The Man who no longer WAS

The air inside the farmhouse was thick with silence, yet every molecule in the room vibrated with unseen energy. Anna's breath came slow and controlled, but her heartbeat was erratic, thudding against her ribs like a caged animal.

Across from her, Ethan stood.

No—not Ethan.

Not Lioris.

Not the Hollow King's tether.

Something else.

The flickering candlelight cast deep shadows on his face, emphasizing the sharp cut of his cheekbones, the unreadable expression in his midnight-black eyes. Gone was the turmoil, the hesitation, the war within himself.

What stood before her was a man entirely reconstructed.

Anna swallowed hard, fingers itching toward the dagger at her side. "Ethan," she said carefully, testing his reaction.

He smiled.

It was not Ethan's familiar smirk, not Lioris's quiet amusement. It was something calculated, deliberate—a predator indulging in a private joke.

"You keep calling me that."

His voice was the same, but there was a subtle shift, an undercurrent of something older, deeper threading through his tone.

Anna took a slow step forward, wary. "Isn't that who you are?"

Ethan tilted his head slightly, considering her words as though he hadn't yet decided for himself. His gaze flickered down to his own hands, flexing his fingers like he was testing how they felt.

Then, he let out a soft chuckle.

"I don't think so."

The answer shouldn't have hurt as much as it did.

Anna kept her face impassive, but inside, something twisted—a sense of loss so profound it nearly took her breath away.

"Ethan," she said again, quieter this time, forcing herself to hold his gaze. "What... do you remember?"

His expression didn't shift. If anything, the faint smirk remained, almost like he was humoring her. "Everything," he admitted. "And nothing at all."

Her fingers curled into a fist.

That meant Victoria was still in there somewhere. Lioris was still in there somewhere.

But they were no longer separate, no longer at war.

They had been... rewritten.

Anna's throat felt dry. "Then tell me—who are you?"

Ethan exhaled slowly, his smirk fading into something unreadable. Then, after a long, considering pause, he said:

"I suppose I'll have to find out."

The words sent a chill through her spine.

The Ethan she had known would have fought tooth and nail to define himself, to reclaim what was his.

This version of him?

This version sounded like he didn't care who he had been anymore.

Victoria's Realm

The moment the bond had snapped, Victoria had felt it—a shift so violent that even the very fabric of the dark world trembled.

And for the first time in centuries, she felt something foreign slither through her.

Not anger. Not frustration.

Something dangerously close to uncertainty.

She stood in the ruins of her crumbling throne room, staring into the swirling abyss where Ethan's connection to her had once been unshakable. It was still there, faint but fundamentally changed.

He was no longer hers.

Not Anna's either.

She curled her nails into her palm, drawing blood. "Clever boy," she murmured, lips pressing into a thin line.

But it wasn't over.

Not yet.

Victoria had spent lifetimes manipulating power, bending the world to her will. One severed bond was an inconvenience, not an ending.

She just needed to understand what he had become—and how to reclaim him.

Slowly, she smiled. "Very well, Ethan," she whispered to the shadows. "Let's see what you're capable of now."

The Farmhouse: The First Test

Anna's mind raced.

She had planned for so many possibilities—Ethan losing himself to Victoria, Ethan remembering his past life, Ethan needing to be physically restrained.

But this?

This was something else entirely.

Ethan's gaze flickered toward her, sharp as a blade. "You're staring," he remarked, his voice laced with amusement.

"You're different," she countered.

"Am I?"

Anna didn't let him bait her. "Yes."

Ethan exhaled, stretching his arms as though testing the way his body felt. His movements were precise, controlled—too controlled.

"You think I've changed," he mused. "But maybe I've just become who I was always meant to be."

Anna's stomach twisted. That was exactly what she had feared.

Then—before she could react—Ethan moved.

A blur of motion.

Too fast.

The next thing she knew, her back slammed against the farmhouse wall, her breath leaving her in a sharp gasp. Ethan's arm was pressed against her throat, his body pinning hers in place.

Not hurting her.

But testing her.

Her dagger was still at her waist, but his free hand had already closed around her wrist, keeping it locked in place.

The air crackled between them.

"You still flinch," he observed, his breath warm against her skin. "That's interesting."

Anna forced herself to remain still. Not to react. Not to show weakness.

"Is this supposed to scare me?" she asked, voice steady despite the pounding in her chest.

Ethan smiled, tilting his head slightly. "No," he murmured. "It's supposed to remind you that I don't belong to you either."

Something inside her snapped.

With a sharp, calculated twist, Anna wrenched her wrist free and used the momentum to slam her knee upward. Ethan anticipated it—but not fast enough.

Her leg connected with his ribs. He grunted, stepping back just enough for her to drive her elbow into his jaw.

The impact sent him stumbling backward, his smirk vanishing for just a split second.

Then—he laughed.

Low. Quiet. Almost genuine.

Anna didn't lower her stance. "You're testing me," she accused.

Ethan wiped a drop of blood from the corner of his mouth, then licked it from his thumb. "Wouldn't you?"

Anna's grip on her dagger tightened. "You're playing a dangerous game."

Ethan's gaze flickered with something dark. "I always have been."

The Uncertain Future

That night, Anna stayed awake, watching the fire flicker in the dimly lit farmhouse.

Ethan sat across from her, stretching his legs out like he hadn't just shattered the very fabric of their reality hours ago.

She studied him—the way his fingers tapped against his knee, the way his gaze flickered between her and the flames as if he was measuring both her and himself.

She didn't know what he was anymore.

And she didn't think he knew either.

But one thing was certain.

Ethan Ward—Lioris—whoever he had become—was no longer just a pawn in this war.

He had become something new.

Something neither Anna nor Victoria could control.

And that terrified her more than anything else.