Rene had slowly opened his eyes upon awakening. He was confused as to where he was. He knew for sure that he had fell asleep on his bed. So then how did he end up outside?
"Sylvia...?"
"Oh, you're awake. You're a heavy sleeper, you know that? I brought you all the way over here and you somehow didn't even wake up then!"
He sat up and looked around. He was on a flat, rocky land with a forest in the distance.
"Huh...?"
"Unfortunately, Lord Thorne did not allow Mari to come with us. I'm truly sorry. But at least you have me!"
"Where are we though?"
Sylvia tilted her head, smiling as if the question amused her.
"Somewhere better." she said lightly. "Somewhere you can breathe."
Rene pushed himself up fully, brushing dust from his sleeves. The air felt… thinner. In the distance, beyond the flat stretch of stone and scrub, the forest did not meet the sky properly. It shimmered. Like heat rising from sand. A faint distortion, vertical and endless, ran across the world like a seam.
He stared at it.
"What's that?"
Sylvia followed his gaze.
"That is a veil."
"A veil…?"
"You've lived your whole life inside one, René. Most people do. They just don't know it." She stepped closer to him, her tail swaying lazily behind her. "Barriers. Boundaries. Invisible walls placed all over the world…"
He frowned. "Why?"
"Well, it's a result of a war long ago. In that war, something had caused veils to rise across the world. It ended up splitting up the world into several sections."
She let that settle.
Rene looked back at the distortion on the horizon. The forest beyond it seemed slightly faded, like a painting viewed through water.
Sylvia stepped toward the seam in the world. As she did, the air around her seemed to compress.
"Rene." She said softly, without turning around, "have you ever wondered why the world feels… incomplete?"
He hesitated. He had. Often. The mansion had felt like a cage.
"Yes."
"The veils keep people safe." She continued, "but they also keep them ignorant. Cultures separated. Knowledge divided. Entire civilizations locked away from one another."
She extended her hand to the side.
The air split. Not violently. Not explosively. It simply parted, like fabric pulled aside. From within that thin fracture of darkened space, something slid into existence.
A blade.
It was not ornate. It was lean, slightly curved, its metal darker than night with a line of orangish gold along the edge.
The Dusk Blade.
Rene stared at it; breath caught in his throat.
"This is the Dusk Blade. It serves as both a weapon and a key." She told him.
She turned and walked back to him.
"There are forces in this world that believe people should remain divided. That fear what might happen if the walls fall." She lowered the sword toward him. "But you're different, Rene."
"Different how?"
"You can see the cracks."
She placed the hilt in his hand. The moment his fingers closed around it, the hum in the air deepened. Sylvia watched his reaction carefully.
"If you cut the veil, the lands beyond will no longer be isolated. Trade will flow. Knowledge will spread. People who have been separated for centuries will finally meet."
She stepped behind him now, guiding his shoulders toward the shimmering seam in the world.
"It won't destroy the world; it will unite it."
Rene looked at the distortion ahead as it faintly pulsed.
"It won't hurt anyone?"
"Of course not. I assure you. You wanted freedom, didn't you?"
His grip tightened.
"Yes."
"Then show the world what freedom looks like."
The veil flickered, as if aware of what stood before it. He took a deep breath. Then he slashed.