The Final Imprint

Ren staggered out of the room, dizzy. The smell of blood sickened him, and he felt he was going to vomit. He killed Zel. Back in the room, he felt something change within him, almost feeling Azazel's warm blood on his hands. Deep down, he knew he had detonated the boy from the inside, but he didn't want to accept it. And Sonja. Could he really trust a chronic liar?

He felt a little better with the fresh air. Clenching his injured arm tightly to his side, he walked to Lily's house. Only then, when he was there, did he fire a magical shot into the sky, signaling Haku, the naturally gifted supernatural being, and Lily, the prophet with ancient magic.

He sank wearily at the outdoor table and sharply drew breath into his aching lungs. Azazel was dead, but Ren had no idea what was supposed to happen next. He had thought that if they closed the gate, then there would be rainbows and confetti from heaven, but neither occurred. He could only hope that the change was happening silently.

After what felt like hours—but was only minutes—of waiting, he saw movement in his field of vision: a white spot and a red spot approaching from his sides. Haku from the south and Lily from the north, approaching as planned.

"What in the world happened to you?" the mage asked, mouth agape, and immediately set about healing to stop the bleeding. "A half-dead man did this to you?" Lily chuckled, referring to Zel's father.

Ren just stared blankly ahead and said with a straight face, "I killed Azazel."

"You... what?"

"Zel's father, the original King, was dead when we got there. Zel attacked me and I... I honestly don't know. It happened so fast. I couldn't breathe, and then I think I detonated him from the inside," Ren whispered, his eyes full of tears.

"But that..." Lily and Haku looked at each other. "That's impossible. We ran into possessed animals on the way here. The gate hasn't closed." Lily chewed on every word before slowly spitting it out.

Ren's head drooped, his sad, despairing voice cutting through the air, "Then there was a problem with the plan. Maybe I misjudged the position, or maybe the whole chess thing was nonsense."

Too much had happened. Ren just wanted a quiet, peaceful day when he didn't have to think about how many people he had killed or how he could get out of here.

The air was filled with electricity. Everyone's hair was standing on end.

"Someone is here." Lily's body tensed as she scanned the air. Her senses sharpened. She focused on one thing: finding the carrier of the strange-feeling power. The sky darkened. Dark, puffy clouds covered the sun with their own bodies.

Ren noticed a tiny movement. Just enough to make him suspiciously stand up and strain his eyes, but he saw nothing. He stretched out one hand, sweeping it in front of him, trying to find the exact source of the light refraction he had seen in Gowan's cave.

Ren's hand struck something hard in the clear, empty air. He clutched it, and his head snapped back, the whites of his eyes taking over his expression. It was as if he had repeatedly put his hand into an electrical socket, and the current kept jolting his body.

Suddenly, the sensation stopped. A hooded figure towered in front of Ren, who slowly reached for his hood and pulled it back, revealing short, black hair and black eyes that stared right into Ren's soul.

Ren felt his mouth go dry as he uttered the next word.

"Zel?"

The man standing before him was a dead ringer, looking exactly like the man Ren had just killed. Except the man in front of Ren had short hair and as white skin as snow.

"Ezekiel..." Lily whispered, collapsing onto the ground.

Ezekiel, as the dead twin brother? The one Azazel had killed and buried at age 12?

"I bet you have a lot of questions. But first," he held out an open palm toward Ren, who, utterly shocked, took the hand of the real, supposedly dead Ezekiel. "Lily, will you join us?"

Lily began to sob loudly where she sat on the ground. Then, dusting herself off, she walked over to the boy, gripping Ezekiel's hand on one side and Ren's on the other.

Ezekiel closed his eyes and began chanting something that pumped immense magical power into the air, slowing the movement of things around them. The flapping of the birds' wings was so slow that they appeared to be standing still. The deep cracks Lily's rage had carved into the earth began to knit together, the rough edges smoothing over. The air, thick with the metallic tang of destructive power, slowly cleared, leaving behind the clean scent of afternoon.

