Ren's eyes snapped open. He was back in his bed, the familiar contours of his apartment surrounding him. But the memory of his death was vivid, horrifyingly real. He could still feel the cold emptiness in his chest, the chilling finality of his demise. He sat up, his body slick with a cold sweat, the sheets tangled around his legs.
He remembered the crimson moon, The Fallen (Vorlag)'s words, and then... nothing. How was he alive? He should be dead.
As he tried to make sense of the impossible, the vivid images of Kael's battle against Vorlag flooded his mind. It wasn't a memory, it was a vision. He saw the two warriors clash in a desperate dance of light and darkness, their powers reshaping the very fabric of reality. He felt Kael's desperation, his unwavering resolve.
Suddenly, the vision intensified. A blinding surge of dark energy erupted from Vorlag, and a shockwave of force slammed into Kael. Ren felt the impact as if it were his own, the pain searing through his mind. Then, a chaotic tear in reality opened beneath Kael, and the warrior was swallowed by the swirling vortex.
Ren gasped, his breath catching in his throat. He threw the covers off and stumbled out of bed, his legs shaky and unsteady. He had to get out of this room, away from the lingering echoes of death and destruction.
He made his way to the living room, his heart pounding with a growing sense of dread. What he saw there defied all logic and reason.
Lying on the floor, amidst a pool of his own blood, was Kael. His dark-red assassin robes were shredded, revealing grievous wounds across his chest and abdomen. His skin was deathly pale, and his breathing was shallow and ragged. It was clear he was on the verge of death.
But it wasn't just his injuries that shocked Ren. It was his face. Kael's head was partially covered by his robe, but as Ren moved closer, he saw it clearly. It was like looking into a mirror. Every feature, every line, every detail was identical to his own. It was as if his own reflection had somehow become a separate, living being.
Ren recoiled in horror, a silent scream trapped in his throat. He stumbled backward, his mind reeling from the impossible sight.
Kael's eyes flickered open, his gaze locking onto Ren's. Even in his dying state, there was a fierce intensity in those eyes, an echo of the warrior he had been. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he tried to speak.
"The... the paper..." he rasped, his voice a barely audible whisper. He gestured weakly with a trembling hand towards Ren's desk. "... under... drawer... blood..."
Ren, still paralyzed by shock and fear, could only stare.
Kael's gaze intensified, focusing all his remaining strength. "... Aetherium Core… Void Optics… given…"
The words were fragmented, barely comprehensible, but Ren understood the urgency in Kael's tone.
Ren finally found his voice, his fear momentarily pushed aside by a desperate need to understand. "Who are you? What's happening to me?"
Kael's lips twitched, a faint smile of grim satisfaction. "A part of you... a part of the light that refuses to die. I am what remains of Kael. The Last Light."
"But... but you look like me," Ren stammered, his mind struggling to process the impossible reality.
Kael coughed, a weak, rattling sound. "The Fallen... he sought the Core... to reshape... to corrupt. I tried to stop him. Failed."
Despite the pain that contorted his face, Kael's eyes burned with a fierce determination. "You have to understand, there is a power within you now. The Aetherium Core... it sustains your very being, it is what makes you... you. And the Void Optics... they are not eyes, not as you understand them. They allow you to perceive... to see beyond the veil."
Ren's hand instinctively went to his chest, where he could feel a faint, rhythmic pulse beneath his skin, something that had not been there before. He then blinked, his vision feeling...sharper, somehow, more vibrant.
"I don't understand," Ren whispered, his voice trembling. "How... why?"
Kael's breath hitched, each one a battle. "When you died... I couldn't let the Core fall into his hands. I... I anchored it to your life force, bound it to you. And... to ensure your survival, I gave you a part of myself..."
He paused, his gaze unwavering. "Do not mourn me, Ren. I have lived a thousand lifetimes, fought a thousand battles. This... this is but the final step in a long journey. The light... it will not be extinguished. It will live on... in you."
Kael's voice softened, becoming a whisper. "Find the answers... in the pages I left for you. And when you are ready... when the time is right... I will see you again. In another dimension."
With a final, shuddering breath, Kael's eyes closed, and his body went still. The room fell silent, the only sound the soft, rhythmic dripping of blood.
Ren stood frozen, staring at the body of his mirror image. The words "Aetherium Core" and "Void Optics" echoed in his mind, mingling with the lingering horror of his own death. He didn't know what it meant, but he knew, with a chilling certainty, that his life had just changed forever.
A wave of nausea washed over him, a delayed reaction to the sheer impossibility of what had transpired. His heart raced, a frantic drumbeat against the silence. He felt a cold sweat clinging to his skin, the remnants of the terror that had gripped him.
What in God's name is happening to me?
His mind screamed the question, a desperate plea for an explanation in a world that had suddenly turned upside down. One moment, he was living a mundane life, his biggest concern being deadlines at work and the rising cost of rent. The next, he was dying, being reborn, and confronted by his own doppelganger, who spoke of other dimensions and mystical powers.
Ren's breath hitched, a sob caught in his throat. He was alone. Utterly, terrifyingly alone. His life, as he knew it, had been ripped away, replaced by a terrifying new reality he didn't understand and wasn't prepared to face. He had to get out of there.
With a shaky hand, Ren reached out and touched Kael's cold face. The skin was smooth, almost ethereal, and the resemblance to his own features was uncanny. It was like touching a ghost, a phantom of himself.
He recoiled, pulling his hand back as if burned. The reality of Kael's words crashed down on him, a crushing weight of responsibility and fear. He was a part of Ren now, and Ren was a part of him. He had to know more.
His legs trembling, Ren turned towards the desk. Kael's words echoed in his mind, a faint whisper guiding him through the fog of his confusion. "... the paper... under... drawer... blood..."
