Mal lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, his thoughts swirling like a storm as Sumi appeared in the doorway. Leaning against the frame for a moment before crossing the room to him.

  "Listen," she said. "You’ve got to prepare yourself. We only get one full moon a month…”

  He wanted to say something, anything, but the weight of the moment held him in silence.

  "The full moon is the only time you can access the Dreah—the rift that lets you enter the towers. Without an orb inside you, you’re tied to the lunar cycle. This is your only shot this month.” She continued.

  He exhaled sharply, sitting up on the edge of the bed. The reality of the situation was sinking in deeper than before. The towers, the orbs, the weight of responsibility—it all circled around him, waiting for him to make his move.

  "I get it," he finally said, though his voice wavered slightly. "I just... didn’t think it would come so fast."

  Sumi stepped closer. "That’s why you have to stay focused. We’ll be with you, but you need to understand how important this is."

  Mal nodded, his resolve hardening. "Yeah... I know."

  “Listen you got options, we didn’t… so drop the attitude.” She could feel his defeat and it always frustrated her. “We aren’t asking you to take up the role or orb now, which is why I am reminding you of the lunar cycle.”

  “You need to cross through the three towers by January at the latest,” Sumi adds.

  “Why January?” Mal asked.

  “Because in February, there’ll be two full moons. If you get cold feet, that’s our only spare month.”

  “Why does it matter if there are two full moons?”

  She sighs. “Because the only way into the fourth tower is during a blue moon. We’ve never met Yaj; he’s a completely unknown Keeper. No one knows what to expect from him.”

  “What about the others?”

  “Torah and Sparrow will have your back,” Sumi reassures him. “They’ll support you through their towers. But first… you have to deal with the Baroness. And you know that’s going to be a problem.”

  “I get that,” Mal responds, “but what I’m not sure of is how I’ll shield myself from the infection of the shadows and those demon spirits…they’re always around.”

  Sumi’s expression hardens. “That’s where our family’s responsibility comes in.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Sumi pulls up the chair next to his desk, her body language casual but her words anything but.

  “I can place a curse on you.”

  Mal sits up slightly. “What kind of curse?”

  “A fever ward,” Sumi replies, putting her feet up on the bed, and facing him. “It’ll burn away most of the spirits and shadows that try to infect you while you’re moving toward the orb.”

  “What exactly does this ward do?”

  “It creates an aura of heat around you,” Sumi explains. “Most of those things will be destroyed if they get too close. But it’s not without risk. It gives you a fever—a real one. And that fever gets worse the longer you’re in the tower.”

  “Okay, and then what happens?”

  “If you don’t get to check the shadow binding fast enough, it’ll get too intense. You’ll become disoriented. Hallucinations will start. If you’re in there too long, the fever can do permanent damage to your brain,”

  Sumi continues, her voice low. “It’s not something to mess with.”

  Mal runs a hand through his hair again, his breath catching slightly. “Great,” he stutters, “just another thing to worry about. Well... how much time do I have?"

  "The first full moon is on the 28th of October."

  Mal blinked, caught off guard. "So, like, two weeks? A couple of days before my birthday... and Halloween."

  Sumi smirked, her tone laced with sarcasm, but there was a warmth behind it. "Yeah, so let’s try not to die on our birthday, okay?"

  He chuckled softly, though the tension lingered in the air. The moment of levity passed quickly, and Mal's face grew serious again.

  "And what happens if I don’t want to do it?"

  "If any of the orbs have been tampered with, the bindings on the demons inside those towers will break… and you know what that means."

  Mal’s stomach dropped, a cold knot of dread tightening inside him. He didn’t need her to explain. The answer hovered in his mind like a storm cloud.

  "It's the end..."

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  "Exactly, it won’t matter if you get good grades, learn how to make your anime, or chase whatever dreams you have. There won’t be any people left to enjoy it… Including you."

  Mal swallowed hard, there was no avoiding it, no sidestepping this responsibility. The stakes had never been clearer.

  His voice cracked as he whispered, "I don’t think I’m gonna be able to do this… This is madness. Just the thought of it makes me want to die, to be honest."

  He leaned forward, rubbing his lower leg in a futile attempt to soothe himself.

  She crouched beside him.

  “Hey… it’s gonna be fine. We know more now. You’ve got us—our abilities, everything. Things are different. You’ve grown.”

  Mal’s gaze shifted to her, his voice breaking with a mix of anger and fear. “I don’t think you understand what that was like… the shit that still haunts me.”

  Sumi’s face tightened with understanding, though her eyes stayed fixed on his. “Look, I get that I can’t fully comprehend the nightmare you went through,” she began, her words gentle but firm. “But I can tell you this—if we don’t check those orbs, every single one of those nightmares will come back…They’ll come to life.”

  Mal blinked, feeling the warm trails of tears slide down his temples as he lay back against the bed. His mind spun with images of the horrors he’d seen, the memories of the past still fresh enough to hurt.

  She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a firm hug. “Look, you drive me crazy most of the time,” she murmured, “but I love you. And I promise, I’ll do everything I can to protect you—with all the magic I’ve got.”

  A soft knock at the door broke through his thoughts.

  "Come in," he called.

  The door creaked open, and Harper peeked her head inside. "Is it okay if I come in?"

