Darkness.
Not the ordinary darkness of night, nor the comforting dimness behind closed eyes. This darkness was endless, ancient, and breathing.
Enoch Okai Blackwood drifted through it weightlessly.
At first, he thought he was dead.
There was no ground beneath him, no sky above him, only a massive void stretching endlessly in every direction. Strange silver cracks floated across the darkness like broken mirrors suspended in space. Each crack pulsed faintly, revealing flashes of memories he didn't understand.
A burning forest.
A throne made of stone.
A pair of glowing eyes opening somewhere far away.
Then a voice echoed around him.
"You awaken faster than the others."
Enoch spun around.
The stranger stood several feet away, no longer hidden beneath the chapel's ruined shadows. The cloak still covered most of their form, but the darkness around them moved differently here—less chaotic, more alive.
"Where am I?" Enoch demanded.
The stranger looked upward at the floating cracks.
"Between memory and truth."
"That explains nothing."
"It explains enough."
Enoch clenched his fists. "You dragged me here!"
"No," the stranger replied calmly. "You opened the way yourself."
The void trembled faintly.
One of the silver cracks widened suddenly, revealing another vision. This time Enoch saw a massive ancient city beneath a black sky. Towers carved with glowing symbols stretched into the clouds. Thousands of shadow-like figures moved through the streets.
And at the center of the city—
A colossal figure chained beneath the earth.
Enoch staggered backward.
"What is that?"
The stranger's silence lasted too long.
Finally:
"The Fractured One."
The name sent cold terror through Enoch's body.
"No…" he whispered. "That thing isn't real."
"Oh, it is very real."
The crack sealed shut instantly.
Enoch's heartbeat quickened. "Why am I seeing this?"
"Because your bloodline was built to remember."
The stranger stepped closer now.
"Long ago, the world feared what could not die. So they broke it apart. They divided its essence into fragments and sealed those fragments into chosen bloodlines."
"The Blackwoods…" Enoch muttered.
"Yes."
Enoch stared at the stranger. "Then my family caused all this?"
"Your family helped contain it."
"That's not an answer!"
The void suddenly shook violently.
A deafening roar echoed somewhere in the distance.
Enoch froze.
The sound was enormous. Ancient. Angry.
And alive.
The stranger looked toward the darkness behind them.
"It knows you're awake now."
Before Enoch could ask what that meant, the void beneath him cracked open.
Hands burst upward from the darkness.
Shadowy hands.
Dozens of them.
They grabbed his legs instantly, pulling him downward.
Enoch shouted in panic, struggling violently as the hands dragged him toward the abyss.
"HELP ME!"
The stranger did not move.
Instead, they watched carefully.
"Fight it," they said calmly.
The hands tightened.
Enoch felt freezing pain surge through his body. The darkness climbing his skin felt almost liquid, spreading like black veins beneath flesh.
"I CAN'T—!"
"Yes, you can."
The roar echoed again.
Louder this time.
And suddenly, something inside Enoch responded.
A burst of silver light exploded from his chest.
The shadow hands disintegrated instantly.
The void trembled.
Enoch collapsed onto invisible ground, breathing hard.
The stranger finally moved closer.
"The Fragment defends itself."
Enoch looked at his shaking hands. Faint silver markings now glowed beneath his skin before fading again.
"What… what's happening to me?"
"You are becoming aware."
"That's not helping!"
For the first time, the stranger almost sounded amused.
"You seek simple answers for an impossible truth."
The silver cracks around them suddenly began multiplying rapidly.
One after another.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
And inside every crack—
Memories.
Enoch saw generations of Blackwoods throughout history. Some were warriors. Some scholars. Some priests. But every single one carried the same terrified expression eventually.
Because every single one had seen the Shadows.
"Your bloodline has always carried the burden," the stranger said quietly. "But none awakened as fully as you."
Enoch stared at the visions.
Then one memory made him freeze.
A younger Father Joseph stood beside Enoch's parents.
And they were arguing.
"They're lying…" Enoch whispered.
The stranger remained silent.
In the memory, Enoch's mother looked terrified.
"You promised the curse would end with us," she said.
Father Joseph looked younger, exhausted, desperate.
"I thought it would."
The memory shattered.
Enoch's chest tightened painfully.
"My parents knew…"
"Yes."
"And Father Joseph lied to me."
"He protected you."
"By hiding the truth?!"
The void shook again.
This time more violently.
The stranger turned sharply.
"It grows restless."
"What does?"
But before they could answer—
The darkness split open behind them.
A gigantic eye emerged.
Silver.
Unblinking.
Watching Enoch directly.
The pressure alone nearly crushed him.
Enoch fell to his knees instantly, unable to breathe.
The eye was impossibly huge, larger than buildings, floating within the darkness like a living moon.
And it recognized him.
The roar returned again, now deafening.
The stranger stepped in front of Enoch immediately.
"Do not look at it directly!"
But Enoch already had.
And in that moment—
Something entered his mind.
Not words.
Not images.
A feeling.
Loneliness.
Endless loneliness.
Then rage.
Ancient rage.
The eye narrowed.
And Enoch suddenly heard a voice inside his soul.
"You carry my missing piece."
Enoch screamed.
Back in the Chapel
Isaac held Enoch down as his body convulsed violently across the cracked chapel floor.
"Father Joseph, do something!"
Father Joseph stood over him, panic hidden beneath forced composure. Ancient symbols were drawn in glowing gold around Enoch's body, but the light flickered weakly.
"It's too strong…" the priest muttered.
The Shadows circled the chapel walls restlessly.
But something had changed.
Not all of them were hostile anymore.
Some remained near the stranger.
Others kept their distance from Enoch entirely.
As though they feared him.
Isaac noticed first.
"They're reacting to him…"
Father Joseph nodded grimly.
"Yes."
"What does that mean?"
The priest looked toward the unconscious boy.
"It means the Fragment is accepting him faster than expected."
Isaac swallowed hard. "And if it fully accepts him?"
Silence.
Then—
"He may stop being Enoch."
The words hit Isaac like ice.
"No."
Father Joseph looked exhausted now.
"You saw what happened in the chapel. The seal is weakening. If the Fragments reunite completely…"
He couldn't finish the sentence.
Because suddenly—
Enoch's eyes opened.
Silver light exploded from them.
The Shadows instantly backed away.
Even the stranger stepped backward slightly.
Enoch slowly rose into the air without touching the ground.
And when he spoke—
Two voices came out at once.
One his own.
The other ancient beyond understanding.
"The Second Fragment awakens soon."
Then every candle in the chapel exploded.
Darkness swallowed everything.
And somewhere far beyond the world—
Something laughed.