The air inside the temple shifted.
It wasn't just cold, it was alive.
Leira's breath came shallow, the faint echo of that voice still crawling under her skin. Kael moved a step closer, the edge of his blade catching the weak torchlight. The shadows quivered as if they too were afraid to breathe.
Then the whisper came again.
Low. Deliberate. Mocking.
"You found me, Sissy."
Leira froze. Every muscle in her body went rigid. That voice was too close. Too familiar.
Her lips parted. "No…"
From the far side of the room, light bent inward, warping, twisting, until a figure stepped out from the distortion. Bare feet. A simple white dress streaked with shadow. The same soft hair. The same small frame.
But the eyes… those weren't her sister's. They were black, endless, bleeding with something ancient and wrong.
Kael drew in a sharp breath. "That's not her."
Leira barely heard him. Her heart thundered so loudly it drowned everything else out.
The figure tilted her head, smiling just slightly, the way her sister once did when she wanted Leira's attention.
"You said you'd always find me," the girl whispered. "And you did. Just in time to kill me again."
Leira stumbled backward, shaking her head. "You're… you're not real. You're not her."
The figure's smile deepened, cracking into something cruel.
"Oh, but you made me real, didn't you? With your light… with your guilt. You burned them all for me. You killed… for me."
Kael stepped between them, blade raised. "Get behind me."
"No, I…I can handle it," Leira said, her voice trembling.
"You're hesitating," he muttered, never looking away from the shadow. "That thing feeds on your weakness. It wants your doubt."
The shadow's head twitched, eyes glinting with cold amusement.
"Still protecting her, Kael?" it hissed. "Just like before. How noble. How pointless."
It moved faster than thought, darkness slamming into Kael and sending him flying backward. His sword clattered against the stone. Leira gasped and ran toward him, but the shadow was already there, standing in the way of her helping Kael.
"Don't you want to finish what you started?"
Leira's palms sparked with light, unstable…uncontrollable. She feared losing control and hurting her sister. She thrust her hand forward, sending a weak burst that knocked the shadow back into the wall. The temple shook, dust raining from the ceiling.
Kael coughed, forcing himself up. "You can't hold back, Leira. Not this time."
Her hands trembled. "I can't lose control again! If I use too much…"
"You can't let it win, Leira," Kael snapped. "You're not killing your sister. You're destroying something evil that disrespects her memory by wearing her face."
The shadow laughed, a haunting, broken sound.
"He doesn't know, does he? What you said to me before you killed me? How you begged me not to leave you? How you promised you'd always find me?"
Leira's breath hitched. The sound of her sister's voice saying those words cracked something inside her.
"Stop it."
"You lied, Sissy. You killed me because you wanted to get rid of me. You took your own sister's soul"
"Stop!"
Kael lunged again, sword ignited with light, but the shadow met him blow for blow, its darkness searing through his armor. Sparks of light clashed against black flame. The ground fractured beneath them.
Leira pressed her hands to her temples. The whispers were everywhere now, dozens of them, whispering her name, echoing her guilt.
"You destroyed everything! You are weak! You…are a… murderer."
Her eyes snapped open. Enough.
She lifted both hands, light blazing from her palms like twin suns. Kael barely had time to step aside as she let the power surge through her uncontrollably.
"Get away from me!" she screamed.
The wave of light struck the shadow full on. It screamed, a sound that split the air; half rage, half pain, half her sister's voice.
"You'll never be free of me!"
Leira's tears streamed down her face as she pushed even harder, every nerve in her body screaming. "You're not her!"
The shadow cracked like glass, lines of light tearing through its form until it shattered into nothing.
Leira dropped to her knees, light fading from her hands, chest heaving. The world swayed around her. The smell of burned stone and lightning filled the air.
Kael was there in an instant. He tossed his sword aside, crouched in front of her, and reached out, hesitant at first, then certain. He brushed a strand of hair away from her face, his fingertips trailing against her cheek.
"Hey," he murmured, his voice low, rough. "Look at me."
She did. Her eyes were glassy, red from tears.
"I killed her again," she whispered. "I killed my own sister… again."
Kael shook his head slowly, his thumb still against her skin. "No. You saved her. She was poisoned and you saved her Leira. That's what you did."
Her breath trembled. "Then why does it hurt so much?"
He didn't answer. He just looked at her, longer than he should have. The kind of gaze that held too much history, too many things unsaid.
His hand slid to the back of her neck, steadying her. She didn't pull away. Their foreheads nearly touched, their lips close enough that her pulse jumped.
"Kael…" she whispered, barely a breath.
He leaned in… slowly, as if giving her time to stop him. She didn't. The air between them grew hot, charged. Her eyes flicked to his mouth, then back to his eyes.
Their lips were a whisper apart when…
The ground trembled violently.
A low rumble rolled through the temple, growing into a roar. The walls cracked, light flickering madly.
Kael's head snapped toward the corridor. "They're coming."
Leira blinked, dazed, still half lost in him. "Who?"
"The shadows," he said, grabbing his sword and her hand in one swift motion. "You woke all of them up and now they know where you are."
Leira's pulse raced as the darkness in the hall began to move, crawling toward them like smoke.
She tightened her grip on his hand. "Where are we going now?"
Kael's lips curved into a faint, dangerous smile. "I think it's time we start fighting back, don't you?"
Leira's lips curved, a spark of defiance breaking through the fear. She nodded once.
The temple walls groaned again. The darkness surged forward.
And this time, Leira didn't hesitate.