Darkness coiled around them, thick and suffocating, as if the crypt itself was alive and breathing, watching, waiting. The air crackled with raw energy, and the cold bit into Kael's bones like needles of ice. His breath was ragged, each inhale a battle against the force clawing at his very existence.
Evelyne's fingers tightened around his arm, her pulse hammering beneath her skin. She could feel it—his struggle, his pain, the way the invisible chains wound tighter with every passing second. She had seen Kael fight monsters, had seen him take wounds that would kill an ordinary man, but this—this was different.
This was a battle of the soul.
The flickering torches lining the walls cast long, shifting shadows, making his mother's form seem to waver between solid and spectral. Her hollow eyes gleamed with a knowing smile, her presence more haunting than ever.
"You were never free, my son."
Kael's jaw clenched, muscles coiling like a predator about to strike. He had spent centuries piecing himself back together, reclaiming what was his, forging his own path away from the curse of his bloodline.
Yet now, standing before her, he felt it—her grip had never loosened.
A sharp, searing pain erupted in his chest, stealing his breath. His body jerked as if pulled by invisible threads, his very soul tethered to something unseen. His mother's fingers curled around the object in her palm—a heart, dark and pulsing, its rhythm uneven.
His heart.
Evelyne's voice cut through the rising dread. "He's stronger than you think."
His mother tilted her head, regarding Evelyne with an amused smirk, as if she were nothing more than an insignificant pest. "You think love will save him?"
She laughed then—a cold, ancient sound that sent a chill down Evelyne's spine. "Love is nothing against blood."
Kael's fingers curled into fists. "I was never yours to control."
But his mother's grip on the heart tightened, and the pain surged through him in waves, as if fire had been poured into his veins. He gritted his teeth, refusing to cry out, refusing to show weakness.
Evelyne didn't hesitate.
Summoning the golden energy still crackling through her veins, she thrust her palm forward. Light erupted from her fingertips, a burst of radiant power that struck Kael's mother's form like a divine force.
For a moment, just a moment, the crypt went silent.
Then—
The shadows surged.
The torches sputtered out, plunging the crypt into an unnatural darkness. The stone walls groaned under an unseen weight, the very air warping with the force of ancient power.
Evelyne's stomach twisted. "Kael—"
"I know."
His voice was tight, filled with pain but laced with determination. His fingers trembled as he fought against the force threatening to unravel him.
His mother's form shifted, warping, twisting—no longer a woman, no longer human. Her body stretched into something monstrous, something ancient. Shadowed wings unfurled, her face elongating into something grotesque, something beyond the realm of the living.
A wraith. A being of pure darkness, tethered to the curse that had followed Kael his entire existence.
The heart in her grasp pulsed wildly, dark veins of power stretching toward Kael like tendrils, seeking to drag him back into oblivion.
But Kael refused.
With a roar, he forced himself forward, his body screaming in protest. Every step felt like wading through quicksand, every movement a battle against the pull of his own blood.
Evelyne didn't hesitate. She moved with him, her light slashing through the darkness, creating brief openings in the suffocating void. They fought together, step by step, inch by inch, pushing back the consuming force threatening to devour Kael whole.
The crypt trembled beneath them, fractures splitting the stone beneath their feet.
Kael's mother—the wraith—shrieked. The sound tore through the air like a razor, sending vibrations through Kael's bones. But he pushed forward, reaching deep within himself, summoning the remnants of his strength.
Then—
The heart in his mother's grasp flared with power, and Kael's body convulsed.
Evelyne turned just in time to see him falter, his knees buckling as an agonized gasp escaped his lips. The invisible chains around him tightened, dragging him to the ground.
"No—" Evelyne's hands shot forward, fingers wrapping around his shoulders, but the force pulling him down was too strong.
Kael gritted his teeth, his breath coming in uneven gasps. His vision blurred, the world darkening at the edges.
He was losing.
No.
Not like this.
Not after everything.
He forced himself to focus, to push past the agony, to feel the connection—the heartbeat echoing through the crypt.
The heart.
It was his, but it was also hers.
Bound by blood. Bound by the curse.
Kael's eyes snapped open, golden light flickering in their depths.
He knew what he had to do.
His fingers curled into the void, reaching—not for the darkness, but for the link between them.
Evelyne saw the shift, the change in his stance, the unwavering resolve settling in his gaze.
He wasn't fighting against it anymore.
He was claiming it.
The wraith shrieked as Kael forced his will into the connection, his essence entwining with the power trying to consume him. He took control of the link, of the energy surging between them.
For the first time, he wasn't running from it.
He was owning it.
Kael surged forward, ignoring the pain, the pull, the weight.
His hands closed around the heart in his mother's grasp.
The moment he touched it, the crypt exploded in light and shadow.
A surge of energy erupted between them, tendrils of darkness lashing out wildly, colliding with Evelyne's golden energy. The ground beneath them cracked open, stone crumbling away into nothingness.
His mother—no, the wraith—screamed as the power shifted, as the control was ripped from her grasp.
Kael's fingers tightened around the heart, feeling the fragile, desperate threads trying to hold onto him.
And then—
He crushed it.
The heart shattered in his grasp, its pulse stopping in an instant. The wraith's form convulsed, its screeching cry turning into a fading whisper. Darkness unraveled, shadows dissolving like mist in the morning sun.
The chains around Kael snapped.
The crypt went silent.
Kael barely registered Evelyne catching him before he hit the ground. His body was shaking, his breath uneven, but the consuming agony—the force that had tormented him for centuries—was gone.
Evelyne cradled his face, her fingers brushing against his skin, searching. "Kael?"
His heartbeat was his own.
He exhaled slowly, meeting her gaze, a small, weary smile tugging at his lips.
"It's over."
Evelyne let out a shaky breath, her eyes glistening. Without another word, she pulled him into an embrace, holding him close, her warmth grounding him.
The crypt lay in ruins around them, the walls cracked, the torches burned out. But in that moment, neither of them cared.
Because for the first time in centuries—
Kael was finally free.
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