The footsteps behind the Traveler stopped.
"You finally woke up, Arafial."
The Traveler slowly raised his head.
The voice had come from beneath the dark hood of a prisoner chained to an ancient tree.
The figure sat with his head lowered. Pale hair spilled over his shoulders, almost luminous against the terrible forest. Heavy chains crossed his chest and wrists, disappearing into the tree's black trunk.
The Traveler stared.
Something about the figure felt familiar.
Not like meeting an old friend.
Like looking at something that had been stolen from him.
"Who are you?"
The prisoner lifted his head.
Blue-white eyes met the Traveler's purple ones.
For a moment, the forest seemed to recede.
The prisoner's face was identical to the face the Traveler had seen in his dream.
The unconscious figure floating in the emptiness.
The figure torn into three shapes.
The half that had disappeared into the unknown.
The prisoner looked at him without surprise.
"You took your time."
The Traveler's expression hardened.
"Answer me."
The stranger glanced at the chains around his wrists.
"Still giving orders before understanding the room you're in."
The Traveler's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
The prisoner watched him for several seconds.
Then he answered.
"Light Arafial."
The forest fell silent.
Even the mist seemed to stop moving.
The Traveler didn't speak.
He simply stared at the man chained to the tree.
The missing half.
The half Dark Arafial had admitted he could not find.
The half whose voice had warned him through the black stone.
"You..." The Traveler's voice became quieter. "You're real."
Light Arafial raised an eyebrow.
"Would you prefer an illusion?"
The Traveler ignored the remark.
"You're the one who spoke through the stone."
"Yes."
"You told me not to trust Dark Arafial."
Light Arafial's expression changed slightly.
"And you listened?"
"No."
"Good."
The Traveler frowned.
"Good?"
"If you'd trusted me immediately, I'd have questioned your judgment."
A brief silence passed between them.
There was no warmth in Light Arafial's expression. No comforting smile. No reassuring hand extended toward the Traveler.
He looked just as cold as the other half.
But his coldness was different.
Dark Arafial looked at the world as if it were beneath him.
Light Arafial looked at it as if he had already seen what it could do.
The Traveler looked at the chains.
"How long have you been here?"
"I don't know."
"How long?"
"I said I don't know."
Light Arafial pulled against the restraints once. The chains tightened, and the symbols engraved along their surfaces flashed white.
He stopped.
"They've made time unreliable in this place. Sometimes a moment lasts an eternity. Sometimes an eternity passes before you can finish a sentence."
The Traveler glanced at the forest.
"And this place?"
"The Forest of the Unmade."
"Who built it?"
"The Hunters."
The Traveler remembered the crowned figure.
Bring me the piece that learned to kill.
His purple eyes darkened.
"The Null Court."
Light Arafial studied him.
"So you've met them."
"One of their constructs."
"And?"
"I destroyed it."
Light Arafial closed his eyes briefly.
"Of course you did."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you have already given them exactly what they wanted."
The Traveler's expression turned cold.
"They wanted me to kill their servant?"
"No. They wanted to know whether the human body could awaken the nature of the original."
Light Arafial looked directly at him.
"Now they know."
The Traveler said nothing.
A distant metallic sound echoed through the forest.
Chains dragging across stone.
Both prisoners turned toward the sound.
Then a familiar voice emerged from the mist.
"Wonderful."
Dark Arafial stepped into view.
Or what remained of him.
Black chains bound his arms behind his back. Another chain circled his throat, connecting him to a massive iron pillar embedded in the ground. Symbols crawled across his clothing, suppressing the darkness that normally surrounded him.
His white hair hung across his face.
His eyes were completely black.
His expression was murderous.
He looked at the Traveler.
Then at Light Arafial.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Finally, Dark Arafial gave a humorless laugh.
"Look at that."
His gaze settled on Light.
"The missing half."
Light Arafial stared back.
"The defective half."
Dark Arafial's smile disappeared.
The Traveler looked between them.
"Enough."
Both halves turned toward him.
For the first time, the Traveler felt the strange absurdity of his own position.
He was standing between two beings who shared his face, his origin, and a history older than the worlds around them.
One had mocked him.
The other had warned him.
Neither looked remotely interested in making this reunion pleasant.
The Traveler pointed toward Dark Arafial.
"Explain something."
Dark Arafial's expression became colder.
"Choose your words carefully."
"The Arafial I spoke to in the white light. The one who told me to remember. The one who helped me awaken."
Dark Arafial stared at him.
"That wasn't you, was it?"
"No."
The answer came without hesitation.
The Traveler's jaw tightened.
"Then who was it?"
