The night had always been his ally. Her refuge.
But lately... she felt watched. As if something older than time was breathing between the cracks of the world, following him.
Kael would wake up in a cold sweat, with no dreams to remember, but with the certainty that he was not alone. Not in his mind. Not in his body. Not in the world.
The group of Hunters had accepted him, but even they noticed something strange.
-You have that look," Crow said one night as they were sharpening blades. Like you hear voices no one else hears.
Kael did not answer. Because it was true.
Sometimes, in the silence... he heard a whisper. A faceless voice speaking in a forgotten language.
It was not threat. It was promise.
"Wake up."
"Remember."
"Reclaim."
At first he thought they were echoes of his past. But no...this was different. This wasn't coming from inside.
It was something outside.
It was during a mission in the ruins of a submerged city that he felt it most strongly.
The team was descending among broken columns and structures corroded by time. Something was moving under the black water. Something that shouldn't be alive.
But when it appeared - a skinless, multi-eyed creature - it wasn't that that made him shiver. It was the figure behind it... watching him from afar.
A silhouette. Tall. Human. But not alive.
Kael froze. The world around him became a blur. Time slowed down. And in his mind, a word emerged like a roar.
"You again."
It was as if two presences collided inside him. As if something familiar and inhuman activated in his blood. The figure's eyes glowed red... and Kael felt something inside him react. As if he knew him. As if they shared an ancient bond.
When he tried to move, the figure was gone.
The monster fell soon after, thanks to the Hunters. But Kael barely noticed. His mind was elsewhere. On that encounter that wasn't an encounter.
-What did you see down there? -Rota asked.
-Nothing," he lied.
But he knew the truth.
Someone was looking for him. Not to kill him.
But to see him wake up.
He was no ordinary enemy. It wasn't a god. It was something more personal. More intimate.
It was a distorted reflection of what Kael could become if he lost what little humanity he had left.
A shadow enemy...
Waiting for the monster inside Kael to finally open its eyes.