The first sensation Kaelen registered was pain. A dull, throbbing ache that radiated from every part of his body. His eyelids fluttered open to reveal the sterile white ceiling of the Core’s medical wing, the sharp contrast almost blinding in its brightness. He tried to move, but his limbs felt heavy, like they were weighed down by an invisible force. It took a few moments for his mind to clear enough to remember where he was, and why he was there.

Memories of the battle flooded back. Jax’s grim determination, Lyrian’s desperate commands, the wicked entity’s words seeping into his consciousness. The images were fragmented, distorted by the strain and confusion of those final moments. He struggled to piece it all together, but one thing was clear: something had changed within him during the fight. Something dark, something dangerous.

He blinked, trying to push the fog of exhaustion from his mind. The room was quiet, unnervingly so, as if the very walls were holding their breath. The usual hum of machinery was absent, replaced by a tense stillness that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Kaelen turned his head slightly, wincing as the movement sent a jolt of pain through his neck and shoulders.

The door to his room opened quietly, and a nurse entered, her footsteps soft against the polished floor. She was a small, efficient woman with sharp eyes that missed nothing. She approached his bed and began checking the monitors beside him, her expression calm but focused.

“Good to see you’re awake. You’ve been out for a while. Your friends have been worried.”

Kaelen tried to speak, but his throat was dry and his voice barely more than a rasp. The nurse noticed and quickly handed him a glass of water. He took a sip, the cool liquid soothing the rawness in his throat.

“Where... how long?” he managed to croak out, his voice still hoarse.

“Almost a full day,” she replied, her tone matter-of-fact. “You were in pretty rough shape when they brought you in. We had to stabilize you before we could do anything else.”

Kaelen nodded weakly, processing the information. He glanced around the room, noting the sparse, functional decor typical of the Core’s medical facilities. Everything was in pristine condition, from the sleek, metallic walls to the glowing medical equipment. Yet, despite the cleanliness, there was an underlying tension in the air, a sense that something was deeply wrong.

The nurse finished her checkup, her fingers moving deftly over the controls of the machines. “I’ll let the others know you’re awake. They’ve been here almost constantly, but I told them to get some rest. You gave them quite a scare.”

As she turned to leave, Kaelen raised a hand, trying to catch her attention. He wanted to ask more about the state of the Core, about what had happened to the Singularity, about the entity. But his body betrayed him, and his hand fell back to the bed, too weak to hold up. The nurse gave him a sympathetic look before stepping out of the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Kaelen’s eyes drifted to the ceiling as he tried to make sense of the fragmented memories. The sensation of the shadows, the way they had wrapped around him, the cold touch of the entity’s power… it all felt too real to be just an illusion. But the most troubling aspect was the voice, that mocking whisper that had taunted him, as if it knew something he didn’t.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps in the hallway. The door opened again, and this time, Lyrian, Jax, Rina, and Nyra entered, their faces a mixture of relief and concern.

“You’re finally awake,” Jax said, his deep voice carrying a note of forced cheerfulness. His massive frame filled the doorway as he stepped into the room, his usual confident demeanor tempered by the worry that had clearly been gnawing at him.

Kaelen tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest forced him back down. Lyrian was at his side in an instant, gently pushing him back onto the bed.

“Take it easy. You’ve been through a lot. No need to rush anything.”

Kaelen looked up at him, noticing the dark circles under his friend’s eyes, the strain in his usually calm expression. “I’m fine... or I will be,” Kaelen replied, his voice still rough but steadier than before. “What’s the situation? The Core... the Singularity?”

“The Singularity is stable,” Lyrian said, though his voice carried a note of uncertainty. “For now. But the damage... it’s extensive, Kaelen. We were lucky to get out when we did.”

Jax nodded in agreement, his eyes narrowed in thought. “That thing, whatever it was, it nearly took us all down. But we managed to contain it... barely.”

Rina, who had been silent until now, stepped forward. Her characteristic self-assurance was overshadowed by the deep worry etched on her face. “Kaelen, we need to know what happened in there. What did that thing do to you?”

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Kaelen hesitated, his mind still foggy. The details were murky, but he remembered the feeling of the dark power wrapping around him, the overwhelming sense of being consumed. “It... it tried to get inside my head,” he admitted, his voice low. “It said things, taunted me. It knows something about me... something I don’t even know.”

The room fell silent as his words sank in. The tension in the air was palpable, a shared understanding that whatever they were dealing with was far beyond their current comprehension.

Nyra, always the analytical one, spoke up, her voice calm but tinged with unease. “Kaelen, if this entity knows you, we need to figure out why. Do you have a lead on where we can start digging?”

