Kael blinked—and the world was gone.
No more cave. No more forest. Just mud, blood, and a cold wind that dragged at his cloak.
The battlefield stretched endlessly before him, strewn with the broken bodies of men he once called brothers. Their armor gleamed with familiar insignias, now dulled by dirt and dried blood. Smoke hung low in the air. The stench of war choked his throat.
He stepped forward, sword suddenly heavier than he remembered. His boots sank into the wet earth with each step.
A figure lay ahead.
Kael's heart stopped.
It was his brother.
Flat on his back, eyes open and staring up at a sky that would never change. A shallow cut across his throat, not deep—but enough. Enough to end it.
Kael dropped to his knees beside him. "No. No, we were done with this. You were supposed to be safe."
But the corpse didn't answer.
From behind, a familiar voice whispered: "You left him. Again."
Kael turned, but there was no one there.
Just the sound of battle. Again and again.
And the silence of guilt that wouldn't fade.
Diana stumbled backward, breath catching in her throat.
She stood in a corridor of stone—old, too old. Lined with dim torches. Blood stained the edges of the floor, and the walls breathed with cold that had nothing to do with wind.
She recognized it instantly.
The manor. Her family's ancestral home.
Her footsteps echoed as she turned, frantic. "No, no, not this again—"
A voice called from deeper in the hall. Soft. Familiar.
"Diana?"
Her heart seized. "Clara?"
She ran. Down the corridor. Past tapestries of old bloodlines and secrets. The voices grew louder. Louder.
She turned a corner—and stopped.
There she was.
Her little sister. Curled in the corner, sobbing. Chained. Weak. Eyes wide with fear.
And in the shadows beyond, the figure of their father—tall, cruel, his cane dragging on the stone.
"Why didn't you stop him?" Clara cried. "Why didn't you help me?"
Diana reached for her wand—but it wasn't there. Her arms were frozen. Her voice caught.
"I—I tried—"
"But you didn't."
The shadows closed in.
And Diana couldn't move.
Ciena gasped and staggered back.
The world around her was wrong. Too bright. Too warm.
She looked down.
A pair of smaller hands.
Her hands.
She stood in a clearing from years ago, grass swaying gently underfoot, the smell of herbs and ink thick in the air.
A memory.
Her younger self was ahead—barefoot, trembling, holding a glowing orb of raw spellwork in her hands. Magic surged, unstable, the air humming.
And in front of her—him.
A boy her age. Eyes wide. Trusting.
He reached out.
"No," Ciena whispered. "Don't—don't trust me."
But her younger self couldn't hear. She was too proud. Too desperate to prove she could control it.
The spell snapped.
A burst of light. A scream. The boy collapsed.
And young Ciena stared at her hands, horrified.
Ciena dropped to her knees. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to—"
The voice of the succubus slithered through the memory like smoke. "You dragged him into it, didn't you? Just like you did with Rein. And they all paid the price."
Ciena curled in on herself.
She didn't cry.
She couldn't.
The magic had already done enough damage.
The succubus stood atop the cliff, just outside the cave entrance, her wings folded neatly behind her as she watched the spectacle below. The storm above raged on, mirroring her glee. Thunder cracked, but it was nothing compared to the music of their screams—silent screams, locked in battles only they could see.
Kael's eyes trembled as he knelt over his brother's corpse again and again, blood clinging to his hands like a curse.
Diana's steps echoed down the stone halls of her forsaken estate, her sister's voice growing more distorted with every word.
And Ciena… sweet, foolish Ciena… whispered apologies to the shade of the girl she once was, unable to change what she had done.
The succubus laughed.
A rich, full-bodied sound—part amusement, part cruelty, and all triumph.
"Oh, humans," she purred to herself. "So easy to crack. So deliciously tragic."
She licked her lips, her tail flicking lazily behind her as she crouched near the edge. "I almost want to keep you all… but Rein's mine. He always was. I marked him the moment he entered this mountain."
She paused. Something… shifted.
A whisper in the wind. A flicker of magic unfamiliar to her.
Her smile faded slightly.
And then—like a torch flaring to life in the dark—she arrived.
A gust of shimmering golden wind scattered the violet mist near the cave. The succubus rose to her feet in an instant, wings flaring wide as her eyes narrowed.
From the path below, a figure emerged through the magic fog, walking without fear, her cloak rippling behind her like it had a will of its own.
Emilia.
The succubus's lip curled. "Who—?"
Emilia didn't stop walking. Her eyes were glowing softly, her staff humming with power, and the threads of a pre-laid enchantment sparked to life around her.
"I knew I couldn't trust them to get it done," she said coldly, not even glancing at the succubus. "Heroes or not, they were never immune to you."
The succubus tilted her head, baring fangs in a sly grin. "Oh? A new player? And here I thought the cast was complete. You've come to join my little game, girl?"
Emilia's gaze snapped to her, sharp and glowing. "I'm not here to play."
With a snap of her fingers, the trap she had prepared—woven into the very rocks and air the moment they stepped into this region—triggered.
A surge of golden magic erupted from the ground, forming a barrier around the cliff edge and sealing the entrance to the cave. The sky itself seemed to pause, the wind holding its breath.
The succubus flinched, only slightly. "What did you do?"
"Bound the field," Emilia said. "Your illusion magic won't reach me."
The succubus snarled. "You think that's enough to stop me?"
"No," Emilia said, raising her staff. "But it's enough to level the playing field."
The two stood in the storm, facing each other—arcane light and dark hunger crackling between them.
"And Rein?" the succubus asked, licking her lips. "He's mine."
"No," Emilia answered, her voice like steel. "He was never yours."
And with that, the air exploded—gold against violet, fire against shadow, as Emilia and the succubus clashed beneath the thunderstorm.