The maze victory didn't feel like a win. It felt… heavy. Henry walked back to his room in the Solstice Tower with his thoughts spinning. That thread of shadow. The light giving way. It hadn't been a battle. It was a handshake.
"That was progress," Helia's voice cut through his spiral.
She stood by the window, bathed in the sunset glow. "It wasn't power. It was control. You proved to yourself that balance is possible."
"For, like, three seconds," Henry muttered.
"Three seconds is eternity when you've never had even one," she replied.
How poetic. Tsukuyomi's voice sneered as she materialized nearby, full of sass. You neutralized a flashlight. Congrats. Your other self would've smashed through the wall and built a new door. That's a solution.
"His way is destruction," Helia snapped. "Henry's path is mastery."
Tsukuyomi grinned. "You can only master what you're not afraid to wield. And he's still scared of half of himself."
As they argued, the chill crept in. Night was falling. Henry could feel the shift—his body surrendering, energy rising.
Night-Henry opened his crimson eyes.
But this time, he didn't get up right away. He sat still, staring at his hands.
He could feel the memory of what Day-Henry had done. The balance. The shadow thread. The surrender of light. His first instinct was disgust. So weak. So passive.
But… he thought again. Not like a warrior. Like a strategist.
Day-Henry had managed to tap into both forces at once. For a second, coexistence had been real.
And that changed everything.
Night-Henry stood, a new kind of grin curling on his face. Not arrogant. Not cruel. Predatory. Calculating. Like a hunter discovering a better weapon.
He looked at Helia.
"Your plan is clever, sun goddess," he said smoothly. "Teach him to become 'twilight.' Almost fooled me."
Helia narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
"My goal was always simple—erase the light. Kill the weakness. Let darkness reign." He paced. "But that's small thinking. Why destroy a weapon just because the current user doesn't know how to pull the trigger?"
He turned to her, his eyes blazing.
"Your precious 'balance' gave me a new option. I'm not gonna destroy Day-Henry anymore. That's inefficient."
"I'm going to absorb him."
He raised his hand—and for a split second, a flicker of white light sparked on his dark fingertips. It vanished in an instant, but it had been real. Created by him.
"I'll learn what he learns. Feel what he feels. I'll master your lesson—not for peace. For power. I'll mold that scared little light into a devouring sun."
He smiled, and it was terrifying.
"This isn't a fight over one body anymore. It's a war for both our souls. And when it ends, there'll be no day. No night. Just me. Whole. And I'll be your god."