Chapter 50

Sarah's POV

I didn't recognize the place where Axel stood. The air was heavy, oppressive, thick with a strange, ethereal quality that seemed to stifle my every breath. The space stretched endlessly in front of me—dark, barren, and full of nothing but a faint glow that seemed to emanate from nowhere.

But then, there he was. Axel.

His form was both familiar and wrong—his presence more shadow than substance. His eyes, once filled with warmth, now gleamed with a cold, terrifying intensity. His lips were pressed into a thin line, as though he were struggling with something, but there was no trace of his usual affection.

I stepped forward cautiously, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Axel?" My voice was weak, a mere whisper.

His eyes flickered, but he didn't speak. There was something unnatural about him—an aura that made the hairs on my neck stand on end. His form shifted slightly, like he wasn't entirely solid, as if he were a fragment of something broken and remade.

"I know you're not him," I whispered, more to myself than to him. But the words slipped out, breaking the silence between us like a brittle thread.

Axel's mouth twitched, a flicker of something—remorse, maybe, or recognition?—passed through his features before it vanished entirely. "I don't know what you think you know, Sarah. But I'm here now, and that's all that matters."

His voice was colder than I remembered, distant, as if he were speaking through a fog. It wasn't Axel. Not really. The man I loved, the man I had fought for, was lost to whatever the rift had done to him.

"Where is he, then?" I demanded, my voice louder now, rising with the weight of my anger and confusion. "Where is Axel? What have you done to him?"

The figure before me smirked, but it wasn't Axel's smirk. It was something darker, more calculating. "What you see is the result of what the rift does. I am what was left behind when the curse shattered. I am part of him, yes, but I am something more now."

The words struck me like a physical blow. "You're not him," I said, shaking my head. "You're... you're something else. Something twisted."

He tilted his head, his eyes glimmering with an unholy light. "Twisted? Perhaps. But I am his other half, the part of him that has been left behind. And you... you will help me bring him back. Or you will be the one to lose everything."

The threat was there, hanging in the air between us like a blade waiting to drop. My heart raced in my chest, the fear flooding my veins. But there was no time for hesitation, no time to falter. I had to make a choice—there was no room for uncertainty anymore.

"I won't help you," I spat, anger surging through me. "I will fight you, even if it's the last thing I do."

His laugh was hollow, echoing through the empty space. "You think you can fight me? You think you can fight what's already inside you?" He took a step forward, his form flickering again. His eyes burned with an unnatural glow, brighter now, drawing me in, making me feel the pull of something deeper, darker.

The stone in my hand pulsed violently, sending a shockwave of energy through my body. The power was raw, uncontrollable, like a fire unleashed, threatening to consume everything in its path.

"No," I gasped, trying to push the stone away, but it wouldn't budge. The force of its pull was too strong. It resonated with something deep inside me, some latent power that I didn't understand, and I felt it reaching into me—finding something that wasn't mine.

Axel's twisted reflection watched with cold amusement as I struggled. "You can't escape it," he said, his voice softer now, almost tender, but with a chilling edge. "You're already tied to me. To this place. To the curse."

A surge of power erupted from the stone, and I cried out as the energy rushed through me. The rift's power, the curse, the darkness—it all swirled inside me, a maelstrom of destruction and chaos.

I felt myself losing control, the light from the stone flooding my senses, blinding me with its intensity. The ground trembled beneath my feet as though the world itself was crumbling apart. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think.

And then, suddenly, I saw him. Axel. The real Axel.

He was standing at the edge of the void, his face pale and drawn, his eyes locked onto mine with an intensity that pierced through the storm of power swirling around me. "Sarah!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos, the pain in it unmistakable.

I stumbled toward him, the world around me shifting, warping, but I couldn't reach him. The rift was pulling me in again, dragging me further into the dark abyss.

"Axel!" I screamed, my voice lost in the howl of the rift. My heart wrenched as I watched him reach out, his hand stretched toward me, but the distance between us only grew.

The twisted reflection of Axel, the one I had spoken to, sneered. "You think you can save him? He's already mine."

"No!" I cried, the stone in my hand glowing brighter, searing my skin. The pain was unbearable, but I couldn't stop. I couldn't let go.

The power surged again, and this time, I didn't fight it. I embraced it, letting it burn through me, filling me with a heat that was almost too much to bear. I felt my mind stretch, my body bending under the weight of it, but I didn't relent.

And then, with a violent explosion of light, everything stopped.

The rift snapped closed, the darkness retreating as though it had never been. The ground beneath me solidified once again, and I found myself standing in an empty space—silent, still, and unnervingly quiet.

But Axel... Axel was gone.

The real Axel. The one who had been fighting, struggling to return.

I sank to my knees, breathless, my hands trembling. The stone had gone dark, its glow fading into nothingness. There was no sign of the twisted version of him, no trace of the creature that had tried to deceive me.

I was alone.

For the first time in what felt like forever, there was no rift, no darkness. Just silence.

But I couldn't rest. Not yet.

I had to find him. No matter what it took.