Chapter 26: Anomaly 2

I opened my eyes to darkness.

The pain greeted me like an old friend—sharp, pulsing, alive in every inch of my body.

I was still breathing. Still bleeding. Still… here.

I should've died.

That fire—it wasn't normal. It tore through me like it wanted to consume everything. For a moment, I thought that was it. That I'd be reduced to ash and silence. But no. I was still whole. Bruised, battered, burnt… but alive.

My side was still bleeding. My right arm hung uselessly, numb and limp.

Every breath felt like a knife dragging through my ribs. But I forced myself to sit up, teeth clenched, body trembling.

Pain reminded me I was alive.

I looked around, trying to make sense of the dark expanse I had crawled into… and then I felt it.

A presence.

Heavy. Suffocating. Watching me.

I turned—and my breath froze.

Two enormous, glowing crimson eyes stared back at me from the shadows.

Eyes so deep, so ancient, they seemed to swallow the darkness itself. Eyes that looked not at my face—but through me.

Peering past flesh, past bone, into the very core of my being.

They weren't just watching.

They were dissecting me.

Uncovering secrets I didn't know I had.

There was no warmth in them. No hatred. No curiosity.

Just cold, absolute judgment.

And now—I was standing before it.

Exposed. Powerless.

Awaiting its verdict.

"Human."

A voice rumbled through the darkness—so deep, so ancient, it didn't echo; it reverberated through the very air, bending it to its will.

The void itself stirred at its command.

Even the mana around us churned violently, then went still… as if it bowed to the speaker.

I couldn't tell where the voice came from. It was everywhere. Within me. Beyond me.

But I knew—that thing was now speaking to me.

"Who are you?"

My whole body trembled. My skin crawled.

I tried to answer—but my voice caught in my throat.

I couldn't move my mouth. I couldn't even breathe.

My body wasn't mine anymore.

The eyes narrowed—watching me, judging me. Then, they blinked once.

And just like that—whatever unseen force was binding me vanished.

The crushing weight lifted.

I gasped for air, collapsing forward, now in control of my limbs once more.

Then the voice spoke again—quieter, but no less terrifying.

"Now… tell me.

Who are you?"

"I... I am Kael Thorne," I said, my voice trembling as I stared into those colossal, blood-red eyes.

They didn't blink.

Didn't shift.

Just stared—deep into me.

"No."

The voice cracked like thunder across the void, shaking something deep in my chest.

"I did not ask for your name."

The air grew heavier again.

"I asked... what kind of existence you are."

My breath caught. My thoughts reeled.

"What... kind of existence?"

What the hell did that even mean?

Then the voice boomed again—colder now, more precise.

"You are an anomaly. An irregularity in the weave of existence itself.

A being that should not be."

My heart pounded.

My mind raced to keep up.

Was it talking about my reincarnation?

Was this... thing aware that I wasn't originally from this world?

"I don't... I don't understand," I managed, barely able to suppress the quiver in my voice.

"What are you talking about?"

The eyes narrowed slightly. Not in anger. In scrutiny.

They weren't just looking at me anymore—they were looking through me.

Piercing through the layers of flesh, bone, and thought... into something deeper.

My soul.

I felt exposed.

Then came the truth.

"You are an anomaly—

a vessel bearing two souls within one shell.

Two opposing forces... coexisting in a single body.

A contradiction. A paradox.

An existence that violates the laws of nature itself."

My blood ran cold.

Two souls?

Two... forces?

I couldn't breathe.

Couldn't think.

Two souls… in one body.

The words echoed inside my skull like a curse.

Wait… what?

Does that mean… the original Kael's soul is still inside me?

Still trapped in this body?

That shouldn't be possible.

When someone dies, their soul is supposed to leave—right?

That's what death is. The separation of soul from flesh.

That's what I thought happened.

Kael Thorne died.

I—I—took over his body.

End of story.

Or so I believed.

But now…

Now I'm not so sure.

What if Kael didn't die?

What if his soul was still here—dormant, chained, watching?

And worse… what if I never questioned it because I wanted to believe he was gone?

My heart thundered. My breath came shallow.

The pieces didn't fit together anymore.

In the original story… Kael never died.

He disappeared. Branded a villain. Cast into the abyss.

But nowhere—nowhere—did it say he actually died.

So why did I assume he did?

Was it just wishful thinking?

