AK : RISING MYTHIC

The ward was steeped in silence, the kind of deep quiet only found in places where pain had passed, but its ghost still lingered. The low hum of the magical energy lamps buzzed softly, suspended midair, giving off a warm orange glow that flickered as if in rhythm with the sleeper's breath. Outside the windows, the sun was beginning to lean west, and golden rays slanted through the translucent curtains.

After five hours of uninterrupted stillness, Arslan stirred.

A soft cough escaped his lips. He blinked slowly, adjusting his eyes to the warm lamplight. The room was empty. No footsteps. No healers. No Nirela. Just him and the quiet hum of the orbs placed around his bed, glowing faintly blue with healing enchantments.

He raised his hand, weak but functional, and pressed it to his chest. The pain was gone, but he felt the heaviness of something else—as though a door in his soul had been cracked open, and something unfamiliar had looked inside.

He inhaled slowly, then called out in a quiet, but certain voice:

"Kar'Thael."

In an instant, black tendrils of smoke emerged from his chest, forming into the familiar demonic shape of Kar'Thael. His fiery red eyes stared down at Arslan, concern hidden beneath his stoic expression.

"Yes, Arslan," Kar'Thael replied, his voice deep and vibrating like a drum in still air.

Arslan turned his face slightly toward him. "I... saw something while I was unconscious."

Kar'Thael's eyes narrowed slightly. "What did you see?"

Arslan closed his eyes for a moment, searching for the images in his mind. "Two figures... They stood in darkness. One was human, maybe around forty or forty-five years old. The other... looked like you. But it wasn't you."

Kar'Thael moved closer, his arms folded, as if absorbing every detail. "Could you recognize them? Their voices? Faces?"

Arslan shook his head. "The human figure... his face was blurry. Like smoke hiding the details. But his voice... it had weight. Experience. Calm, but urgent. The other one... the figure that looked like you, it called me 'Master'."

Kar'Thael frowned. A low rumble of uncertainty growled from his chest. "What did they say to you?"

Arslan sat up slowly, the sheets rustling beneath him. "The human figure said, 'You have to bear it... You're the last hope.'"

Kar'Thael said nothing for a moment, letting the words sit in the space between them.

Arslan added, more slowly this time, "Then... the other figure stepped forward. He looked right at me and said, 'I am Arslan. You are me. Recognize yourself.'"

Kar'Thael's eyes burned brighter. He paced a few steps across the room, the sound of his boots echoing softly against the stone floor.

"Do you think," Kar'Thael said slowly, "that the human figure was your father?"

Arslan blinked at the ceiling. "I don't know... His face was hidden. But his presence... it felt familiar. Comforting. Like something I used to know."

"And the one who called you Master?" Kar'Thael pressed.

"He said he was me," Arslan replied. "Or maybe a part of me. I don't know... It was like he existed... inside me. Not physically. Spiritually."

Kar'Thael stared into the dim orange light, his clawed hand resting on the back of the chair beside the bed. He seemed to calculate every word, every possibility.

"This... isn't something I have seen before," he said. "Not in any of the vessels I have taken. Not in the merging of energies, nor in the transformations of will."

Arslan looked up at him, searching. "So, what do you think it is?"

Kar'Thael turned to him. "I don't understand it yet. But I will say this... it might be connected to your blood. Your father. Your legacy."

"Why do you say that?" Arslan asked.

Kar'Thael stepped closer, his voice now lower, weighted with gravity. "Because this did not come from me. Whatever happened to you in that cave... that was not my doing. The black veins, the pain in your heart, the near death? That wasn't caused by our bond. It was something else entirely."

The words hit Arslan like a breeze through a broken window. He went quiet, staring into the distance.

Kar'Thael lowered himself slightly, so he was closer to Arslan's eye level.

"There is more inside you than you know, Arslan. I can feel it now. Like something beneath the surface is waking up. Maybe what you saw was a message. Or a warning. Or a memory. But it's tied to something... deeper."

Arslan exhaled slowly. "Then how do I find out what it is?"

Kar'Thael rose again. "By surviving. By listening to your body, your instincts. And perhaps, by meeting your father. Truly meeting him."

The lamp above flickered again, as if reacting to the weight of their words. Outside, the wind began to blow more fiercely, howling softly through the gaps in the stone frames.

Arslan shifted on the bed, still weak, but somehow more grounded.

"I thought I was dying," he said, almost to himself. "But something in me... refused."

Kar'Thael nodded. "That 'something' may hold your answers. And perhaps... our future."

The room returned to silence, except for the heartbeat monitor that ticked faintly beside Arslan. In that stillness, nothing more needed to be said.

Not yet.