The word surfaced automatically, a reflex of old knowledge. The rational part of my brain scrambled for something clinical to hold onto. This isn't real. This is just—the thought died. Becausethis wasn't confusion. This wasn't my mind misfiring between dreams. This wasn't what scientists explained away as sleep paralysis.
This wasintent.
The darkness pressed closer, not touching me, not needing to. It filled the room, the corners, the space above my chest where breath should have been. My heart was beating erratically now. My chest should have been heaving, but it kept moving steadily up and down as if nothing were wrong. As if I weren't scared out of my mind. This… this presence. It was more than frightening; it was all-consuming. It washatein its purest form. A hate so absolute, so destructive, it went beyond mortal fears. I wasn't just afraid for my life… in that moment, I would have gladly died. I would haveembracedit. No, this was… corruption, merciless evil. It didn't simply destroy it… consumed for all eternity.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse,itspoke. Not aloud. Inside.
He's never coming back to you.The voice was vast and layered, like countless echoes folded into one. It didn't rage. It didn't sneer. Itknew.
My heart slammed against my ribs, terror surged so hard I thought it might break me free through sheer force.
No!
He's mine now.
The pressure increased, pinning me more completely than any physical weight ever could. I tried to blink. My eyes burned, but they stayed open, locked on the darkness above me.
He's found his true purpose.
The words slid through me like poison, cold and intimate, settling into every doubt I'd been trying not to voice.
He's finally what he was always meant to be.
"No," I tried to say.
Nothing came out. I fought harder, pouring everything I had into one single command. Move. Just one finger. Just a twitch. If I could move even a little, I knew I could break it. Wake fully. Get away from whateverthiswas. I imagined it vividly—my hand jerking, my body rolling off the bed, me crawling across the floor toward the door, toward light, towardhim—the darkness pulsed in response.
You felt it, didn't you?the voice continued, unhurried.How easily he let go of you. How natural it felt.
That was a lie. I knew it was. I clung to that knowledge like a lifeline.
"He fought," I thought desperately. "He fought you."
The darkness shifted, amusement rippled through it like a distortion in space.
He fought because he didn't understand yet.My chest tightened painfully.Now he does.
The pressure became suffocating. Not crushing, never enough to kill me. Just enough to make mehelpless.
You were never meant to last. You are a variable. A disruption.
Tears streamed freely now, sliding into my ears, down my neck. I couldn't wipe them away. I couldn't even close my eyes. Inside my head, panic spiraled, but beneath it, something else stirred: Anger.
Hot. Furious. Defiant.
No!
You don't get to tell me who he is. You don't get to rewrite him. You don't get to take him from me.
I focused everything I had on the bond, on that thin, trembling thread still connecting us. I reached for it, not gently, not carefully, but with raw desperation.
Dravok.
The name wasn't a word this time. It was apull. For a terrifying moment, nothing happened. But then… something answered. Not strongly. Not clearly. But enough.
The darkness recoiled, just a fraction, like something that hadn't expected resistance.
You think love will save him,it said, colder now. Love is temporary.