Before Kaelen could respond, the door opened again, and Commander Andras stepped into the room. The atmosphere shifted instantly, the air growing heavier with his presence. Andras was a man who commanded respect through sheer force of will, and even now, in the relative calm of the medical wing, his presence was intimidating.

“I need to speak with Kaelen,” Andras announced, his tone leaving no room for argument. His dark eyes swept over the room, taking in the faces of Kaelen’s companions with a mixture of scrutiny and authority.

Lyrian opened his mouth to protest, but Kaelen gave him a slight nod, indicating it was okay. Reluctantly, Lyrian motioned for the others to follow him out of the room. As they left, Jax gave Kaelen a look that clearly said, be careful, before closing the door behind him.

Once they were alone, Andras crossed his arms and stared down at Kaelen, his gaze sharp and unyielding. “What happened in there, Kaelen? What did that thing say to you?”

Kaelen met his gaze evenly, though he could feel the weight of the commander’s scrutiny pressing down on him. Andras was not a man to be trifled with, and Kaelen knew that whatever he said next would determine the course of their relationship moving forward.

“It... spoke to me,” Kaelen said carefully, choosing his words with precision. “It said things that suggested it knew me. Prsonally. It called me by name, taunted me about... my power.”

Andras’s eyes narrowed. “Your power? What power, Kaelen? What are you hiding?”

Kaelen could sense the distrust in Andras’s voice, the suspicion that had been building for some time. He knew this moment would come eventually, the moment when someone would start asking the hard questions about who he really was and what he was capable of. He had been dreading it, but he also knew he couldn’t avoid it forever.

“I’m not hiding anything. At least, nothing I’m aware of. Whatever that thing is, it seems to know more about me than I do. But I’m not the enemy here, Commander.”

Andras took a step closer, his eyes boring into Kaelen’s. “You expect me to believe that? A creature of pure malicious energy just happens to know your name, to taunt you with your own power, and I’m supposed to trust that you’re not connected to it in some way?”

Kaelen forced himself to stay calm, even as his mind raced. He couldn’t afford to let Andras’s suspicion turn into outright hostility.

“I don’t know why it targeted me,” he said, his voice firm. “But I fought it, and I helped stop it. Whatever connection it thinks it has with me, it’s not something I want or intend to pursue.”

Andras studied him for a long moment, the tension between them thickening with each passing second. Finally, the commander stepped back, though the distrust in his eyes remained. “If you’re lying to me, Kaelen, if you’re hiding something that could endanger the Core or the people under my command, I will find out. And when I do, there will be consequences. Do you understand me?”

Kaelen nodded slowly, his expression unreadable. “I understand, Commander. But I’m telling you the truth. I want to stop this thing as much as you do.”

Andras gave a curt nod, though it was clear he wasn’t fully convinced. “We’ll see about that. For now, focus on recovering. But know this. If that entity comes after you again, if there’s even a hint of it resurfacing, I will be watching. And I won’t hesitate to act.”

With that, Andras turned and left the room, leaving Kaelen alone with his thoughts. The door closed with a soft click, and the room fell into silence once more.

Kaelen let out a slow breath, feeling the tension drain from his body. The conversation had been intense, more so than he had anticipated, but he had managed to keep his composure. Still, the unease lingered, a heavy weight pressing down on him.

He lay back against the pillows, staring up at the ceiling as he tried to process everything that had happened. The entity’s words haunted him, echoing in his mind like a dark prophecy. How does it feel, Kaelen? To taste your own power? Perhaps one day, it will devour you whole. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.

As he lay there, Kaelen closed his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing, willing the tension to leave his body. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Deeply, fundamentally wrong.

The shadows in the room seemed to grow longer, darker, as if they were closing in around him. His heart began to race, the pulse in his ears growing louder until it drowned out all other sounds. The sensation of something foreign, something other, still lingered in his mind, a presence that refused to be ignored.

Suddenly, he thought he heard it. Whispers, faint and elusive, like the rustling of leaves in a distant breeze. Kaelen strained to listen, but the sounds were so soft, so indistinct, that he couldn't be sure if they were real or just figments of his exhausted mind. Yet, with each passing second, the whispers grew slightly louder, more insistent, until they began to swirl around him, an unsettling cacophony that made his heart race.

His pulse quickened, the beats pounding in his chest like a war drum. The room seemed to close in on him, the shadows deepening as the whispers intensified, threading through the air like dark tendrils. Kaelen's breath hitched, his body tensing with a sense of impending dread. He could feel it—something was about to happen. The presence he had felt earlier, that sinister force lurking just beneath the surface, was stirring again, ready to make itself known.

Without warning, Kaelen felt a sudden, intense pressure in his chest, his instincts screaming that whatever was within him was about to speak. In that instant, he bolted upright in bed. And just as he did, the voice rang out loud and clear in his mind.

“Miss me?”