Chapter 18: The Walk
Darkness consumed everything.
It was not just the absence of light, but a complete severing of sensation. No sound. No texture. No gravity. No thoughts. Only the void.
And yet, Aric Blackthorn floated within it.
He drifted like a leaf on an invisible sea, and for the first time in his fractured memory, he felt peace. A peace so whole it mocked every pain he’d carried. The weight of expectation, the agony of betrayal, the screaming silence of loss—it all dissolved into nothing.
Until even himself began to fade.
His name.
His reason.
His rage.
Even the outlines of his parents' faces bled out into oblivion.
But then—
Two crimson eyes snapped open in the void.
Aric’s psyche reeled as though punched by a memory. His senses returned like glass reassembling mid-sh
