The chamber shook with rage. Coox's face twisted, Jian's features morphing into something nightmarish ..a mask of ancient fury and betrayal. His voice tore through the air like broken glass.
"You DARE challenge me?! You were NOTHING until I shaped you!"
Tendrils of pure void erupted from his back, lashing the walls, slicing through the air with howls that echoed from beyond time. Elara's golden light faltered as she stumbled backward, shielding her face.
And then — BOOM.
The door behind Damien detonated , a pulse of silvery-black force rippling out. Smoke curled like fingers, and from within it, Raven stepped forward. No words. Just power.
His coat fluttered behind him, eyes burning with frost and fury. A long, curved blade was strapped across his back, runes glowing dimly beneath the smoke. He looked older..heavier.. as if every step he took toward Coox crushed his heart. Coox turned, his sneer widening.
"So. The puppet master arrives."
Raven's voice was low and dangerous.
"You went too far."
Coox's laugh was wild, fractured.
"Too far? You raised me for this. You trained me to surpass limits. And now that I have, you call it betrayal?"
Raven's jaw clenched.
"I trained you to protect, not consume. I gave you power to destroy monsters, not become one."
A silence fell between them... thick and choking. And then Coox smiled.
"Then let's see if the master can still correct his greatest mistake."
He launched forward with a shriek, void tendrils snapping toward Raven. The room twisted under the pressure. Raven barely dodged, rolling aside as stone cracked behind him. His blade was in his hand in a blink...clashing against blackened tendrils in a shower of sparks.
The battle began.
Raven moved like a shadow forged in war.. cutting, striking, dodging with agonizing precision. But Coox was faster. Stronger. Darker. The creation's movements were chaos incarnate, fueled by hatred and betrayal.
"You're weak," Coox hissed, slamming Raven into a pillar. "You still think there's meaning in this world."
Raven grunted, twisting and stabbing Coox in the side.
"And you think power will fill the hole I failed to mend."
Their fight ripped through the chamber like a storm. Elara shouted,
"They're going to tear the whole fortress apart!"
Damien grabbed her shoulder.
"Don't interfere..not yet. Raven's the only one who's ever held his own against Coox."
Jian stared in disbelief, voice trembling. "He raised him?"
Mael's eyes were wide. "No… he forged a weapon."
Eva whispered, "And now he has to kill it."
Raven slammed Coox against the wall, both panting, blood and void leaking into the cracks of the floor.
"You were like a son to me," Raven growled. "I taught you mercy."
Coox's eyes burned. "And I unlearned it."
Suddenly, Coox's body pulsed with dark power. Before Raven could move, a blast of obliteration struck him in the chest, hurling him across the chamber. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood, his blade spinning away.
"No!" Elara shouted.
Coox walked slowly toward him, shadows curling from his hands.
"You were my cage, Raven. I broke your chains."
Raven forced himself up, barely able to stand.
"Then finish it."
Coox's hand surged with an ancient, forbidden light. Just before the blast, Raven turned his head, and locked eyes with Damien. His gaze was heavy.. full of guilt, regret, and something deeper. Apology. A silent goodbye.
Damien froze. His chest tightened, fists clenched. He understood that look. And he hated what it meant.
"Goodbye, father," Coox said.
And with a final pulse of crushing darkness..Raven vanished. No scream. No body. Just a lingering hum, and then silence. Time seemed to stop.
Elara dropped to her knees, tears falling silently. Damien's eyes widened in disbelief.
"No… no, that's not...He can't be..."
Jian stepped forward, fists shaking. "He was trying to save us."
Mael looked away, voice hollow. "And we let him die alone."
Eva fell beside Elara, whispering, "We weren't ready. We never were."
Coox turned slowly, facing them all, eyes glowing like dying suns.
"One creation down," he snarled. "Now… you."
Silence.
After Raven vanished, Coox stood alone in the center of the ruined chamber. Darkness pulsed around him like a second skin.. alive, writhing, breathing. The silence stretched.And then, it cracked. Coox tilted his head, almost gently, and grinned.
"Now," he whispered, "what will the world give me next?"
The walls trembled. The sky inside the fortress blackened. Every torch, every light source died in an instant. Shadows slithered like snakes, crawling up columns and across the ground like blood through cracks.
The air turne wrong.. thick, suffocating, and cold, as if reality itself were struggling to hold together under Coox's weight.
Mael stepped back, sword shaking.
"This... this isn't power. This is infection."
Elara stumbled as her knees buckled beneath her, her light flickering in panic.
"He's… changing everything."
Coox's eyes flared with voidfire as he raised both hands. "You think this is the end?" His voice echoed in layers , like a chorus of his own madness. "It's the start."
Jian's heartbeat thundered in his ears. He watched as the others froze, as if held by invisible strings. Every instinct in him screamed, run, but something deeper whispered, you're the last one left.
He took a step forward. Then another. Elara's voice, barely audible:
"Jian..don't.."
Jian clenched his fists. "I don't know how I know… but I feel it. I'm the only one who can stop him."
