The crack in the air widened.
It wasn't a portal.
It wasn't a tear.
It wasn't even spatial distortion.
It was reality trying — and failing — to decide what shape it should be around Jaden.
Lisa dragged him backward instinctively. "Stay behind me!"
Jaden tried to stand, but his legs trembled. His lungs burned. The ember pulsed erratically, like it was trapped between waking and sleeping.
And then the thing began to emerge.
The Third Shadow crawled out of the fissure on its hands and knees, its limbs contorted, its form flickering like a corrupted reflection. Unlike the previous shadows, this one had a broken crown of static around its head.
Lisa's breath hitched.
Jaden froze.
Kane's eyes lit with fascination.
The creature rose to its full height, taller than the First Shadow, more defined, more… intent.
It tilted its head—
Perfectly matching Jaden's heartbeat.
Jaden whispered, "Why does it look…?"
The Shadow finished his sentence with his own voice:
"…more like you?"
Lisa's entire body tensed.
Jaden felt the ember flutter.
Kane stepped closer, hands clasped behind him. "Because every awakening gives it more material to mimic. This one has your fear, your guilt, your pain—"
The Shadow smiled.
"And your memories."
Jaden choked. "No… no, those aren't mine—!"
Lisa grabbed his shirt, pulling him back. "Don't listen. It's lying."
Kane shook his head. "It isn't lying. It cannot lie — it can only show what he refuses to remember."
Jaden felt dizzy.
Images flashed again—
stars burning,
a throne of embers,
the weight of a dying world on his back.
He clutched his chest, gasping.
The Shadow flickered.
"You abandoned us," it whispered.
"You abandoned everything."
Jaden screamed, "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!"
The lights shattered overhead.
The ember responded to his fear — violently.
A ring of red flame erupted around Jaden for a moment, hissing like devouring ink. The Shadow recoiled slightly, its crown flickering.
Lisa's eyes widened. "Jaden… you're controlling it—!"
"No," Jaden gasped. "It's controlling me—"
The Shadow moved.
It dashed forward faster than the other two had ever moved.
Lisa shoved Jaden aside, raising her arm instinctively like she could shield him from death itself.
The Shadow grabbed her wrist.
Lisa's scream tore out of her throat.
"LISA!"
The Shadow leaned toward her ear.
Its whisper dripped like acid.
"He will forget you again."
Jaden lunged toward them—
But Kane stepped between him and the creature, blocking his path with a single arm.
"Observe," Kane murmured. "This is important."
"MOVE!" Jaden screamed, voice cracking.
Kane didn't.
The Shadow tightened its grip on Lisa's wrist. Red marks formed instantly, like the creature was burning her with memory instead of heat.
Lisa's knees buckled.
"J-Jaden—!"
The ember inside him ignited hard enough to make him stumble.
This time…
he didn't resist it.
He reached for the flame.
It answered.
His veins glowed faintly red. His heartbeat synced with the ember. Heat swirled around his palms, but it wasn't real fire — it was something older, something that burned through existence instead of matter.
He whispered—
Not in a human language.
Not anything he had ever learned.
A word rolled off his tongue like it had been carved into his bones from birth:
"Vel'narah."
Lisa's eyes widened in terror.
The Shadow froze.
Kane inhaled sharply.
"That," Kane whispered, "was Aethelian."
Jaden's breath shook. "I… I didn't mean to—"
He didn't have time to finish.
The flame burst from him — a wave of red, echoing light that crackled like a broken star. The floor fractured outward from his feet. The Shadow screeched, static spilling from its mouth, body distorting violently.
Lisa fell backward as the creature released her wrist.
Jaden stepped forward desperately, raising his shaking hand again.
But something was wrong.
The flame wasn't aiming at the Shadow.
It was aiming at Lisa.
Jaden's blood ran cold.
"NO—NO STOP—STOP—"
He clenched his fist, fighting the flame back with everything he had. His body convulsed. His vision blurred.
Lisa stared at him, terrified.
"Jaden—!"
He forced the flame downward.
It detonated against the floor.
The shockwave blew him backward into the wall. He hit hard, collapsing to his knees. His palms hissed with leftover heat.
Lisa scrambled toward him. "Jaden! Are you hurt—?"
He shook violently. "Lisa… I almost…"
"I know," she whispered.
"And you…"
He looked at her bruised wrist.
"I couldn't even stop it from hurting you."
She held his hand gently. "But you DID stop it. You fought it."
Jaden collapsed into her shoulder, trembling.
The Shadow staggered, weakened but not destroyed. It stared at Jaden with something uncomfortably close to admiration.
"You spoke the old tongue," it rasped.
"You are waking."
Jaden's entire body froze.
Kane finally stepped forward.
"Adequate demonstration," he murmured, almost pleased. "But you lack control."
Lisa glared at him. "He almost died — AGAIN!"
"He almost remembered," Kane corrected.
Lisa lunged at him, but he caught her wrist gently — not hurting her, but stopping her cold.
"You care for him," Kane said softly. "That is good. He will need an anchor."
Jaden looked up weakly. "Anchor…?"
Kane crouched in front of him.
"You will lose yourself," he whispered. "Again and again. But she…" He glanced at Lisa. "She pulls you back."
Lisa held Jaden tighter.
Kane continued:
"It is why you survived this long."
The Shadow twitched violently.
Something else was happening.
The air shook.
Reality shimmered.
A ripple pulsed outward, as if responding to Jaden's Aethelian word.
And then—
A voice whispered through the room.
Not the Shadow's.
Not Kane's.
Not Lisa's.
A voice ancient, regal, distant—
And identical to Jaden's.
"Not yet."
The Shadow collapsed instantly—
like the word itself crushed it.
Lisa gasped, trembling.
Jaden stared into the empty air where the voice had come from.
"…Who… was that?" he whispered.
Kane smiled faintly.
"Yourself," he said.
"Or rather… the part of you that remembers."
Jaden's heart pounded.
Lisa's grip tightened on him.
And deep inside his chest—
The ember pulsed once.
Slow.
Sure.
Awakening.