Luminous Dawn

Erhen awoke to silence.

Not the kind that came with peace, but the kind that came with absence. A void where sound should exist.

The world around him was an abyss, thick with swirling green mist that coiled and slithered like snakes. The air was dense, suffocating, pressing against his chest. His breath came in shallow gasps, it was all he heard, the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears.

Then—a squelching sound beneath him.

Erhen looked down.

The ground was not solid. It sucked at his boots like thick tar, rippling as if it were alive. Dark tendrils of inky black goo slithered up his legs, coiling around his ankles, pulling.

His pulse quickened. He tried to lift his foot, but the tendrils tightened, clinging to his pants and flesh like leeches.

A whisper drifted through the mist faint and familiar.

"Father."

A chill crawled down Erhen's spine.

The voice was wrong. Too soft, too stretched, like it had traveled through layers of something not meant to be crossed.

Then, out of the swirling fog, Tyr stepped forward.

Erhen's breath hitched.

It wasn't his son. Not really.

This thing wearing his child's form was pale—too pale—its skin sickly and stretched tight over delicate bones. Its lips were parted in an unnatural grin, revealing teeth that were too sharp, too numerous. Black veins crawled up its neck like cracks in porcelain, and its eyes—those empty, black voids—watched him with quiet amusement.

Erhen couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.

Tyr tilted his head, the motion slow, deliberate. "You don't look happy to see me, Father."

Erhen swallowed the lump in his throat. "You're not—"

"Not real?" Tyr's grin widened; his tiny hands clasped behind his back. "Neither is this place."

"You don't belong here," Erhen said, his voice hoarse.

Tyr's laughter was light, childlike, but it echoed wrong. "Don't I?" He took a step closer, bare feet sinking into the tar-like ground without resistance. "This is the only place that belongs to us."

The tendrils wrapped higher, slithering up Erhen's calves.

Tyr's expression darkened. "Do you want to know the truth?"

Before Erhen could respond—

The world shifted.

Fire. Smoke. Screams.

Erhen gasped as the darkness peeled away, replaced by something far worse.

A village in flames.

The acrid stench of burning flesh clogged his throat. Smoke choked the air, turning the sky into an endless black void. Figures ran through the fire-lit streets—panicked villagers, barbarians with bloodied blades.

Chaos. Death.

This was—home.

"No." The word barely left his lips before the scene twisted again, dragging him forward against his will. His body was not his own.

He stood in the village square now.

A throne of corpses.

Perched atop it, lounging like a bored god, sat the Crown Prince Joseph.

Golden-haired, draped in fine silks too pristine for a battlefield, he watched the massacre unfold with idle amusement. His lips curled into a smirk as he raised a silver goblet—filled with wine.

At his feet—Vanessa.

Bound. Beaten. Eyes red from crying.

And beside her—

Erhen's heart stopped.

Tyr's lifeless body lay limp on the ground.

His small frame was broken, his tiny arms twisted unnaturally. The blood beneath him had long since dried.

Erhen's stomach twisted. His breath came ragged, but his body refused to move.

Vanessa wasn't looking at the Prince.

She was looking at their son.

Staring. Not crying anymore. Just… hollow.

The Prince sighed, tilting his head. "See, I told you that you would be prettier when you stopped crying…."

Erhen fought to move, to reach her, to rip the bastard apart. "What is this?! This must be a lie! It was a Barbarian raiding horde!"

But the world held him still.

He tried to scream. His throat suddenly wouldn't work.

The Prince ran his fingers through Vanessa's silver hair, smirking. "I must admit, I've never had someone quite like you. So beautiful… so poised. You are wasted on that soldier... I knew I had to have you the moment I saw you."

Her body tensed.

A flicker of something passed through her eyes.

Erhen recognized it.

Hatred.

And then recognition as her eyes landed on a kitchen knife. 

"You are much better off being my toy…" The Prince stood up to undo his pants once more. While she slowly grasped the handle of the knife.

Before the Prince finished speaking, she spun, and the blade caused a thin line to bloom across the perfect skin.

For a moment—just a moment—there was silence.

Then—

He laughed. Slow. Amused.

He reached up, dabbing at the wound with his fingers before licking the blood away.

"You are feisty." He snapped his fingers, and two men sized her by her arms.

Vanessa thrashed, but they were too strong.

She screamed.

Erhen roared—but no sound came out.

The tendrils returned. Black, oozing, wrapping around his arms and throat, holding him down.

"STOP."

The world convulsed.

The flames flickered. The scene rippled like a shattered reflection on water.

And then—

A hand gripped his wrist, as if to pull him out of the bog.

Small. Cold. Familiar.

Erhen turned. Tyr knelt beside him. Smiling.

"Do you understand now, Father?"

Erhen's chest tightened.

Tyr's empty black eyes studied him with quiet satisfaction.

"You were too late," he said softly. "Too weak." Erhen trembled. Tyr's fingers curled around his wrist, his grip cold as the grave. "But it doesn't have to be this way."

The village flickered and the scene was distorted.

The Prince's voice grew distant, warping. Tyr's voice, however, was clear. "I can give you what you really want..." The tendrils tightened, dragging Erhen deeper into the ground.

"I can give you the power to make them pay." Erhen's breath came fast, uneven. Tyr smiled wider. "Let me set you free." His lips parted to say no.

'Just say yes.' The thought wasn't his own. 'Just say yes, and it begins.'

Then—

A whisper.

Soft. Gentle.

Real.

"…Erhen…"

The weight lifted.

"…I'm here…"

The darkness shuddered.

"…Wake up…"

Tyr's smile faltered. "No."

"…Wake up, Erhen."

The ooze holding him captive suddenly released him completely and spread out as if to completely avoid him.

And Erhen—

Fell.