And then— BLACK.
A pulse of silence. No sound. No light. No breath. And then... A sunny afternoon...Birds chirped.
The wind played through open windows, ruffling white curtains. A kettle whistled.
Jian blinked, sitting at a kitchen table. A mug of coffee in his hands. Soft clothes. No scars. He looked around. Elara laughed softly across from him, stirring sugar into her tea. She leaned over and kissed his forehead.
"You daydreaming again?" she smiled.
He blinked again, heart thudding in confusion.
"I... I guess I was."
Sunlight poured in through the windows. There were flowers on the table. A photo on the wall ..him and Elara, smiling on a mountaintop. In the next room, a record played quietly. Somewhere nearby, Eva's laughter rang out, crystal and carefree.
The world was peaceful.Perfect. Too perfect.
Jian frowned. His hands shook.. barely, but enough. A flicker at the edge of his mind. A memory. A scream. A shadow.
But it slipped away like mist every time he tried to grasp it. Elara touched his cheek gently.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he said automatically. "Just... strange dream."
From down the street, Mael jogged past their open window, waving, his shirt half-covered in sawdust.
"Morning, lovers!"
Eva's voice chimed in from her porch: "You two coming to the lake later?"
Jian stood slowly. "Yeah. Maybe."
But his eyes lingered on the hallway mirror. In it, his reflection didn't move right. And behind him, just for a moment...A flicker. Two burning eyes. And a grin like a fracture in the world.
It had been… days?...Maybe weeks. Jian couldn't tell anymore. Every morning began the same: birdsong, coffee, Elara's laughter. Every evening ended with golden sunsets over the lake, soft music, and Eva humming by the fire.
But Jian never felt rested. Because every time he looked in a mirror… his reflection lagged, even for a fraction of a second. It blinked when he didn't. Smiled when he was still. And once.. just once.. it frowned at him.
One morning, Jian sat at the park bench by the lake, watching ripples break the water's surface. Everything was perfect...too perfect. The sun was alway in the same position. The wind always blew in the same rhythm.
A pair of children across the lake laughed, ran, and looped the same exact way every hour. He timed it. Elara sat beside him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You're quiet lately," she said.
"I just feel like something's… off," he muttered. "Like I'm forgetting something."
She smiled, brushing her fingers through his hair.
"Then maybe it's better forgotten."
But her voice sounded slightly different. Echoey. Hollow. Jian turned to her, and for one flickering frame, her face glitched, smiling too wide , eyes black and still like doll's glass. Then it was gone. She laughed again, softly. His breath caught.
That night, he woke up sweating. He didn't remember going to sleep. And outside the window, it wasn't night at all...just a blank canvas of gray.
No stars. No sky. No anything. Just fog. He reached for Elara, but the bed beside him was empty and cold. He walked through the hallway..but every door led to the same room.
Again.
Again.
Again.
He screamed into the silence, but the sound barely echoed.
Until…A whisper. Very faint. Coming from behind the mirror.
"…wake up…"
Jian stepped closer. The mirror fogged. Then, it shattered outward, as if something had tried to break through it .
The next morning, everything was normal again. Sunny. Calm. Coffee and toast. But Jian said nothing. He just watched. Waited. Listened.
And when Eva came over later, laughing about something meaningless, Jian stopped her.
"Eva," he said quietly. "Do you remember… anything before this place?"
She blinked.
Then smiled. "Before what?"
"This town. This life. Us. Any of it."
She tilted her head. "We've always been here, Jian. You and Elara. Me. The lake. That's all there's ever been."
He stared into her eyes. There was a flicker of something.. deep inside.
Fear...Hidden behind the smile.
She turned quickly. "I should go."
That night, Jian didn't sleep. He lay next to Elara, her breath slow and rhythmic ...too rhythmic, like clockwork. He waited until her breaths reached perfect stillness, then rose quietly, slipping on his jacket. The world outside was unnaturally quiet. No crickets. No rustle of wind. Just fog beginning to rise along the ground.
He headed toward the edge of the woods, something in his gut pulling him there. But as he stepped onto the forest trail, a voice called out softly from behind a tree.
"Couldn't sleep either?"
Jian turned.
It was Mael... standing in the path, hands in his coat pockets, eyes dim under the moonless sky. He looked tired. Haunted. Like someone who hadn't blinked in hours.
"…You feel wrong too?" Jian asked.
Mael paused. Then slowly nodded.
"I thought it was just me," he said quietly. "But the days… repeat. The wind's always the same. Eva made the same joke three days in a row..word for word."
Jian stepped closer. "I don't think this world is real."
Mael exhaled. "I don't think it's ours ."
Neither of them said more. They just started walking.. together. Toward the old shed near the woods' edge. Something waited there. Both of them could feel it now, like a pressure building in their chests.
Inside, the air was colder. Still. Empty. At first. Then Jian's foot hit a floorboard that echoed strangely. They looked at each other.
