"It's your choice... Do you truly want to relive this nightmare? How immature of you—this isn't some fantastical dream."

The words echoed in the void, chilling Kael to his core. A figure loomed before him, face obscured, as if the shadows themselves conspired to erase his identity. Kael's pulse quickened; he couldn't shake the eerie familiarity of that voice, whispering like a malevolent specter from the depths of his memory.

"I'm sorry… you were never meant to be chosen. I granted you hope, but it was never yours to wield. You were always strong, but strength was never enough… Now, I must take it all away." The figure turned, retreating into the abyss, its movements fluid and unsettling.

Kael felt an insatiable urge to chase after it, desperation clawing at his throat. He ran, each step echoing like a heartbeat in the oppressive darkness, but the figure faded, swallowed by the shadows as if it had never existed at all.

Suddenly, the room around him shifted, gravity twisting into something dark and malevolent. He plummeted into an endless void, the air thick with fear. A cacophony of whispers filled his ears, echoing his thoughts as he spiraled deeper and deeper into despair.

"Where the hell am I?" Panic surged as he fell, the darkness closing in like a suffocating shroud. Just as the weight of hopelessness threatened to crush him, Kael jolted awake, gasping for breath, drenched in cold sweat.

"Thank god it was just a nightmare," he whispered, rubbing his face in an attempt to erase the terror lingering in his mind. He glanced out the window, daylight pouring in, a stark contrast to the darkness he had just escaped.

A bright voice broke through his haze. "Hey, Mr. Kael! You're late! You said you would fix my music box!" Amelia appeared in the doorway, her innocent smile a beacon of joy in his shadowy world. She held out the music box, the delicate trinket glimmering in the light.

Kael forced a smile, his heart momentarily lifting. "I'm so sorry, Amelia. I'll fix it as fast as I can. I promise to have it ready by sundown." Her laughter tinkled like chimes, momentarily pushing the darkness away.

"Mr. Kael, I don't know what you'd do without someone like me to remind you," she chirped, hopping with excitement as she gleamed with admiration for the village hero.

"Why don't you head on home? It's almost lunch time. I bet your mom's making something delicious." He gestured toward Maren's house, watching as the girl's face fell, the light dimming in her eyes.

Thud. Clank.

Kael shook himself as he settled into his chair, determined to bury the remnants of the nightmare. He grabbed Amelia's music box, but exhaustion clawed at him, the weight of his dreams pressing down harder than ever.

"Hey Kael, you alright? You look exhausted." Elara had been waiting in the shadows of his workshop, concern etched across her features.

"Oh, hey, I'm perfectly fine." He brushed her off, the lie tasting bitter on his tongue.

"Just remember to get some sleep tonight." As she spoke, a vision struck him—her lifeless body sprawled across the cold ground, a grotesque image that sent ice coursing through his veins.

"Oh shit!" He leapt from his chair, disoriented, rubbing his eyes as if to wipe away the horror.

"What's wrong? Why are you acting like this?" Elara's voice trembled as she shot up, fear flickering in her eyes.

"Get away from me!" He thrust his arm out, panic coursing through him as he stumbled backward, desperately trying to shake the vision from his mind. "E-Elara, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's happening!"

She pushed his hand away, confusion and hurt swirling in her gaze. "Kael!" she muttered under her breath, an uneasy sense of betrayal washing over her as she fled the workshop, leaving him in the suffocating silence.

Kael slumped back into his chair, shadows curling around him like vengeful spirits. The hum of gears and the faint glow of the crystals failed to comfort him; instead, they felt like a countdown, a reminder of the darkness closing in.

"I warned you this would happen. There will never be a happy ending for you," the voice slithered back into his mind, each word a knife twisting in his gut. "What I showed you—it's only a glimpse of the future if she remains by your side."

He flinched at the words, knowing they were true.

"You've become so predictable, Kael." The voice dripped with malevolence, wrapping around him like tendrils of smoke, suffocating and intoxicating.

Kael's heart raced. "Shut up!" he snapped, fury igniting within him. He refused to let this dark presence control him any longer.

The voice chuckled, cold and mirthless. "You think those crystals give you power? That they'll protect you from what lurks in the shadows? Poor Kael… you truly don't understand."

Kael's gaze fell upon the pile of glowing crystals on the workbench, their light dimmer now, tainted by the weight of despair. He had fought tooth and nail for each one, faced nightmares and demons to claim them. They were his only salvation in a world where magic was wielded effortlessly by others. But the voice was right. Each crystal felt like a chain, binding him to his fear.

"You're clinging to illusions of strength," the voice taunted. "And when the darkness comes—and it will come—you'll find that your desperation is nothing but a whisper against the storm."

