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The vial felt cold in Lian's hand, its faint glow casting strange patterns across his palm. He could feel the shadows beneath his skin reacting to it—pulling away, curling like smoke from a flame. For the first time in years, they were quiet. It was unsettling.

Aeris watched him closely, her silver eyes unreadable in the dim light of the ruins. “You don’t have to take it now,” she said, her voice soft, almost coaxing. “But once you do, the clock starts ticking. That’s when we’ll have to move.”

Lian’s instincts screamed at him to walk away, to throw the vial into the dust and disappear back into the wilderness where he could control his fate. But a part of him—small, but growing—was tired. Tired of the constant running, tired of the endless battles. He had lost count of how many times he had been close to losing control entirely.

“If this doesn’t work,” Lian said, his voice low and dangerous, “you’ll regret lying to me.”

Aeris smiled, the same cryptic expression she wore when they first met. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”

Lian didn’t reply. He turned away from her, gazing at the crumbling cityscape that surrounded them. The ruins were a reminder of what had been lost—a world that had collapsed under its own weight. He wondered if he was destined to follow the same path, consumed by something greater than himself.

With a deep breath, Lian uncorked the vial and downed its contents in one swift motion. The liquid was cool, almost metallic, and it burned slightly as it went down his throat. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, suddenly, the shadows inside him recoiled, retreating deeper into his body as if they were afraid.

Lian fell to his knees, clutching his chest. It felt like the darkness was being ripped from him, pulled away in tendrils of smoke that evaporated before they could escape. His vision blurred, his thoughts scattered. And then, just as quickly as it had started, the sensation was gone.

He gasped for breath, blinking against the brightening light. The weight of the shadows that had pressed against his mind for years was gone. For the first time in what felt like forever, his thoughts were his own.

But the relief was short-lived. As Lian stood, unsteady on his feet, he noticed something was wrong. The world around him seemed sharper, more vivid—but at the same time, distant. He could hear the wind rustling through the ruins, but it sounded hollow, like it was coming from far away.

He looked at Aeris, her figure clear yet blurred at the edges, like she was standing just out of reach. “What…what did you do to me?”

Aeris’s expression softened, almost apologetic. “This is just the beginning. Your connection to the shadows has been severed for now, but the separation comes at a cost. You’ll feel…disconnected.”

“Disconnected?” Lian’s voice was a growl. “What does that mean?”

“It means you’ll need time to adjust,” Aeris replied, unfazed by his anger. “The shadows have been part of you for so long, and now that they’re dormant, your senses will take time to recalibrate. You’ll feel detached from the world until your body learns how to exist without them.”

Lian clenched his fists, fighting the urge to lash out. He wasn’t used to feeling vulnerable, and the thought of being at the mercy of this woman unsettled him deeply. But there was something else—beneath the surface, lurking in the background—something she wasn’t telling him.

“And when will they come back?” Lian asked, his voice tight.

Aeris’s eyes darkened. “That depends on how quickly we find what we’re looking for.”

Lian’s heart sank. He had known there would be a catch. “And what exactly are we looking for?”

Aeris hesitated for a moment before answering. “A relic. One that was lost centuries ago when the old world fell. It’s the only thing that can fully control the shadows inside you.”

Lian narrowed his eyes. “A relic? You’re telling me I drank that poison on the promise of some ancient artifact?”

“It’s not a promise,” Aeris said, her tone serious now. “It’s a certainty. The shadows you carry are a remnant of something much older than you realize. I’ve spent my life studying them, searching for the key to unlocking their power without losing control. And I’m not the only one.”

Lian’s blood ran cold. “Who else is after this?”

Aeris’s expression hardened. “Worse than you can imagine. People who would rather see the world burned to ashes than let someone like you wield that kind of power.”

Lian stared at her, his mind racing. This was more than he had bargained for. He had spent so long trying to escape the shadows, to be free of their influence. And now he was being told that the only way to truly control them was to hunt down some relic with a stranger he couldn’t even trust.

But what choice did he have?

“Where do we start?” Lian asked, his voice steady.

Aeris smiled again, though this time it was grim. “In the heart of the Old World. The place where all of this began.”

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TO BE CONTINUED