A False Peace

Kael's Reawakening – Beyond Existence

Kael's eyes snapped open—but he had no body to anchor him. No flesh, no breath. He existed in a void, a paradox of awareness without form. Warmth surrounded him, yet he had no skin to feel it. He tried to inhale, to scream, but there were no lungs, no voice—only the suffocating sensation of being and not being.

Then, like a thread snapping into place in a grand cosmic loom, reality corrected itself.

A jolt ripped through the nothingness.

And suddenly—he was.

Kael gasped, his chest heaving as air flooded lungs that hadn't existed a moment ago. His hands shot to his head, trembling fingers grasping dark hair. The ground beneath him solidified—cold, cracked ice. He collapsed to his knees, breath ragged and uneven.

"…Wha—?"

He looked up. His vision swam before settling on a figure standing over him.

Ethan.