Chapter 5 – Shadows Between Us

🌑 Chains of Eternity

The crimson fog thinned as the group moved away from the carcass of the slain beast. Its twisted frame lay behind them, chains of Kael’s shadow still faintly coiled around its bones before finally fading into the dark. The silence that followed the battle was heavier than the fight itself—each survivor burdened with exhaustion, questions, and unspoken fears.

Kael lagged a few paces behind. He could feel the hunger gnawing again, weaker than before but relentless. The chains whispered, urging him to feed on the lingering essence of the battlefield. His palms twitched, fingers aching to summon them.

He clenched his jaw. Not now. Not in front of them.

The others walked in uneasy formation: Brann in front, his ruined shield strapped across his back; Seris at his side, blade never far from her grip; Eryndor stumbling slightly, but still grinning like the whole nightmare was some private joke; and Liora at the rear, hood drawn once more, her steps as measured and deliberate as her silence.

It didn’t take long before the questions came.

“Kael,” Seris said sharply, glancing back at him. “Those chains—what exactly are they?”

Kael hesitated. The truth felt dangerous, but lies would fall apart quickly in a place like this. “…I don’t know. They’ve been with me since I woke up here. They… feed. On things.”

Brann’s voice rumbled like distant thunder. “Feed? On what?”

Kael’s throat tightened. “…On life.”

That earned a long silence. Seris’s eyes narrowed. Eryndor only laughed.

“Well, isn’t that just charming,” Eryndor said, spinning his battered spear loosely in one hand. “You drain life, I stab things, Brann blocks, Liora makes fog do unnatural things. Perfect little dysfunctional family.”

Seris shot him a glare. “This isn’t a joke.”

“Oh, lighten up,” Eryndor grinned, though his lip was still split. “We’ve all got our curses. At least his is useful.”

Kael swallowed hard, unsure whether to thank him or fear how easily the man accepted it.

But it was Liora’s voice that broke the weight of silence. Low, calm, certain.

“He’s telling the truth.”

All eyes turned toward her. She didn’t look at them—her gaze stayed forward, hidden beneath her hood.

“That power… I’ve seen it before.”

Kael froze. “You’ve seen… chains like mine?”

Her head tilted slightly, just enough for the faint violet glow of her eyes to catch the crimson mist. “Not chains. But hunger. The nightmare doesn’t just devour. It creates things to devour for it. You, Kael… are one of its experiments.”

The words hit harder than any blow. His chest tightened, the whispers of the chains swelling, mocking. An experiment. A tool. Not even his own.

Seris’s blade hand twitched. “Then why keep him with us? If he’s bound to this place—”

“Because,” Liora interrupted, her voice steel beneath the calm, “the nightmare always tests its prey. If it gave him this curse, then it fears him as much as it controls him.”

That silenced even Seris.

Kael said nothing. He couldn’t.

---

They pressed onward until Brann finally called for a halt. They found a collapsed ruin half-buried in the fog, its jagged walls shielding them from sight. A fire flickered weakly in the center, smoke curling into the endless haze.

The group rested in silence. Brann cleaned his wounds. Seris sharpened her chipped blade. Eryndor hummed tunelessly as he poked at the fire with his spear.

Kael sat apart, staring at the chains that slithered faintly in the edges of his shadow. They pulsed with hunger, begging him to drain even the dying embers of the fog itself. He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened.

He couldn’t let them see him weaken. Not yet.

It was Seris who finally broke the stillness. “You fought well,” she admitted, voice clipped. “Without you, we’d be corpses right now. But understand this—we don’t know you. If your chains turn on us, I won’t hesitate.”

Kael met her gaze. There was no hatred there, only survival hardened into steel. He nodded. “Fair.”

Brann grunted his agreement, though softer. “Trust is earned. You’ve taken the first step. Don’t waste it.”

Eryndor smirked from across the fire. “I say we let the chains stay. Worst case, he eats us. Best case, he eats everything else first. Either way, it’ll be entertaining.”

Seris shot him another glare. He only laughed harder.

But Kael’s attention was on Liora. She had said little since her revelation, but her eyes—those faintly glowing eyes—never stopped studying him. He wanted to ask her what she knew, what she had seen, what he truly was. But the weight of her silence kept him still.

---

As the fire dimmed, Kael leaned back against the cracked stone wall, exhaustion dragging at him. For a fleeting moment, he let his eyes close. The hunger stirred.

And then, he saw it.

Chains, endless, stretching into the void. Each link dripping with shadows. They pulled at him, dragged him toward something immense, something watching.

A voice—distant, layered, inhuman—whispered.

“You cannot escape me.”

Kael’s eyes snapped open, sweat cold on his skin. The chains at his feet rattled once before going still.

Liora was watching him.

She said nothing. But in her silence, Kael felt the weight of a truth he wasn’t ready to face.

---

The group slept uneasily, though in this place, rest was fragile. Kael remained half-awake, the whisper still clawing at the back of his mind. The nightmare hadn’t forgotten him. It had marked him.

And though he now had companions, trust was fragile, suspicion lingering in every glance.

The shadows between them had only begun to stir.

☠️ End of Chapter 5