It felt as if something that was broken was suddenly being repaired. Ren felt somehow different, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. His own scattered magic solidified, sharply anchoring his mind back into his body and driving him into the ground.

"The gate between the two worlds has closed," Ezekiel said in a calm voice that sounded completely different from the Zel they knew. "Nice hair. Is this some rebellion?" he asked playfully, holding a white lock of Lily's hair in his hands.

But the only thing Lily could stammer was, "How did you..."

Ezekiel stepped away, his gaze scanning the clear sky. He began to tell the story he hadn't even been able to think about for years.

"After Azazel stabbed and buried me, I thought I was going to die. I lost more and more blood, and my lungs filled with dirt. That's when a human soul visited me, drawn by the incredible power. It took an imprint of my soul, but it couldn't consume the whole thing. Something pulled it back. My heart stopped. But my body did not remain neutral after the encounter with the soul, or near-phantom. I became a phantom too—two-thirds of me. This part of me began pumping my heart manually. It squeezed it until it began to beat again. I could pass through solid objects, so I climbed out of the pit. But the remaining human part of me suffered. I was still bleeding and struggling to breathe. I knew I couldn't stay. Not just because of Azazel, but because of my mother and father. They would never have accepted their half-phantom child. So, that evening, I left Ivory Concord and met the Mage in the wilderness, who healed me. My body continuously flickers, as if it wants to be fully visible again."

"The Mage introduced me to Gowan, and I've been hiding there ever since, waiting for the right moment when the prophecy could come true. The prophecy your grandma only shared with me."

He looked meaningfully at Lily and began to quote from memory:

"The Orange Thread shall fade to White, but not by time or blight,

For ancient forces claim her in a storm of dark and light.

She, who holds the 64th Key, where all the secrets lie,

Will shatter the Prince's prison where the old truths quietly die."

"And me?" Ren nervously held up his hand, as if raising it in a classroom. "Why am I here?"

Ezekiel slowly approached him with a straight back, then took Ren's hands in his. "Your soul was the one that took an imprint of mine. You saved me. Thank you."

Ren could barely speak. He felt his lip tremble at Ezekiel's touch. The black-haired boy smiled at him reassuringly, as if he hadn't just spent years living life as a phantom.

Ren felt the raw, chaotic energy he had acquired just moments ago—the power taken from Azazel—drain away. It wasn't just magic leaving; it was a purification. The immense, overwhelming power that had been too large and too dangerous for his half-phantom soul to sustain was systematically pulled from his core, leaving him clean space. The headache that had pulsed behind his eyes since his first arrival in this world finally ceased.

He gasped, blinking rapidly. His hands, which had been shaking moments before with residual adrenaline and Azazel's borrowed power, now felt light and steady. He didn't feel weak; he felt calm, balanced, and, finally, entirely himself.

"How did I save you?" Ren asked in a relaxed voice.

"Didn't you have an accident years ago that you almost died from?" How could he forget? At age 12, he had a car accident and was in a coma for a week. Reiko cried beside him when he woke up. "You were the soul that almost died. And you were the one who took an imprint of my soul. You are half-phantom, too. You became sensitive to magic. And to Azazel."

"To Azazel?"

"The pains you experienced here intensified when he was near you and lessened when he was far away."

Haku couldn't help but interrupt. She nervously wrung her fingers. "No. Ren is in pain, because the Mage is killing in the other world..." Her voice grew softer until she bit off the end of the sentence. She, too, felt that something was wrong. Ezekiel shook his head.

"But the Snow-dusted people said his pain comes from Earth!" the oni insisted.

"Because he came into contact with Azazel on Earth. Through me."

Haku fell to the ground beside Lily in shock, and together they tried to make sense of everything they had experienced.

Ezekiel glanced over his shoulder at Ren and smiled broadly. The pleasant, calm wind tousled his short, black hair. His skin still flickered slightly, indicating he wasn't entirely human. The power in the air surged, a final, warm current of magic rushing toward Ren. Ezekiel's voice hummed in Ren's head like the sweetest melody.

"And now, I'm sending you home."