Or… a lie I told myself to feel less guilty?

I gritted my teeth, nausea crawling up my throat.

What even is a soul?

A spirit? A spark of will?

A memory? A consciousness?

And if two souls exist in this body…

Which one of us is in control?

Me?

Or Kael?

Or… something in between?

My thoughts spiraled. I couldn't breathe.

My mind was breaking under the weight of this truth.

Two souls. Two lives. One shell.

I wasn't just a foreigner in this world…

I might be a thief.

A trespasser sharing space with a ghost who never truly left.

I was still confused.

My thoughts were in chaos. My mind—a storm of questions and fear.

But the entity didn't care.

Its voice rang out again, deep and ancient, echoing through the void like the voice of the world itself.

"Now tell me… how are you still alive?"

Its tone wasn't angry.

It was curious. Intrigued.

Like a scholar dissecting a strange new species.

"A being like you—a puny human—should not exist. Not with two opposing forces housed in one fragile shell."

I blinked.

Two forces?

What was it talking about?

Mana and aura?

Before I could form the question, the entity spoke again, as if reading my mind.

"Your body contains two forces—opposite in nature, contradictory in essence."

"Normally, the moment they met… your body should have ruptured. Your soul should have shattered. You should have died."

Its tone dropped to a murmur, filled with something close to fascination.

"But you didn't. You survived."

"You endure."

"That alone… makes you interesting."

My heart pounded in my chest.

What forces?

What contradiction?

What exactly was I made of?

I didn't feel special. I felt like I was falling apart.

And yet this being—this ancient voice that made the very darkness kneel—was intrigued by me?

It didn't make sense.

But nothing had made sense since the day I woke up in this body.

You're building something powerful here — the mystery of Kael's body and soul is deepening, and it's starting to tie into the system, the Void Sovereign, and the protagonist.

"What opposite forces are you talking about?" I asked, my voice unsteady.

"Light and darkness," the entity said, with a calm certainty that chilled me.

I froze.

Light… and darkness?

That didn't make sense.

I frowned.

If I remembered the novel correctly, the only person who ever wielded the light affinity was the protagonist.

As for darkness… it was never mentioned. Not once.

Kael had no affinity. He only gained powers granted by the Void Sovereign—corrupted strength born of desperation.

So how…?

How could I possibly have both?

I looked down at my hands.

Was that why the system couldn't analyze my affinity?

No element had ever shown up. No result. Just silence.

Not because I had none.

But because I had both.

Two forces that were never meant to coexist.

"How is that even possible?" I asked, staring at the entity.

"As far as I know, a person can't contain two entirely opposite forces. It should be impossible."

The entity didn't blink.

"That's why I called you an anomaly," it said, its voice echoing in the silence.

"A being who shouldn't exist… who couldn't exist… and yet, here you are."

My chest tightened.

None of this made sense. Not the pain in my body, not the contradictions inside me, not even my survival.

"I believe it has to do with your soul," it continued.

I looked up sharply.

"My soul?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

The entity stepped closer, its presence heavy like gravity.

"You carry two souls within you," it said, as if stating a universal truth.

"Two souls... entirely different in nature. Opposites. One foreign, one native. One old, one new. And yet—they coexist."

Two souls.

Two natures.

That's how I still exist?

That's what I am?

A walking contradiction… a vessel of light and darkness bound by something as unstable as two warring souls?

"What the hell..." I muttered, breath shaky.

"What is this? I don't even know anymore..."

First, I was thrown into this damned world.

Now I was being told that the original Kael's soul might still be trapped inside this body…

And worse—

That I'm a contradiction.

A being that shouldn't exist.

"Fucking hell..." I hissed under my breath, my voice barely a whisper.

I looked up, and the eye was still watching me—

Cold, endless, and full of curiosity. Like it was studying a puzzle the world had never seen before.

I clenched my fists.

"If I really have two elements," I said, staring into that abyssal gaze, "then why the hell can't I use them?"

My voice was bitter—angry, even—but behind it was fear.

Light and Darkness.

If I remembered right… Light was the most powerful affinity—used by the chosen ones, the saviors, the protagonist himself.

And Darkness?

Darkness wasn't just rare. It was feared.

Whispered about in ancient records, considered cursed by the world itself.

And now… both lived inside me?

I felt cold. Not from outside—but from the war brewing inside me.

What the hell am I?