Kael walked forward, each step heavy, as though the ground beneath him were pulling at his legs.
The road ahead was fractured, littered with pale dust and shards of broken pillars.
Beside him, the River of Spirits flowed, dark and silent, watching.

He glanced back once at the black pillar.
The name—KAEL—still glowed faintly, echoing in his chest like a forgotten promise.

Suddenly, the air shifted.
The River trembled beside him, ripples cutting across its surface in quick, nervous lines.
Kael stopped.
A cold pressure pressed against his ribs, as if a hand were reaching inside to squeeze his heart.

A shape rose from the far edge of the path.
It crawled up from the dust and fragments, pulling itself forward on limbs too long, bending at impossible angles.
Its body shimmered like oil in moonlight—half solid, half liquid, constantly dripping and reforming.

Kael stumbled backward, the fragment in his hand twitching violently.
He didn’t know why he held it up—he had no idea how to use it.

The creature’s head turned slowly.
Where a face should have been, there was only a deep black cavity that pulsed, as if breathing.

It lunged.
Kael threw himself to the side, but an arm caught his shoulder, slicing deep.
He fell, pain flooding his thoughts.
When he looked up, the creature stood over him, dripping black liquid onto the stones.

Kael scrambled backward, breath ragged.
He tried to push himself up, but his legs trembled too much.
The creature crawled after him, slower now, savoring.

Kael's mind raced.
His hand closed around the fragment, holding it like a useless charm.
His blood dripped onto the dust.

The creature raised an arm, sharp as a blade, ready to end him.

In that instant, the fragment pulsed on its own.
A soft glow spread up Kael’s wrist and into his chest.
The creature paused.
Its arm began to quiver, then fade—particles lifting away like ash in wind.

Kael stared, eyes wide.
The creature tried to pull the arm back, but more pieces flaked off, falling into nothing.
It let out a sound—not a roar, but a broken, rattling exhale, like someone trying to remember how to breathe.

Kael crawled backward again, his hand still gripping the fragment.
He felt no control; it was acting on its own, as if drawn to the creature’s core.

The creature lunged again with its remaining arm.
Kael lifted the fragment instinctively.
A second pulse erupted—this time stronger, sharper.

The creature staggered.
Its torso began to collapse inward, chunks breaking away as if it forgot how to hold itself together.
Its legs buckled, trembling violently.

Tears stung Kael’s eyes.
His arm ached, the fragment’s glow burned into his skin, but he couldn’t let go.
The creature clawed forward, dragging itself by stumps that used to be arms, desperate, pitiful.

"Stop... I... I don't—"

The sound echoed in Kael’s skull, not from the creature’s mouthless void but from somewhere deeper, as if it was losing even the memory of language.

Kael gritted his teeth, body shaking. He forced himself to stand; every muscle screamed as he staggered forward, closing the gap.

One last pulse.
A final, gentle light shivered from the fragment, enveloping the creature completely.
Its head dropped forward.
A silent shudder ran through it—then, slowly, it crumbled, piece by piece, until nothing remained but dust sinking into the cracks of the broken road.

Kael collapsed to his knees.
The fragment dimmed, going still.
His blood dripped steadily onto the dust, mixing with the grey powder of the vanished creature.

He gasped, each breath sharp and painful.
Around him, the silent landscape waited, unchanged—broken stones, distant ruins, the dark river flowing on.

Kael looked down at the fragment in his hand.
It no longer glowed, but a subtle warmth pulsed at its core, echoing faintly with his own heartbeat.

"What... are you?" he whispered.

No answer.
Only the hush of the river and the ghostly drift of dust in the air.

Kael forced himself up.
His legs trembled, but he began to walk again.
Past the spot where the creature had died, the road fractured further, winding out into a pale mist.

The river followed, always beside him.
Sometimes ahead, sometimes behind, as if it chose its own path.

Kael glanced back one last time.
The memory of the pillar, the name, the creature’s final plea—all hung in the air like a heavy, invisible fog.

He pressed on, each step an act of defiance against the emptiness waiting ahead.