A Flicker of Light

We awoke in a vast chamber, the heart of the Dreamscape itself. Sable stood at the center, his aura pulsating with raw power, his eyes filled with a deep emptiness.

“This ends now,” he said coldly, raising his hand to summon the full force of the Dreamscape against us.

Raelle and I braced ourselves, but I knew that fighting him head-on was futile. We couldn’t destroy him without destroying the Dreamscape itself.

“Elliot,” Raelle whispered urgently, “the only way to stop him is to reach his soul—to find the light within him that he’s tried so hard to bury.”

I nodded, and together we stepped forward, our hands raised in a gesture of peace.

“Sable,” I said, my voice steady. “You don’t have to do this. There’s still a way back—a way to heal.”

For a moment, Sable hesitated, his gaze flickering with something other than rage. But then his expression hardened, and he unleashed a torrent of dark energy, the force of his despair tearing through the chamber.

Raelle and I stood our ground, reaching out to him even as the darkness threatened to consume us. “Sable!” I shouted over the roar of energy. “You’re not alone!”

The energy wavered, and for a heartbeat, I saw a glimmer of hope in Sable’s eyes.

But then, with a final surge of power, he let out a scream of pure anguish, his form dissolving into shadows that swirled around us in a storm of despair.