The indruder part 7
---
Reborn in the 100th — Part 7
The moonlight spilled through the arched windows of the goblin palace, painting Onsel’s chamber in silver shadows. Kelith hesitated at the doorway, her heart pounding. She had come to return a scroll, but the soft crackle of dark energy from inside froze her in place.
Inside, Onsel stood with his back to her — but it wasn’t the calm, teasing tutor she knew. His hair shimmered like midnight flame, horns curved from his temples, and his eyes burned crimson. His shoulders rose and fell with heavy breaths, and dark markings pulsed along his skin.
“Onsel…?” Her voice trembled.
He turned sharply, eyes narrowing in something between pain and warning. “You shouldn’t be here, Kelith.”
But instead of fear, something inside her flared — curiosity, concern… and a strange pull. “Why hide this from me?” she demanded, stepping closer. “Is this what you truly are?”
The energy between them rippled. Onsel’s hands twitched, as though fighting an unseen force. His voice was low, almost pained. “Leave. I can’t control it right now.”
Kelith didn’t listen. She reached out, her touch brushing his arm. The moment their skin met, a sudden wave of warmth surged between them, drowning the darkness. His breathing slowed, the crimson in his eyes fading to their usual deep amber.
For a second, their faces were close enough for her to feel his breath. He smirked faintly — a ghost of his usual self — but there was something softer there now.
Before she could speak, a deep, steady voice came from behind.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Kelith turned to see a tall man in a dark green coat, carrying a case filled with strange glass vials. His sharp eyes scanned the room, lingering on Onsel for a moment.
“This,” the Goblin King said from the doorway, “is Sen. A human scientist… and an old ally.”
Sen gave a polite bow. “I’ve been studying your kind for years. I’m here to help — though it seems I’ve arrived at a rather interesting time.” His smirk was quick but knowing, and it made Kelith’s heart thud again, though for entirely different reasons.
Onsel’s jaw tightened. “We don’t need his help.”
“That,” Sen replied calmly, “isn’t for you to decide.”
From that moment, the air between the three of them shifted — an unspoken tension that would only grow until it erupted in conflict two weeks later.
---
