The world did not return immediately.
At first, there was only silence.
Not the absence of sound, but something deeper—a void where sound should have been. It pressed against Aeron's skin like a second layer, suffocating, seeping into his bones. The weight of it was unbearable, like the entire temple had folded in on itself and dragged him into its emptiness.
Then—
Pain.
Not the kind that burned. Not the kind that cut.
This was deeper.
Like something unraveling inside him. Like the threads that held him together were snapping, one by one. His body felt wrong, too heavy, too hollow. His skin burned where Selene's blood had soaked into it. His mind screamed with the memory of her face, frozen in that last moment—
Still smiling.
A breath. Not his own.
Then another.
A presence.
The darkness shifted. Something moved within it. Not his father. Not Malik. Something else.
Something ancient.
And it was looking at him.
---
The Moment She Died
Aeron couldn't move.
The temple walls trembled with Malik's presence, the shadows warping around him like hungry beasts waiting to be unleashed. His father stood motionless, a specter in the dim torchlight, the air around him rotting with unseen power.
Selene was still in the air.
Still frozen in his grip.
Aeron could see her eyes darting, struggling to focus, her lips trembling, trying to form words—but nothing came. Malik's magic had burrowed into her bones, had begun unmaking her from the inside out.
And then—
A sound.
A deep, wet pop.
Her left arm twisted unnaturally, snapping backward at the elbow. A jagged bone pierced through the skin, white against the rush of blood that dripped down her wrist. A strangled gasp escaped her lips, her body convulsing as another sharp crack followed—her right shoulder shattering under an invisible force.
Her legs kicked uselessly in the air, but Malik tightened his grip.
"Defiance," he murmured, watching her with something almost like curiosity. "A waste of time."
The shadows tightened.
Selene's spine arched violently, her ribs cracking one by one, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
Aeron wanted to scream. Wanted to lunge forward. Wanted to do something.
But Malik's magic held him, locking his body in place.
Selene's nails dug into her palms, blood running from her fingers as she fought—fought—against the invisible force crushing her from the inside. Her lips parted, her eyes locking onto Aeron's.
And she smiled.
A final, broken whisper left her lips.
"Aeron…"
Malik twisted his fingers.
Selene's ribs caved in.
Her entire chest folded inward with a sickening crunch, flesh splitting, bone grinding, blood bursting from her mouth in thick, red streaks. The force was too much, her own body collapsing in on itself, her spine snapping in three places at once.
But she was still alive.
Malik was making sure of it.
He wasn't killing her quickly.
He was breaking her apart, one agonizing inch at a time.
Aeron's vision blurred. The weight of his father's magic pressed harder against him, but all he could see was Selene—her hands twitching, her eyes rolling back as darkness crept into them.
Her mouth opened, but no scream came.
Her voice had been stolen.
Her suffering was silent.
And then—
Malik reached forward.
With his bare hands, he took hold of her fragile, shattered frame—
And tore her in half.
The sound was obscene.
Flesh peeled apart like wet cloth. Bone snapped like dry twigs. Her organs spilled onto the floor in thick, glistening coils, steam rising from the fresh carnage. Malik held both halves of her lifeless body for a moment, inspecting them like broken dolls—before tossing them aside.
The temple walls were painted red.
Her blood dripped from the ceiling, pooled in the cracks of the stone. Her ribs jutted out from the mess of her torso, exposed like jagged remnants of a ruined cathedral. One of her eyes dangled loose, still staring, still watching him.
And her smile—
Still frozen.
Still there.
Mocking him.
Something inside Aeron snapped.
The seal burned.
And the darkness—
For the first time—
Screamed.
---
The World Collapses
The torches erupted in black flames.
The temple groaned, stone splitting apart, the walls bleeding as reality itself buckled under the force of what was awakening. The seal his mother had placed on him, the one that had bound him for all these years, was burning away.
And Malik knew it.
For the first time—
A flicker of something passed through his father's expression.
Not amusement.
Not cruelty.
Fear.
Aeron moved.
The weight of his father's magic shattered around him, breaking like brittle glass, and the force of his rage twisted the air itself. The temple's walls convulsed, statues melted, the stone warped into grotesque shapes as something vast, something endless, began to seep through the cracks in reality.
Malik took a step back.
It was small. Almost imperceptible.
But Aeron saw it.
"You…" Malik exhaled, voice low. "You should not exist."
Aeron's hands clenched into fists. The blood on his skin—Selene's blood—burned like fire, seeping into his pores, into his very being. Something was inside him. Something deeper than magic, darker than the void Malik commanded.
It had been waiting.
Waiting for him to break.
And now—
It was awake.
The temple collapsed.
The ground split open, tendrils of black fire curling from the abyss below. The walls buckled, shadows surging toward Malik, their edges serrated, their touch hungry. The air reeked of burnt flesh, of something beyond death, beyond suffering.
Malik raised a hand. His magic lashed out—pure void, raw destruction—
And it shattered against Aeron like glass.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Malik stared.
And for the first time in Aeron's life—
His father looked afraid.
Aeron stepped forward.
His breath was slow. Measured.
The power inside him coiled like a living thing, whispering, waiting, hungry.
"You killed her," he said, voice barely more than a whisper.
Malik's shadows surged.
Aeron smiled.
And the world burned.
---