Not all wounds bleed. Some bloom in silence, unseen… until they rot what matters most.
"The bravest soldiers never cry out.
Their silence is not strength…
It's sacrifice."
— Whispered in the Dream-Curse Realms by the Weeping Knight
I.
She hadn't smiled in days.
Kammy the Dreamblade — born in storms, sculpted by scar and blade — had fought gods, dueled death, and walked barefoot through flame.
But this silence wasn't peace.
It was poison.
Something had followed her out of the Hollow Sea.
Something that didn't belong to her.
II.
It began as whispers.
Soft. Gentle. Familiar.
"You're the shadow in his flame…"
"He doesn't need you anymore…"
"What have you done that he couldn't do alone?"
She ignored them.
At first.
But soon they weren't just whispers.
They were visions.
She saw herself alone — wandering a burned world, Reginal's name scrawled into every tombstone.
And always… always… a reflection in every mirror, looking back at her with eyes not her own.
III.
She bled one morning from her mouth.
No wound. No bruise.
Just blood.
Milo noticed, said nothing.
But he started sleeping at her door again.
Like he used to… before they became warriors.
IV.
That night, Kammy entered the dreamscape herself.
Not dragged.
Volunteering.
She stood on a cliff of memories — every decision she'd ever made stacked like bones.
The sky was cracked mirror. The sea below was made of every tear she'd never cried.
And standing there, wrapped in her own silhouette, was a version of her.
Beautiful.
Perfect.
Empty.
"I am what he wants," it said.
"I don't break. I don't feel. I don't ask for him to look back."
"You're not real."
"No. But neither are you. Not anymore. You're what's left. A shard of love in a world that demands war."
Kammy did not scream.
She walked forward.
And stabbed herself.
V.
She woke up in Reginal's arms, shaking, eyes wide.
"Kam—?"
"Don't say it," she whispered.
"You're bleeding."
"I know. I chose to bleed."
Reginal looked at her — really looked — and saw, perhaps for the first time since Soltharyn, that she wasn't his sword.
She was the reason his blade didn't turn inward.
"You keep holding the line for me," he said.
"Someone has to," Kammy said. "You're the one who always runs toward fire. Someone has to stand in the ashes and remind you what's still worth saving."
VI.
That night, the dream didn't come.
And in its place…
Was silence.
Not poison.
Not pain.
But peace.
The first peace Kammy had known in years.
END SIDE CHAPTER.
The Dreamblade holds her line. Even in the dark.
Next: Chapter XVI – "The Spell That Unnames"
The Silent Circle makes its move. A spell that devours memory is unleashed upon the Emberborn — and Reginal must choose: protect the past, or wield it as a weapon.