The night in Solareth was unnaturally silent. The stars above twinkled like distant promises, unreachable and cold. A dying fire crackled beside a tent pitched near the cliff edge, where Zagan sat alone, the sea of clouds stretching far below. Kris and Jessica were asleep nearby, wrapped in cloaks.
But Zagan couldn't sleep.
The name "Serena" echoed in his mind like a whisper trapped in stone. Over and over again.
He had scrawled it in his notebook countless times now. The ink bled into the paper, almost as if the word itself refused to be captured.
Zagan tapped his quill against his knee.
"Who are you?" he whispered to the wind. "Why does your name feel like a dagger I was always meant to pull?"
His eyes narrowed as the firelight dimmed. Something—no, someone—was near.
A shiver crawled up his spine.
Then, without warning, the fire snuffed out. One second it was there, crackling softly—and the next, just smoke.
He stood slowly, heart suddenly aware of its own rhythm.
And then he heard it. A voice.
Faint. Velvet. Feminine.
"Still chasing ghosts, Zagan?"
His eyes darted around the darkness. There was no one in sight.
"Who's there? Show yourself!"
Silence followed. Then, the world shifted.
The ground beneath him dissolved, and before he could react, he was no longer standing at the cliff. The night melted into another place.
[Scene: The Shadow Garden]
Zagan found himself in a strange realm.
The sky was a swirling void of violet and crimson. Ash-like petals floated gently in the air. Trees twisted unnaturally, bearing no leaves, only broken blossoms that wept blood. It was hauntingly beautiful. And terribly wrong.
At the center, upon a throne made of bone-white thorns and fractured stone, sat a girl.
Or what looked like a girl.
Long, violet hair fell across her face. She wore a dress of pale silk laced with crimson veins, flowing as if underwater. One eye glowed softly pink, innocent and mournful. The other—black as a dying star—burned with something ancient.
"You..." Zagan murmured, his voice catching.
She stood, her bare feet making no sound on the cracked stone.
"I was wondering when you'd finally come to me," she said, tilting her head. "You saw my name. You felt the echo."
"You're Serena?" he asked, instinctively reaching for his blade.
The girl smiled—sadly. "I was once called that. But names are fragile. The gods tore mine in two. This..." She gestured to herself. "...is what remained."
Zagan's brow furrowed.
"Then you're not Serena. You're—what? A memory? A ghost?"
"A shadow," she said gently. "The grief that lingered when her light was taken. I am the half the world buried. The half Vinam never let go."
His heart pounded. "You're the voice he hears. The one in the cave. You're the reason his magic is changing."
Her smile deepened, but it was cold now.
"I didn't change him. I simply reminded him what was lost. Love becomes anger when no one listens."
Zagan stepped forward. The air thickened with each step.
"You're manipulating him. Feeding on his guilt. On his sorrow. He thinks he's protecting someone—but it's you, isn't it? The dark half."
She didn't flinch. In fact, she stepped closer too.
"Do you know what it's like to be forgotten by time? To have the gods split your soul and cast half of it into silence?" Her voice broke slightly, the pink glow in her eye shimmering. "He never forgot. That's why he hears me. That's why I live."
Behind her, illusions began to shimmer in the air. A mural-like scene unfolded.
A young man stood alone, his arms wrapped around a broken girl. His screams tore through a sky full of divine fire. The ground cracked beneath him. Two swords glowed—one blue as the heavens, the other red as a dying sun.
Zagan stared.
"Heavenbloom... Ruinbloom..."
"Both born of me," she said, almost tenderly. "One forged in our love. The other... from what was taken."
Zagan's voice was cold now.
"Then you're the reason he's falling apart."
She turned to him sharply.
"No," she said. "The reason is the world that broke us. I am only the voice reminding him of what they did. What they took."
Zagan stepped back.
"He doesn't need you. He needs to heal. To remember who he is."
She froze.
For the first time, her voice trembled.
"You think I don't want that too? You think I asked to become this?"
She turned away, arms folded, voice small.
"He was supposed to save me. And I—him. But the gods... they tore us like paper. They made him a weapon, and me... a whisper."
Zagan's eyes softened, just for a second.
"Then help him let you go. If you really loved him—"
"Don't." Her voice snapped like a whip.
The garden shook. The blossoms rotted in an instant. Her form blurred, pulsing with a shadow deeper than night.
"If he lets go," she whispered, stepping toward him again, "I vanish. Forever."
Her face was inches from his now.
"Would you erase someone who loved you that deeply?"
Zagan didn't respond.
He couldn't.
[Scene: Memory Surge]
Suddenly, he was no longer in the garden.
He stood on a battlefield, wind screaming across broken towers. Vinam knelt in the rubble, holding a lifeless body.
The girl's hand trembled in his.
"Serena," Vinam whispered.
She smiled, weak.
"Even if I vanish," she said, barely audible, "don't forget me."
Then the divine magic split her. A burst of light. And then—darkness.
Zagan collapsed.
[Scene: Return to Reality]
He woke gasping by the cold firepit.
Sweat clung to his back. The stars above looked different now—dimmer. The name echoed again.
"Serena..."
He picked up his notebook with shaking hands.
He wrote:
Serena is split.
Heavenbloom reflects her love.
Ruinbloom—her grief.
Vinam is between them.
And he's losing himself.
He paused.
Then underlined a final thought:
If she pulls him too far… he won't come back.
[Scene: Elsewhere – Vinam]
Vinam stood near a silent lake, eyes shut, his blade resting beside him. The moonlight touched only one half of his face.
"Why won't you leave me?" he whispered.
The voice answered, soft, like it always did.
"Because you never asked me to."
His fingers tightened around the hilt.
He didn't cry.
But the reflection in the water showed two shadows—his... and hers.
END OF CHAPTER 12