Twilight: Shadow (Fanfiction)

A sharp breath. A slow heartbeat. The bitter taste of iron filled his mouth as the warmth of life slowly faded from his body.

The mission had gone wrong.

Not by incompetence, not by arrogance but by betrayal.

He had trusted the wrong man. A fellow agent, someone he had bled beside, someone he had saved more times than he could count. The knife had slid between his ribs before he even realized he had been played. The gunfire that followed was a blur. His training had carried him through, his body acting on instinct, cutting through enemy after enemy even as his vision blurred.

But it hadn't been enough.

Now, he lay in a pool of his own blood, staring at the sky, wondering if the stars had always been so bright.

He wasn't afraid of death. He had accepted it a long time ago. But something inside him still burned with the sting of betrayal.

"Why?"

It wasn't a plea. It wasn't regret. It was a simple question he would never get an answer to.

And then… darkness swallowed him whole.

The Void Between Worlds

He should have felt nothing.

No pain. No body. No sense of time.

But instead, he felt something worse.

He felt awareness.

A presence loomed before him immense, unfathomable, its existence pressing against the edges of reality itself. It was not a man, not a god, but something beyond comprehension. It did not belong to any religion, nor did it follow the rules of creation.

And it was watching him.

"You are a peculiar thing" the voice rumbled, neither harsh nor kind.

"You died without hesitation, yet your soul burns with unrest."

He did not speak, but his thoughts answered. Why am I here?

"Because I willed it," the entity said simply.

"You intrigue me. A warrior who has given everything, yet was repaid with a blade to the back. I wonder… do you still believe in loyalty?"

A flicker of something bitter rose in his chest, but he shoved it down. Not here. Not in front of this being.

"You offer me something" he said finally. It wasn't a question.

The entity chuckled, the sound vibrating through the void itself.

"Clever. Yes, I offer you another chance. A new life, unchained from the one you lost. You may make two wishes, and I shall grant them… with a price."

He was silent for a moment. A new life. A new world.

He had spent years in service, relying on skill, intelligence, and instinct. But in this new world, such things would not be enough.

"I wish for power," he said, his voice steady.

"Not borrowed, not conditional. I want dominion over darkness itself, not as a spell or a craft, but as something that is me. An army that follows my will silent, eternal, unseen."

The entity shifted, amused.

"A dangerous wish," it mused.

"But granted. Your shadow shall no longer be just an absence of light it shall live, breathe, and bow to you."

Power coursed through him, unseen yet undeniable. The darkness no longer felt distant it felt like his, as natural as breath.

"And your second wish?"

He did not hesitate.

"I want to be more than human," he said.

"A royal vampire, but without the weaknesses known to men. No fire, no silver, no holy afflictions. Only the strength of an immortal."

The entity chuckled again. "Ah. You seek eternity without its chains. Strength without its burdens. You are not the first to ask for this, but you are the first I will grant it to."

Power surged through him once more, colder this time. He could feel his body reshaped, perfected. His senses sharpened. He was stronger, faster, more than he had ever been. And yet… something felt off.

"You have what you desired," the entity said.

"But every gift has a cost."

A shiver ran through him.

"What is it?"

The being's presence grew, pressing against his very existence.

"You will never be bound by fate, nor will you ever be guided by it," it said, its voice softer now.

"In your past life, you were shaped by duty, by purpose. But in this new world… no such thing will exist for you. No prophecy, no divine calling, no greater plan. You will never belong to any path but your own."

He frowned. That didn't sound like a punishment.

"You think this is freedom," the entity continued, sensing his thoughts.

"But a man who walks without purpose often finds himself lost. Be warned, traveler. There will come a time when you look back and wonder… if it would have been better to have never existed at all."

Something inside him twisted. A phantom pain. A memory of lying in a pool of his own blood, betrayed, abandoned.

A deep, suffocating loneliness settled in his chest.

For the first time, doubt crept in.

Had he wished for too much?

Had he made a mistake?

But there was no turning back now.

The void around him began to shimmer, the darkness breaking apart into cascading sparks of light.

And then he fell.

Not peacefully, not gently.

He was plummeting.

The air howled around him, his new senses screaming as he tumbled through endless stars and shadow. Light blurred past him, twisting into strange colors, unfamiliar shapes. The entity's voice echoed one last time, distant yet unshaken.

"Go now, traveler. Your new beginning awaits."

The last thing he felt before impact was the cold bite of reality swallowing him whole.