The night clung to them like a shroud.
Sleep came in fragments, uneasy and brittle. Liam stirred from haunted dreams, Elira's whisper still echoing in his skull like a blade dragged across stone. He stared at the stars above, wide-eyed, jaw clenched. The dying embers of their fire cracked softly, but the warmth felt distant. His heart raced in his chest, cold and thunderous.
He sat up.
Aeris was still awake, perched on a slab of ruin a short distance away. Her cloak was pulled tightly around her shoulders, her eyes reflecting the flickering starlight. The crystal she had shown earlier now rested in her hands, pulsing faintly — like a heartbeat.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Liam asked quietly as he approached.
Aeris didn't look at him. "I've crossed worlds before," she murmured. "But not like this. Not without knowing what's waiting on the other side."
Liam sat beside her. "You've done this before?"
"Only once. When I left the human world behind." She turned to him now, eyes softer. "Back then, I had hope. I was young. Foolish. I thought the Realm would save me."
He didn't know what to say to that. So he stayed silent.
The crystal flared in her hand, its hum growing deeper.
"It's time," Aeris whispered.
The others stirred quickly. Kael unsheathed his blade and scanned the shadows out of habit. Nyra blinked away dreams and clutched her summoning orb with both hands.
"Are we sure about this?" Nyra asked, her voice hushed.
Aeris nodded. "This tear will bring us into the human world, somewhere near where Elira was last seen. It won't be exact. And it won't be safe."
Kael exhaled slowly. "Let's make it count then."
The crystal rose between Aeris' hands as she whispered words none of them recognized. The air twisted, pulling at their hair, tugging at their skin like unseen fingers. The shadows deepened. Light bent unnaturally.
A single fracture opened in the fabric of reality — not with a thunderous roar, but a whispering hiss.
Liam felt his body shudder, as if being pulled inside out. For a moment, there was nothing — no sound, no thought, no sensation.
Then the ground slammed into them.
They sprawled into a damp, overgrown alley, brick walls towering around them like forgotten sentinels. The moon hung pale and bloated in a smoggy sky. City lights glowed faintly in the distance.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Nyra groaned, rising to her feet. Her clothes were stained with moss and dirt. Her summoning orb flickered but dimmed instantly.
"I can't... I can't feel the link," she muttered.
"Realm magic's gone," Aeris confirmed, brushing leaves from her cloak. "We're cut off now. We survive as they do."
Kael stood slowly, checking his weapons. "Then we need to find shelter. Fast."
Liam took a shaky breath and looked up. Something about this world felt... wrong. Not just unfamiliar — "wrong". Like it had been "touched" by something unnatural. The buildings bore cracks that pulsed faintly under moonlight, and distant whispers carried in the wind.
They weren't alone.
As they slipped through the quiet backstreets, Liam kept close to Aeris. "You said we need to find the protectors? The ones Elira entrusted?"
"Yes. But they've been gone from the Realm for years. They've likely forgotten who they are. Maybe even who she was."
"How will we find them then?"
"We follow the fragments," she said. "Their presence should awaken something — not just in us, but in them. The third piece is here. We'll feel it, eventually. We just need to survive long enough."
They took refuge in an abandoned warehouse by the harbor. The walls groaned with time, and the floor was littered with broken crates and old chains. It was cold, but dry.
Aeris lit a small flame from a lighter she had tucked away, and Kael found blankets hidden beneath dusty tarp.
"We rest here," he declared. "We take shifts."
Liam took the first watch.
As the others slept, he paced near a broken window, watching the street outside.
That's when he saw her.
Elira.
Standing across the street.
She wore a cloak of pale gray, hood down, her silver hair drifting in the wind. Her eyes locked with his — distant, hollow, and glowing faintly blue.
He stumbled back, heart hammering.
"Elira?!" he whispered.
But when he blinked — she was gone.
He rushed to the window, eyes scanning desperately. Nothing. Empty street. Empty night.
"You saw her too, didn't you?"
Liam turned to find Aeris standing behind him, face pale.
"She's watching us," he breathed. "But... something's off. Her eyes — they didn't look like hers."
Aeris nodded. "We need to be careful. If Nytherion's influence has already touched her, she might be more than a threat. She might be a trap."
That night, Liam didn't sleep. The visions returned, deeper and more violent. He saw shadows twisting into faces, fire raining from skies, Elira screaming his name — but her voice wasn't her own. It was layered. Corrupted.
He woke in a sweat.
They moved the next day, navigating the human city like ghosts. Strange signs littered the walls: symbols that shimmered when looked at too long, whispers echoing from alleyways that led nowhere.
Then, at midday, they found it.
A bookstore. Old, shut tight by time, its windows covered in grime. But the moment they stepped near it — the crystal on Aeris' belt glowed faintly. So did Liam's mark.
"It's here," Aeris whispered. "Something's hidden here."
Kael kicked the door in.
Dust rose like a living thing. Shelves sagged under ancient tomes. And on the far wall — a mirror. Cracked.
Liam approached it slowly.
His reflection shimmered — and changed. He saw Elira again. But this time, her mouth opened.
"You're too late, Liam."
The mirror exploded.
Shards scattered, and from within the frame, a twisted shadow burst forward. It was humanoid — vaguely — but draped in ink-like tendrils that oozed smoke. Its face was a blur, ever-shifting.
Kael leapt forward, blades slashing. They passed through it like water.
Nyra raised her orb, desperately trying to summon — nothing came.
Aeris screamed, reaching for the crystal. "Liam! Take it! Focus it!"
He grabbed it. Light surged through his arms. His mark ignited. The world slowed.
And in that second — he "saw" it.
A memory not his own. Elira. Bleeding. Laughing. Chained in a tower of mirrors.
"You must find them," she said. "Before I forget who I am."
Then — darkness.
Liam roared and thrust the crystal forward. Light shattered the shadow's form, scattering it into streams of mist.
He collapsed.
Kael was at his side instantly. "You okay?"
Liam nodded weakly. "We're not alone. The enemy... they're watching everything. Even here."
Aeris stepped forward, picking up a small, metallic shard from the remains of the mirror. It pulsed like the crystal.
The third fragment.
Only it was... incomplete.
"It's only a piece," she whispered. "A lure. The rest is still out there. And they know we're coming."
Liam stared at the broken frame, then at the street outside.
The war hadn't paused. It had just crossed the veil.