm so sorry."
The hybrid body twitched, almost in confusion. Kael'ven's hands hovered, not striking, just hovering at her back, unable to attack her for some reason.
"I'm sorry," she said again, louder this time, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry I brought you into this godsdamned world, this cursed life. I thought I was strong enough to keep you safe."
Her arms trembled, but she didn't let go.
"I thought if I was fierce enough, if I taught you well enough, you'd grow up safe. Loved. Normal. But I was wrong, Fin. I was wrong."
The hybrid's body jerked.
A glitch. A twitch.
Inside, deep inside, someone was listening.
"I didn't know you were carrying all this pain. I didn't see it. I thought your silence was strength. I thought your anger was youth. But it wasn't, was it?" she whispered into his ear. "You've been hurting this whole time. Haven't you?"
Something choked.
"…I made you into a soldier," she continued. "When what you needed was a home."
A breath caught in her throat, sharp like glass.
"I saw it. I saw it from the moment you were born. You were always special. Stronger. Older. You never cried like a child. You never asked for help. You always stood up, even when your knees were shaking."
Her arms pulled tighter, fingers gripping the fabric of his robes, or whatever twisted garb this fusion now wore.
"You… you were never mine, not really. I think I always knew that. The way you looked at the world… like you'd already seen too much of it."
Tears poured freely now.
"I should've told you sooner. I should've said it a thousand times."
She leaned her forehead against his chest, her voice barely a whisper now.
"You are worthy of love, Fin. You are worthy to live your own life. You always were. Even if you think the world doesn't care. I do. I always have."
The hybrid's arms finally moved.
One twitched, almost reaching up to push her off.
Then stopped.
The body trembled.
The siphon screamed in protest, glyphs shattering around the chamber like broken glass.
But Helga didn't care.
She just held him.
Her boy.
Her son.
Not the monster.
Not the mask.
Just Fin.
"You're not broken or worthless," she whispered. "You're hurting. And that's okay. You're allowed to be. You're only human"
The hybrid shuddered again.
And for the first time, Kael'ven screamed.
Not with rage.
With fear.
"NO!"
His voice tore from the body like something being exorcised. The hybrid form spasmed violently, stumbling back, but Helga wouldn't let go.
She held him like only a mother could, like an anchor thrown into a storm.
And deep inside.
Inside that soul…
Something moved.
...
[Fin's POV - Void Realm]
I wiped my eyes with the back of my shredded sleeve, tasting salt and iron.
"You old hag…" I muttered, a smirk twitching on my lips. "You really had to go full emotional climax on me, huh?"
The void pulsed. The trees shivered. The wolf stopped moving.
I pushed myself up, barely, teeth gritted through the pain.
"She's gonna scold me for this later," I said softly, breath fogging in the cold. "For crying. For doubting. For almost giving up."
I stood.
Somehow, I stood.
I looked into that forest clearing, now splitting apart at the seams, and saw the wolf's body melt away into Kael'ven's real form again. Still smug. Still so sure of himself.
I smiled.
Not the fake kind. Not the bitter one I'd worn all my life.
A real one.
And I said it.
Said it like it was truth carved into stone.
"She's my mother."
My voice echoed. Roared.
"She's my mother," I said again, louder.
Kael'ven sneered. "You think that changes..."
I didn't let him finish.
I was already moving. Already on him.
My hand closed around his neck.
His eyes went wide.
I pulled him close, close enough for him to see everything in my eyes. Not rage. Not madness.
Resolve.
"You were right about one thing," I whispered. "I wasted my first life."
Kael'ven's hands twitched against mine, trying to tear free.
"And in this one? I let my past distract me."
The void cracked behind me. Light, real light, began to bleed through.
"But you forgot one thing, old man."
I grinned, wide, proud, furious.
"I learned."
I tightened my grip.
"And I don't need to beat you to win."
Kael'ven opened his mouth
SNAP.
I twisted.
The sound was clean.
And my voice came out ice-cold as his form shattered into black smoke:
"Get the fuck out of my body!"
...
[End of Chapter]