  "Of course, as long as you’re not gonna mess with my…male emotions," he joked, though his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes.

  "I’m sorry, that was probably too much," she said, stepping inside.

  "Yeah, it was too much. I don’t think there’s enough cold showers in the world that could’ve fixed that,"

  Harper walked over to his desk and sat down in the chair his sister had been in earlier. "Well, I could always fill my tub up with ice. Would that help?" She grinned.

  "Real funny," he said, shaking his head. "I think there’s only one way you could solve that," he added with a devilish grin. “But I feel so exhausted I don’t even think I would care to try and solve it.”

  She smiled at his attempt to keep things light and got up from the chair, moving to sit closer to him on the edge of the bed.

  "Well, your smart-aleck attitude is still intact, so you must be okay—at least on the surface," she said softly, her eyes studying him with genuine concern.

  "Yeah, I’m all right," Mal replied, but his voice was heavy. "It feels pathetic to say that this sucks, but it is what it is. Sometimes the tasks we have to face in life suck… Part of the adventure, I guess."

  "Yes, it is part of the adventure, but you’re also not going alone this time. And you’re not going unprepared. I don’t understand what any of this means—you know that—but if there’s anything I can do, even if you just want to talk about it… I’m here."

  Mal exhaled deeply, feeling the comfort of her presence but still wrestling with his thoughts.

  "Okay, but trying to balance life and make a different journey for myself… that was the plan. I felt like things were going so great, tonight I helped my class with a huge project, and might have even impressed a cute girl… I was driving in a state of euphoria… to have it come crashing down.”

  “Cute girl huh? Did she get the lust fire I started in you?”

  “You know I’m not like that Harp.”

  “Oh come on… I’m just messing with you.”

  “Sorry, just so out of it I can’t…”

  “Don’t be sorry, I’m sorry… I shouldn’t be pushing you and we should stay on the real topic at hand. What can I do for real for real?” She said trying to adjust her posture and tone.

  She could see the fear and burnt-out exhaustion in him.

  “It’s been a decade since there’s been any issue, so I figured I could wait till the last minute to accept my role in this. If not, maybe even find someone else—another host, or a way out," he admitted, his voice trailing off.

  "Do you really want to take that responsibility outside of your family?" she asked quietly.

  Mal hesitated, then nodded slowly.

  "In my own selfish way, kind of… I know it’s not the best thing, but people have been doing it for thousands of years, and the world hasn’t ended yet. Finding a potential—someone suitable—seemed like a worthy journey while I tried to live my own life."

  Harper looked at him for a long moment, her face softened with empathy. She wanted to say something comforting, something that would make sense of all this, but the truth was, she couldn’t fully comprehend what Mal was going through. She didn’t know what it felt like to carry one of the orbs inside her soul, to have that kind of responsibility hanging over her, as Mal and his sisters did.

  Without a word, she reached out and touched his cheek gently, the gesture not romantic, but caring—like a sister, or a mother, offering comfort. Mal blinked, feeling the warmth of her hand on his skin, and it grounded him in a way he hadn’t expected.

  "Look at me," she said softly.

  He met her gaze, her eyes warm and steady, her hand still resting against his face.

  "You’ve got this," she said, her voice full of quiet conviction.

  Mal swallowed, feeling his throat constricted. He wanted to believe her—he wanted to believe that he could handle all of it.

  But the truth was, the weight of the orb, the responsibility, and the uncertainty of what was to come made him feel small… powerless.

  "You sound pretty sure of me," he said, his voice quiet.

  "I am," Harper replied, her hand still resting against his cheek. "You may not feel like you’re ready, but you’ve already made it this far and that’s something."

  He leaned into her hand for a moment, feeling the steady comfort that came from her presence.

  "I don’t know if it’s enough, though, sometimes it feels like no matter how much I try, I’m just stuck in this loop. Like I’m supposed to be something bigger, but I’m just… struggling to be…me."

  Harper smiled softly and shook her head. "You don’t need to be bigger than who you are, Mal. You’ve got the strength inside you already. I think it’s just about letting yourself believe in it. Believing in you.”

  Harper’s fingers waited for a moment before she pulled her hand away.

  "I know you Mal, you’re stronger than you think. You always have been. You just need to trust yourself a little more."

  Mal’s eyes were already growing heavy, exhaustion tugging at him. He fought to stay present, but her words began to blur together in the fog of fatigue.

  He nodded sluggishly, his mind drifting. "Yeah… maybe. I just don’t know how to... all of this... it’s so much."

  Harper could see the battle he was losing with sleep, so she leaned in and kissed his forehead, brushing the hair back from his eyes.

  "It is a lot. But you don’t have to do it all at once. Just take it one step at a time, okay? We’re all here for you."

  She watched him for a moment longer as his breathing deepened, his chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm.

  Mal’s spoke barely audible. "Goodnight… love you."

  Harper stood, and smiled down at him, her hand resting over her heart as she whispered, "I always love you, Mallymal."

  Harper quietly stepped to exit the room, her fingers grazing the doorframe before she pulled it shut behind her.

  Mal lay on his back, his eyes closed, processing her words.

  They lingered in the quiet space between sleep and consciousness.

  In the darkness, he finally gave in to the weight of the day, surrendering to sleep.