I awoke to a strange stillness. The pain from my injuries was gone, as was the terror of the fall. My body felt weightless, suspended in a void where light and darkness mingled into nothingness.

  I tried to move, but my limbs felt distant, foreign. Shapes flickered at the edges of my vision—blurs of something I couldn’t grasp.

  And then, cutting through the emptiness, came a voice. Smooth. Calm.

  “You’re finally awake.”

  I turned instinctively, searching for the source. But there was no one in sight. The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere.

  A figure emerged from the shadows—tall and cloaked in darkness, his features obscured. It was as though the shadows clung to him, bending to his will.

  “Who are you?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.

  “Who I am is irrelevant,” he replied dismissively. “What matters is what you seek.”

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  My eyes narrowed. “And what do you want from me?”

  His tone turned sharper, almost sinister. “Power. I can give it to you—the strength to protect, to rise above, to conquer.”

  I stood my ground. “I don’t need anyone’s power,” I said coolly. “I’ll earn my own strength.”

  A dark chuckle escaped him. “How quaint. But you must realize—true strength doesn’t come from effort alone. It comes from the right tools... the right opportunities.”

  I didn’t flinch. “I’ll find my way.”

  His voice grew colder, yet persuasive. “You think you can reach your goals without help? You’ve already seen your limitations. I can offer you more than you can imagine.”

  Power? Yes, I needed it. But not from a shadowed stranger. My path was my own.

  “No,” I said firmly. “I’ll make my own way.”

  Silence hung between us, thick with tension. Then his voice softened, almost sympathetic.

  “I know your potential, Aren. I know what you achieved in your past life. You reached the pinnacle of that world. But that’s not enough here.”

  My chest tightened. He knew about my past life. How?

  His words grew colder, insistent. “You cannot protect your family with the power you have now. What’s coming will be far greater than anything you’ve faced before. You need strength that transcends everything.”

  A shiver ran through me. He was right. I had already failed once. If Father hadn’t arrived in time, Claire would’ve—

  The weight of that failure gnawed at me. I had to protect them. All of them.

  His voice curled around my thoughts like a whisper. “You don’t have to understand it all now. Just accept the power. I will give you the means to save them.”

  I hesitated. I had spent my entire life relying on my own strength. But now...

  Now I knew I had to change. To adapt. To gain the power necessary for what was to come.

  "Fine," I said quietly but resolutely. "I'll take your power."

  The figure’s laugh echoed through the void. “Good. You will soon realize the price of power. It will change you... but in the end, you will be stronger for it.”

  Before I could respond, the world around me dissolved—the shadows, the figure, the void—all vanishing into nothingness.

  And then darkness.

  To be continued...