Mona hadn't slept in two days.
She couldn't. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Niki's face—not the Niki she kissed, but the one who stood in the dark forest, watching with glowing red-gold eyes like a stranger.
Like something else.
She stood now in the ritual room, staring at her reflection in the black-mirrored floor. Her mark had spread—slithering up her forearm in twisted silver and crimson.
Every time her heart beat, it pulsed.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"Prophecy said he'd become a Hollow," she whispered to herself. "But why does it feel like... he's becoming something older?"
Behind her, Sunghoon entered, quiet as a shadow.
"I read the rest of the scroll," he said. "There's more."
Mona turned. "What did it say?"
He handed her a blood-stained page.
"If the Lightborn awakens her blood in more than one soul, the darkness inside her will begin to multiply—fracturing her spirit, until her body splits between two fates: the Savior… or the Queen of Ash."
Mona's knees almost buckled. Sunghoon caught her.
"It's happening," she said. "I kissed you. I kissed him. You've both touched parts of me that should never have been awakened."
Sunghoon held her face, firm but soft. "You are not a prophecy. You're Mona. And I won't let it control you."
But deep inside her, that familiar voice returned.
"You already chose him."
"And the Hollow will never forgive you."
Meanwhile – The Forest
Niki stood in a clearing, shirt torn, breath cold.
He didn't remember walking here.
He didn't remember his name at first.
Until something whispered to him—
"Veylor..."
His eyes flared gold-red. His fangs fully grown now. His hand reached toward the air—and fire erupted from his palm.
The same energy that once belonged to Mona.
But twisted.
"Who… am I?" he whispered.
"You are me," the wind replied.
Behind him, Jake approached cautiously. "Niki…?"
Niki turned slowly.
Jake froze. "You don't look like you."
"I don't feel like me," Niki said quietly. "I feel... ancient. Hungry."
"You have to come back," Jake said, stepping closer.
"I can't," Niki whispered. "Because I remember now…"
He placed a hand over his chest, over the scar Mona's power left.
"She didn't just give me light. She gave me Veylor's blood. I'm not Hollow anymore."
He looked up.
"I'm his heir."
Back at the Mansion
Mona suddenly gasped, her hand flying to her chest.
"What is it?" Sunghoon asked.
"I felt him," she whispered. "He remembers."
She backed away, shaking. "He's not Niki anymore. I gave him something I didn't understand—something Veylor left inside me. Now it's alive inside him."
Sunghoon's jaw clenched. "Then we end this. We cut the bond."
Mona looked up, horrified. "That could kill him."
"And letting it grow could kill you," he said, voice shaking.
She stepped back, torn in two.
Between light and darkness.
Between Sunghoon and Niki.
Between saving the world… or watching it burn with her name written in blood.