Nothing.
Only the breathless weight of cold wind pressing in from every direction, seeping into bone and thought alike. The endless white stretched without edge or mercy, swallowing horizon and sky until there was no sense of distance left—only emptiness.
Somewhere within that blank world, footsteps echoed.
Slow. Dragging. Uneven.
Each step sounded heavier than the last, as if the ground itself was resisting him.
Kaal emerged from the shadows.
Blood trailed behind him, a thin crimson line carved into the snow, marking every step he took. Myra lay limp against his back, her weight light—too light—her warmth fading through his skin. His legs had long since gone numb. He couldn't feel the ground beneath his feet anymore, couldn't tell where one step ended and the next began.
Still, he walked.
Because she was alive.
And as long as she was alive, stopping was not an option.
"I'm useless…" he whispered, the words breaking loose with his breath. "I'm useless…"
He said it again. And again. Like a curse he couldn't escape, like punishment he deserved.
The wind answered with silence.
Then—movement.
Myra stirred.
Barely.
Her fingers twitched, tightening weakly against his shoulder as if instinct alone refused to let go. Her breathing was shallow, uneven, but it was there. She lifted her head just enough to speak, her voice no more than a fragile breath.
"No…"
A faint smile touched her lips, trembling but real.
"You're not…"
She didn't know where they were going. Didn't know if this white world had an end—or if they would ever reach it. But in this frozen hour that felt like the final one, she was still with Kaal.
And for her—
That was enough.
Then Kaal fell.
His knees buckled without warning, his legs finally giving in. He didn't even feel his body hit the frozen ground. He had been walking for what felt like hours—long past the point where his body should have stopped—but even now, he refused to let go.
He tried to crawl forward, dragging himself with trembling arms, still trying to keep Myra upright against him.
"Please…" Myra whispered weakly. "Stop, Kaal… just… stop…"
But he couldn't.
She shifted against his back, struggling to move, not wanting to see him tear himself apart any longer. "Please," she begged, her voice breaking. "I don't want you to hurt anymore."
Still, he pulled himself toward her.
Snow and dirt clung to his skin as he reached out, arms shaking, fingers numb. He collapsed backward onto the frozen ground and gathered her into his arms, cradling her carefully on his lap.
His eyes were swollen red, his chest rising and falling in broken breaths. Blood stained his clothes, his hands, the snow beneath them. His body trembled violently in the cold, but he held her tighter.
"I… I couldn't save you," he whispered, his voice hollow. "I couldn't save any of you. I'm just… I'm just useless."
"No," Myra said, her voice firmer now despite the pain tearing through her. "You're not useless."
She lifted her hand with effort, pressing it weakly against his arm.
"Kaal… you carried me all the way here when you couldn't even walk. You didn't leave me. You didn't abandon me—even when it would've been easier to."
She paused, swallowing hard.
"You were always the one who stood up first… even when you were scared. You always tried, even when everything was against you."
Her eyes softened, glassy with tears.
"You remember… that night under the full moon?" she whispered. "When we sat beneath that tree… and you got hurt?"
A memory flickered in Kaal's eyes.
"Aha… that hurts…" he had groaned back then.
And she had scolded him, trying to hide her worry behind a smile.
"Why would you jump in front of a charging cow?!"
"If I didn't," he had said simply, "that little girl would've been hurt."
She had laughed then, cheeks warm with embarrassment.
"You're impossible… But fine. Do whatever crazy thing you want. From now on, I'll protect you."
Back in the present, her voice trembled.
"I said it then… and I mean it now," she whispered. "I'll protect you, Kaal. Always. And you remember what you say."
He stared at her, eyes wide, breath catching in his chest.
"I remember," he said softly. "I never forgot you."
Myra smiled.
With the last of her strength, she lifted her hand and placed it gently against his cheek, her touch warm despite the cold. And with each breath, the light in her eyes dimmed… turning soft, ghostly purple.
"I'll see you later… Kaal."
Her hand slipped from his face.
Her breath stopped.
Her body went still.
She was gone.
Just like Neel.
Just like Lava.
All of them—gone.
Gone with a smile, because they died protecting the one they loved.
Kaal's body shook.
And then he cried.
Louder than the wind.
Harder than the storm.
He clutched her against his chest, screaming into the empty white world—
because she was gone, and all he could do now was hold her and scream.
Kaal cried harder.
His voice tore through the endless white, raw and cracking, filled with the kind of grief that didn't echo—it just sank. Sank deep into a world that had already taken everything from him.
He blamed himself.
Too weak.
Too slow.
Too human.
He had failed Neel. Failed Lava. Failed Myra.
He blamed the world that had turned cruel overnight. He blamed the kingdom that had sealed its gates and watched them die like insects. He cursed the gods. The fate. The silence.
And the wind listened.
It surged, wild and screaming, tearing across the white expanse. The ground cracked beneath him, long jagged lines ripping through the snow like veins in a broken heart. Kaal's tears blurred, but what rose behind them wasn't just sorrow anymore.
It was something darker.
His irises bled red. The red deepened, then drowned.
Darkness bloomed in his gaze.
"Just wait…" he whispered, voice hollow and trembling. "Pray to your gods that I die here. Because if I don't—when I return…"
His fists clenched.
"This world will see hell. A hell even demons fear."
His chest hitched.
"I'll kill you all. I'll kill you all— I… I'll ki—"
He stopped.
Something moved ahead.
A shadow—black, still, watching.
Kaal's breath caught. Then—
A sound.
Impossible.
A voice.
"Kingdom—Bluemoon."
His head lifted.
The world around him fractured like glass. And in that fracture, a new place bled through.
A room.
A woman on a bed. Sweat soaked her brow, and pain clenched her jaw.
"Saanu… it's almost over," said a man beside her—Reyansh. His hands trembled as he held her hand. The midwife hovered, calm on the outside but praying inside.
Saanvi screamed.
But the scream wasn't just from the pain—it was something more. Something deeper. Because in her mind, another voice whispered.
A voice from long ago.
Cold. Ancient. Inhuman.
"From now on, you will never give birth again."
"From this moment on… your womb belongs to Death."
Kaal stood motionless in the snow.
He heard it all. It came to him muffled, like echoes from beneath water. But as the black shadow crept closer, the sounds became sharper. More real. They weren't visions. They were memories. And they weren't his.
Chains of shadow began to crawl across the white ground. Rising like vines, they wrapped around his arms. His chest. His legs. Cold. Tight. Inevitable.
He didn't resist.
He just sat there, watching the shadow approach.
Closer.
The sounds grew clearer.
Closer.
And then—
A child was born.
Reyansh's breath stopped.
The midwife held the baby in her hands. Everyone waited. No one moved.
But the baby didn't cry.
Saanvi stared, horrified.
Reyansh reached forward, silent.
And then—something shifted.
The baby's hair turned white.
White like death. White like frost.
Then—he cried.
A sharp, raw sound that cut through the silence like a blade.
Saanvi wept.
Reyansh broke into a prayer. The midwife choked on her own tears.
They thought it was a miracle.
They thought they had seen light again.
But they didn't know what they had truly witnessed. They hadn't seen a blessing. At that time, they had witnessed—
THE BIRTH OF DARKNESS.
To be continue…