"A clone."
Silence.
Dark Arafial leaned back against the iron pillar.
"While I was trapped in this miserable realm, I created a copy of myself. It carried a portion of my consciousness, my memories, and enough power to reach you."
The Traveler stared at him.
"You sent a clone into the light?"
"I sent it to find you."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Dark Arafial gave him a contemptuous look.
"Because I was busy being imprisoned by the people trying to destroy us."
The Traveler's eyes narrowed.
"And the clone disappeared."
"Naturally."
"Why?"
"Because it was a clone."
Dark Arafial's voice sharpened.
"It was never the original. It had a limited existence and a single purpose. Once it had reached you, its remaining strength began to fail."
He glanced toward Light Arafial.
"And apparently, you managed to find our missing half before the construct collapsed completely."
Light Arafial's face remained expressionless.
"I didn't need your assistance."
Dark Arafial laughed.
"No. You only needed an eternity in chains."
The chains around Dark Arafial's throat tightened.
He ignored them.
The Traveler looked at both of them.
"So you were never actually with me."
Dark Arafial's eyes returned to him.
"Not physically."
"And you knew the light was dangerous."
"I knew something was wrong with it."
"But you were afraid."
The forest seemed to grow colder.
Dark Arafial slowly raised his head.
"Be careful."
The Traveler didn't back away.
"You were afraid of that light."
For a moment, Dark Arafial looked ready to tear the entire forest apart.
Then he smiled.
A terrible, empty smile.
"Yes."
The Traveler went still.
Dark Arafial continued.
"And if you had any sense, you would have been afraid too."
He looked toward the pale canopy.
"That light didn't belong to the world we came from. It was older than the division. Older than the Abyss as it exists now."
Light Arafial spoke quietly.
"It wasn't older than us."
Dark Arafial turned toward him.
"No?"
"No. You simply don't remember it."
The smile vanished from Dark Arafial's face.
The Traveler noticed.
So did Light Arafial.
For several seconds, the two halves stared at each other.
Then Light spoke again.
"That's the problem with being torn apart. You mistake the memories you retained for the truth of what happened."
Dark Arafial's eyes became completely black.
"And you believe you remember everything?"
"No."
Light Arafial pulled once against his chains.
"I remember enough to know that you should stop pretending your ignorance is wisdom."
The chains groaned.
The Traveler stepped between them.
"We're not doing this."
Dark Arafial looked at him.
"You seem remarkably comfortable giving orders to your betters."
"And you seem remarkably comfortable being chained to a pillar."
Silence.
Light Arafial looked away.
For the first time, the faintest suggestion of amusement crossed his face.
Dark Arafial stared at the Traveler.
Then he laughed.
A low, dangerous sound.
"There he is."
The Traveler frowned.
"Who?"
"The thing I was trying to awaken."
Dark Arafial's expression became cold again.
"Not the obedient human who asks questions until the world answers with a blade."
He leaned forward against the chains.
"Not the frightened vessel who mistakes mercy for a duty."
His black eyes locked onto the Traveler's purple ones.
"The Lord who looks at the hand around his throat and wonders only how to remove it."
The Traveler said nothing.
Dark Arafial continued.
"Remember this, human body: they chained us because they cannot permit us to become whole."
He glanced at Light.
"They fear what we remember."
Then he looked back at the Traveler.
"And now that you have awakened, they will never allow you to leave this forest alive."
A bell rang somewhere in the distance.
All three turned toward the sound.
The Hunters were moving.
Through the mist, pale silhouettes emerged between the trees. More than a dozen. Then dozens more.
At the front stood the crowned figure.
Its broken-metal crown reflected the dim, colourless sky.
It stopped at the edge of the clearing.
"The reunion is complete," it announced.
The Traveler's purple eyes burned.
The crowned Hunter raised one hand.
The chains around all three Arafials tightened simultaneously.
The Traveler felt the restraints bite into his wrists.
Light Arafial lowered his head.
Dark Arafial bared his teeth.
The crowned figure spoke again.
"Three pieces."
A pause.
"One origin."
It tilted its head.
"And not one of you understands why you were allowed to meet."
The Traveler pulled against his chains.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
The crowned figure didn't react.
"Take them to the lower forest."
The Hunters advanced.
Then the crown's hollow eye sockets turned toward the Traveler.
"And keep the human piece alive."
Dark Arafial's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Light Arafial noticed.
The Traveler noticed too.
"Why?" the Traveler demanded.
The crowned Hunter paused.
Then it answered.
"Because the other two have already failed."
The chains dragged the three halves forward.
And somewhere beneath the forest, something enormous began to wake.