Kael's fists clenched, rage and despair battling within him. "I won't let it happen!" he growled, but deep down, he felt the truth of those words—the fear of the abyss that lurked beyond the fragile light he had built around himself.

"You can fight all you want, but I'll be there, watching as you unravel," the voice murmured, a sinister promise. "And when you do, the crystals will belong to me."

In that moment, the shadows deepened, closing in on him like a hungry predator, and Kael knew he was standing on the precipice of darkness, with nothing but a fragile hope to hold on to.

Kael's eyes blazed with defiance as he faced the darkened corners of his workshop, the shadows seeming to twist and pulse around him. "I earned them!" he spat, his voice a growl, the words sharp as the edges of the very crystals he clutched. "I've bled for them! Without them, I'd be dead. Without them, I'm nothing!" The walls seemed to tremble with his declaration, but the darkness only swallowed his words, indifferent.

A sigh echoed in his mind, laced with an unsettling blend of mockery and disappointment. "And that's the crux of your failure, isn't it? You define yourself by these little shards of power because you have nothing else. Always grasping for something you can never truly possess."

Kael's fists trembled, the weight of his anguish clawing at his insides. "You're wrong! I can—"

"You can what?" the voice interrupted, a venomous edge creeping into its tone. "Fight back? Win? Spare me the delusions, Kael. You were weak before, and you're still weak now. Those crystals haven't made you stronger; they've merely delayed the inevitable. You're a puppet with fraying strings."

His breath quickened, a cold dread washing over him. He fought back against the creeping darkness that threatened to swallow him whole. He had come so far; he couldn't let this twisted specter of doubt consume him. "You don't know what I've been through," Kael hissed, teeth clenched like iron bars. "You don't know what I've lost!"

The voice fell silent, a heavy pause stretching in the air, suffocating. Then it emerged again, softer yet tainted with a chilling understanding. "I know exactly what you've lost, Kael. More than anyone else ever could. I was there when you buried your humanity beneath layers of cold metal, when you sacrificed your very soul for fleeting moments of power. Look at you now—clinging to the scraps of magic that aren't even yours. Do you truly believe that's strength?"

Kael's breath hitched, a lump forming in his throat as the weight of its pity pressed down on him like a crushing wave. It was worse than hatred; it was a reminder of his own insignificance. He could fight against hatred, but this? This was a shroud of despair that ensnared him, suffocating any flicker of hope.

"I can change," he whispered, the sound barely escaping his lips. "I can get stronger."

A low chuckle echoed in the recesses of his mind, a sound that sent chills racing down his spine. "Ah, Kael, time is a luxury you no longer possess. The demons are closing in, the world is unraveling, and here you sit in your dim sanctuary, clutching at illusions of hope." The voice paused, then added, its tone dripping with mockery, "If you don't change, I will take those crystals from you. Every last one. You'll be left with nothing, and it will be your own doing."

Kael's heart plummeted, a cold dread clawing at his insides. The thought of losing the crystals, the last vestige of his power in a world that threatened to consume him whole, sent ice coursing through his veins. "No," he breathed, terror filling his voice. "You can't."

"Oh, I can," the voice crooned, almost sorrowfully, a serpent weaving through his thoughts. "But I won't need to if you continue on this pathetic path. You'll self-destruct long before I need to lift a finger."

Panic surged within him, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He felt the walls of the workshop close in, shadows twisting into grotesque shapes, whispering taunts he could not escape. He couldn't lose them. He couldn't. Without the crystals, he was vulnerable. Without the crystals, he was a mere husk, stripped of all strength.

The voice sighed again, its tone now almost tender, like a predator toying with its prey. "I don't hate you, Kael. I pity you. You were never meant for this. They should never have given you hope."

Tears stung Kael's eyes as those words echoed through his mind, wrapping around his heart like iron chains. He stood frozen, the dim light of the workshop flickering like a dying star, casting monstrous shadows that loomed over him, taunting him with his failures.

"But I fought," he whispered, voice barely a breath against the cacophony of despair. "I've tried... I've tried so hard."

The voice curled around him, soft and suffocating. "And that's the saddest part of all."

As the voice faded into the churning shadows of his mind, Kael was left alone in the suffocating darkness, the chill of despair seeping into his bones. He stared at the crystals, their glow now dull and distant, like fading embers in the abyss. He had fought tooth and nail to keep them, to forge a future from their light. But now, as the echoes of the voice lingered in the corners of his mind, they felt like a cruel illusion, a hollow prize he might never deserve.

"You were never meant for this."

Kael closed his eyes against the onslaught of despair, feeling the weight of his weakness crash down upon him like an avalanche of shadows. The question loomed heavy in the air—could he truly keep fighting, or was he destined to be devoured by the darkness he had tried so desperately to conquer?