He dropped to one knee and pried it up.A black box lay hidden beneath, faintly humming with energy. Its center held a strange crystal shard, pulsing slowly, like a dying heartbeat. Wires curled like veins. Static tickled the edges of their minds.
Then Jian reached deeper, and pulled out a burned photo. They both stared. Jian. Damien. Elara. Mael. Eva. And in the background.. unmistakable, looming like a shadow of flame and bone: Raven. And behind him… Coox.
His smile was wide and wrong. Jian dropped the photo like it burned his skin. He stumbled back, breath caught. A voice whispered behind them, cold and smooth as icewater:
"You shouldn't have seen that."
They turned. No one. Just fog, leaking into the corners of the room like blood in water. Mael grabbed Jian's arm.
"Did you hear that?"
Jian clutched his head, and pain flooded in like a crashing tide. Memories. Flashes of fire. A battlefield. Raven reaching out. Screaming. Coox's laughter echoing like a curse. The moment before the world unraveled.
A voice in his head.. Raven's voice:
"You're the only one who can stop him."
And then..blackness. When Jian looked up, Mael was on his knees, gasping. He was remembering too. Outside the shed, the sky was glitching.
The stars blinked like dying code. The sun stuttered behind layers of fake clouds. For a moment, they could see it.. the framework holding everything together. Wires. Data. A prison.
Mael whispered, "We're not awake."
Jian stood, his jaw clenched. "But now we know."
He picked up the photo again.
"Raven died to give us this chance. And Coox buried it under a lie."
Mael nodded, eyes burning. "Then we bring it all back."
Jian turned toward the path home.
"We start with Elara."
And in the fog behind them… something watched. Waiting. The illusion was cracking. And the waking world was coming for them.
They didn't sleep that night. Jian and Mael walked in silence through the fog-veiled streets of their quiet little town, which now felt more like a coffin with painted skies. Lamps flickered as they passed beneath them. A child's laughter echoed in the distance — then repeated. Then again.
Mael muttered, "Same loop. It's breaking down."
"Good," Jian said. "Let it."
They turned onto Rosehill Lane, where Damien's house stood..clean, perfect, porch light always glowing. Jian knocked. No answer.
He pounded harder. "Damien, open up!"
Still nothing. So Mael kicked the door open. Inside, Damien was sitting at the kitchen table, sipping tea. Wearing a cardigan. A fire crackled in the hearth. Calm, content. He looked up at them with a gentle smile.
"Hey guys," he said. "You're early for poker night."
Jian walked in, trembling. "Damien… do you remember Raven ?"
Damien blinked. Tilted his head.
"Raven? Who..? Wait… I…"
His brow furrowed. The mug in his hand trembled. Mael sat across from him.
"You do . Somewhere inside, you know none of this is real."
Damien's hand gripped the table. His eyes widened. The walls of the kitchen flickered for just a second...revealing twisted wires, cables, and cold, endless dark.
Jian stepped closer. "Raven trained you. He raised you. And Coox..."
"Don't say that name," Damien whispered, eyes flashing with sudden panic. "He's watching."
Jian leaned in. "Let him."
And he grabbed Damien's hand. A shock of memory burst through them both...fire, ash, Raven's voice screaming in the void, Coox's void tendrils ripping the sky apart. Damien screamed, and collapsed out of the chair, clutching his head.
When he looked up.. his face was different. Sharper. Awake.
"I remember."
Mael helped him stand. "Then we need Eva."
The three of them moved fast. The world around them stuttered. Trees glitched between winter and spring. People turned toward them with blank stares, frozen smiles that twitched unnaturally.
The illusion was dying. They found Eva in the town greenhouse.. pruning flowers that never wilted. She was humming softly, eyes distant, hands steady. But when she saw them, she froze. And for the first time...Jian noticed the look in her eyes.
Not confusion.Not peace...Terror. She already knew.
He approached gently. "Eva…"
She whispered, before he could even ask, "You see it too now, don't you?"
Jian stopped. "You've been awake?"
Eva nodded slowly. "Since the first week. When Raven vanished. When the sun stopped moving."
Mael looked stunned. "Why didn't you say anything?"
Her hands trembled. "Because I thought… if I acted like I didn't know, maybe he'd leave me alone. Maybe I'd survive a little longer. I didn't want him to know I remembered."
Jian stepped closer. "You're not alone anymore. We're going to end this."
Eva's voice cracked. "He sees everything."
"We know," Damien said. "But he hasn't won. Not yet."
Eva took a deep breath. Then stepped out from behind the flower beds. The mask of calm fell away, and in its place was steel, and sorrow.
"Then let's make him bleed."
The illusion cracked again. Across town, houses folded in on themselves. Trees bent sideways like broken marionettes. The ground flickered between stone and void. Somewhere in the sky, a low, hateful growl echoed like thunder through glass.
Coox was stirring. Jian turned to the others, jaw set.
"Remain Elara."
Mael's fists clenched. "And we get out."
Damien whispered, "Before the world breaks us first."
To be continue ...