Slowly, hesitantly, he approached the desk. His eyes scanned the polished surface, searching for any sign of the message Kael had mentioned. Finally, he saw it. A small, almost imperceptible stain on the edge of the top drawer. It was blood, dried and darkened, but unmistakably blood.
With a deep breath, Ren pulled open the drawer. Inside, amidst a jumble of old receipts and forgotten pens, was a single, folded piece of parchment. It was stained with blood, mirroring the mark on the desk, as if it were a map leading him to a hidden truth.
His hands shaking, Ren unfolded the parchment. The script was elegant and flowing, written in a language that seemed both familiar and alien at the same time. As he began to read, the words seemed to resonate within his mind, bypassing his eyes and imprinting directly onto his consciousness.
Date: Tenth Day of the Crimson Moon, in the year of the Shattered Sky
Time: Third Hour After Dusk
Location: Ruins of Old Kyoto, Sector 7
Ren Ishida,
If you're reading this, then I've already failed...but you haven't.
You're confused. You should be. Let me explain...before the pieces fall apart. You were supposed to die tonight.
But using the last fragments of the Aetherium Core, I shielded your existence — just barely.
You are the last thread left untouched. I fought the Fallen here, in your timeline, right after he struck you down.
I wounded him — badly — but he escaped again. Barely alive. Don't celebrate.
He will heal... in another dimension... if you don't act soon.
You must find the remnants of the Aetherium Core scattered across the dimensional layers. Destroy them all. If even one remains intact, he will rebuild the Rift.
And then... not just this world — but all worlds — will collapse into one under his control. This is the mission I failed. This is the mission you inherit.
Before I died, I gave you something more. My left eye — my "Void Optics."
It's not magic. It's a resonance. It will let you see and feel dimensional tears, detect lies in the fabric of time, and touch threads of destiny others cannot even imagine.
But it comes with a cost. Everything you see from now on... you will never unsee. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I left you no choice.
Be stronger than me.
The Last Light
The weight of Kael's words, the image of his dying body, and the sheer impossibility of the situation crashed down on Ren, leaving him feeling fractured and disoriented. He was a mess of conflicting emotions: fear, confusion, a raw sense of loss, and a strange, unwelcome sense of purpose. He felt like a puppet whose strings had been cut, left to dangle in a world that suddenly made no sense.
Sleep was out of the question. Every time he closed his eyes, he was assaulted by images of Kael's face, the crimson moon, and the swirling vortex of the dimensional rift. The silence of his apartment, once a comfort, now amplified the chaos in his mind.
Ren knew he couldn't stay here. He needed to move, to do something, anything, to try and make sense of the nightmare he'd been thrust into. He decided to take a day off from work. It felt surreal to even think about work at a time like this, but the mundane act of sending an email offered a small, grounding sense of normalcy.
He composed a brief message to his coworker, Maya:
Subject: Taking a day off
Hey Maya,
I'm not feeling well today, so I'm going to take a day off. I won't be able to come in. I'll check my emails later, but don't expect me to be responsive. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Best,
Ren
The simple act of writing the email, of lying about being sick, felt strange and detached, as if he were observing someone else's life. With the email sent, Ren felt a hollow sense of purpose. He had to deal with Kael's body. The thought of leaving him there, on his living room floor, was unbearable.
Ren decided to take Kael's body to the hospital. He knew, logically, that Kael was dead. He had seen him die. But some irrational part of him clung to the hope that maybe, just maybe, there was some explanation, some way to make sense of this.
It was a grim and surreal journey. Ren, still in shock, managed to get Kael's body into his car. He drove through the city as if in a daze, the rising sun painting the sky with colors that seemed jarringly vibrant compared to the darkness of his thoughts.
At the hospital, he was met with a mixture of confusion and concern. He tried to explain, but the words felt clumsy and inadequate. How could he explain that the dead man in his car was his identical twin from another dimension? He settled for saying it was a family member who had died suddenly.
As he was talking to the hospital staff, an old woman with piercing blue eyes approached him. Her gaze was intense, almost accusatory.
"Are you blind in one eye, young man?" she asked, her voice raspy and strangely knowing. "Or did something happen? Some... incident? Where you lost your brother? Your twin?"
Ren froze, his heart pounding in his chest. The woman's words struck him like a physical blow. How could she know? He stared at her, speechless.
The old woman's eyes softened slightly, but her gaze remained fixed on him. "You survived, but he didn't. I can see it in your eyes. The light... it's different now."
Ren, still reeling from the day's events, could only manage a weak response. "I... I'm fine," he stammered, his voice barely a whisper. He turned away from her, the woman's words echoing in his mind.
The encounter left him even more shaken. Was he losing his mind? Was this all a hallucination, a side effect of whatever had happened to him? He completed the necessary procedures, his mind numb and detached.
He took Kael's body from the hospital, intending to take him to a graveyard. He didn't know why, but it felt like the only respectful thing to do. But as he drove, a strange energy began to fill the car. A faint humming sound grew louder, and the air around Kael's body shimmered and distorted.
Ren watched in disbelief as Kael's body began to disintegrate, as if turning to dust. The dark-red robes dissolved first, then the flesh and bone, until there was nothing left but a fine, shimmering powder that swirled in the air for a moment before vanishing completely.
Ren slammed on the brakes, pulling the car over to the side of the road. He stared at the empty space where Kael's body had been, his mind blank with shock. It was as if Kael had never existed, as if the entire day had been a bizarre dream.
But it wasn't a dream. The bloodstains in his apartment, the words of the letter, the lingering sense of loss – they were all too real. Kael was gone, and Ren was left alone with a mission he didn't understand and powers he didn't want.