The device screamed awake.
Light exploded outward like chains of lightning, darting across the chamber—
—but this time, they didn't grab Lina.
They grabbed Kai.
"KAI!" Lina screamed.
Shadowsteel surged around him instinctively, but the chains wrapped around his arms, chest, and throat, slamming him backward into the wall.
He choked, teeth grit as the mark burned through his uniform, carving black flames across his skin.
Reyon stumbled backward. "WHY HIM?! The prophecy is about her!"
Seren clutched her head. "The Archives are choosing the next tear…The next tear belongs to him."
Lina lunged forward, but the barrier threw her back.
"KAI!"Her voice cracked, raw with panic."Kai—look at me!"
He strained against the chains, eyes flashing between silver and pitch black.
"L… Lina…" he gasped.
The device glowed again.
A new word burned across its panel:
BETRAYAL.
Lina's stomach dropped. "No. No—don't show him that—he can't handle—"
Too late.
A blast of golden light struck Kai's forehead.
His head whipped back.
And the vision began.
Kai's Vision
Kai stood in the academy courtyard at dusk.
Students screamed.Flames consumed the sky.Shadows crawled along the ground like venom.
Standing in the center—
Lina.
But she wasn't crying.She wasn't scared.
She was smiling.
Not kindly.Not warmly.
A hollow, broken smile.
"Kai," she said softly."I told you we'd end this together."
He stepped toward her—but the ground between them split open.
Shadowsteel erupted from the crack, forming a wall of blades, trapping him.
He reached for her—
But she stepped back.
"Goodbye."
And walked into the fire.
"KAI!"
Her voice faded.
He slammed his fists against the shadow blades, screaming—
"LINA! COME BACK! DON'T—DON'T LEAVE ME—"
The shadows swallowed him whole.
Reality
"Kai!"Lina slammed her fists against the barrier, tears streaming."Kai—wake up! Don't listen to it! It's lying!"
Kai thrashed violently against the chains.
Shadowsteel poured from him in a wild storm, tearing cracks into the ceiling.
Reyon shielded Seren. "We need to contain him before he brings the entire Archive down!"
Seren gasped as another prophecy line hit her like a whisper of ice.
Her voice shook.
"When shadow breaks,the third tear falls.Bound vows shatter.A heart of steel turns against itself."
Lina's blood froze.
"Kai?" she whispered. "Kai, please—you promised—you promised you wouldn't leave—"
He strained, muscles trembling, eyes completely black now—the Oathbreaker mark pulsing with curses.
Then the device whispered directly into his mind.
"She burns the world.She burns you first."
Kai roared.
A sound raw with pain, fury, heartbreak.
The chains cracked—then shattered.
"KAI—NO!" Lina screamed.
He fell forward, landing on his hands, breath ragged, Shadowsteel swirling around him like a storm.
He looked up.
And his eyes—
weren't his.
Reyon whispered, horrified, "He's gone full Oathbreaker."
Seren sobbed, "Lina—only you can reach him—!"
Lina didn't think.
She ran.
She threw herself through the sparks, the shadow, the broken runes—and crashed into Kai, wrapping her arms around him.
"KAI!"Her voice broke completely."STOP! THIS IS NOT YOU!"
Shadowsteel lashed around her, cracking stone, slicing through air—but not touching her.
Her flame glowed.
Warm.Golden.Alive.
She pressed her forehead against his.
"Kai… it's me. Lina.Come back.Come back to me."
His breathing hitched.
The shadows flickered.
His fingers clutched her arms like he was drowning and she was the only air left.
"Lina…"His voice cracked—the first crack of the Oathbreaker shattering."I… saw you… leave me. I couldn't… I couldn't breathe—"
She cupped his face, tears falling freely.
"I will NEVER leave you."
His eyes flickered silver.
The shadows receded.
He slumped forward, collapsing into her.
She held him like he might disappear.
Reyon exhaled shakily. "Well… we're alive. Somehow."
Seren wiped her tears. "That was the third tear… the prophecy is unfolding too fast…"
Kai finally lifted his head, still shaking, still clinging to Lina.
"Lina…"His voice trembled with fear he'd never admit."I can't lose you."
"You won't," she whispered back, forehead to his."I swear it."
But behind them—
The device glowed again.
A new word appeared:
FINAL.
And below it:
"The next tear ends a life."
Lina's heart stopped.
Kai reached for his sword.
Reyon stepped forward.
Seren grabbed Lina.
All four whispered the same thing:
"Oh no."
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025All rights reserved.