The morning light was brighter now, stretching over Lowmere's rooftops, spilling across the quiet streets.
Normally, the weekend meant freedom. A break from classes, from schedules, from expectations.
But today?
I just needed to breathe. So much for staying in like I'd previously planned.
I kept walking, my steps quick, restless, my mind tangled in too many thoughts I didn't want to process.
I didn't have a destination. I just knew I couldn't stay in that house.
Not with Lara.
Not with the weight of all the things we weren't saying.
I clenched my jaw, pushing the thoughts aside. I wasn't going to let them consume me.
I needed to do something. Something reckless.
Something that would make me feel alive again.
Then, just as I turned the corner onto one of Lowmere's busier streets, a familiar hum reached my ears.
The low, deep purr of a motorcycle engine.
I barely had time to react before the bike pulled up beside me: sleek, dark, its engine still rumbling like a low, steady growl.
Riven.
Hair messily tousled from the wind, gray eyes locking onto mine with that same unreadable intensity that always set me on edge.
I sighed dramatically, crossing my arms. "Twice in one day? Wow. I must be the luckiest girl alive."
Riven smirked, tilting his head slightly. "Don't sound too excited, Athens. You looked like you were about to run yourself in circles."
I huffed. "Maybe I like walking."
His gaze flickered over me, studying, before returning to my face. "Where were you even going?"
I hesitated. I didn't have an answer.
And somehow, that seemed to amuse him.
Riven exhaled, shaking his head. "Get on."
I blinked. "What?"
He tapped the seat behind him. "Get on, Athena."
A reckless, dangerous thrill curled low in my stomach.
I should have said no. I should have turned around and walked away.
Instead, I stepped forward.
"Where are we going?" I asked, even as I swung my leg over the bike, settling behind him.
Riven smirked, something dangerous and teasing flickering behind his eyes.
"You'll see."
And just like that, we were off, speeding into the unknown.
The engine roared beneath us, the wind whipping against my skin as Riven sped through the streets of Lowmere.
I tightened my grip around his waist, my heart pounding for reasons I didn't want to think too hard about.
I had no idea where we were going.
And somehow, that made this even better.
We left the familiar streets behind, the bustling market, the winding alleys, even the edges of town where the cliffs met the sea.
Then, we kept going.
Further.
I felt it when the air shifted. The magic in the atmosphere thickened, crackling like static against my skin.
I leaned closer, raising my voice above the wind. "Riven, where the hell are we going?"
I could practically hear the smirk in his voice when he said, "You'll see."
My stomach twisted, not with fear, but with something else. Anticipation.
I wasn't sure whether I wanted to punch him or hold on tighter.
After what felt like forever, the bike finally began to slow.
Riven pulled into a clearing just past the outskirts of Lowmere, but this wasn't just any place.
I felt it immediately.
The air buzzed with old magic, the kind that settled deep in your bones and refused to let go.
The motorcycle came to a stop, and Riven kicked down the stand.
I hesitated before loosening my grip on him, realizing only then that my fingers were still curled into his jacket.
I forced myself to let go, my hands falling to my sides as I took in my surroundings.
The ruins stretched before us: vast, silent, half-consumed by time.
Towering stone arches cast long shadows over crumbling stairways that led to nowhere. The once-intricate carvings were now barely discernible, worn away by centuries.
But above it all, hanging in the air like a wound in reality itself: A massive, glowing rift.
Shimmering. Pulsing. Alive.
I swung my leg off the bike, my pulse quickening as I stepped forward.
"What is this place?" I breathed.
Riven pulled off his gloves, shaking out his hair.
"Somewhere no one else will bother you."
That should have reassured me. It didn't.
I turned to him, my stomach twisting. "Why did you bring me here?"
He tilted his head slightly, his gray eyes unreadable.
"Because you needed an escape. And maybe…" His voice dipped lower. "This place could answer some of your questions."
A chill curled down my spine.
I swallowed, my gaze drifting back toward the rift, the ruins, the eerie, impossible beauty of it all.
This wasn't just ruins. And I had a feeling Riven knew exactly what it was.
The wind shifted, carrying the faint hum of energy from the rift above.
I stared at the shifting light, my pulse still uneven.
This place knew things.
I could feel it in my bones, in the way the air pulsed with something ancient, half-forgotten.
Then Riven spoke.
"Whatever the Rune showed you…" he exhaled, watching me closely, "wasn't just some random vision."
I turned to him, frowning. "Then what was it?"
He let the question hang before answering.
"A glimpse into the Celestial Rift Conflict."
My breath hitched. The words settled like stone in my chest.
The Celestial Rift Conflict. I knew about it. Everyone did.
A battle so brutal, so consuming, that it nearly shattered the realms themselves.
A battle that left scars so deep, some of them still bled. But it wasn't what caused the imbalance in the Omnivale.
It was an attempt. An attempt by the Pyrix King and Noctari King to seize control over the leylines.
To claim absolute power. And somehow, I had been inside it.
I frowned, trying to fit the pieces together. The warrior. The battle. The link…
Riven smirked slightly, arms crossing over his chest.
"If you'd paid enough attention in Calix's class, you would've connected the dots sooner."
I shot him a glare. "Oh, excuse me for not expecting my Ancient Magic History lessons to suddenly become my real-life nightmares."
Riven chuckled, shaking his head. "Should've known you'd find a way to blame me for that."
I let out a sharp breath, rubbing my temple as I turned back to the ruins.
The Celestial Rift Conflict. That's what I had seen.
But why?
And more importantly, why did it feel so personal?
I exhaled, my fingers brushing over the nearest stone pillar. The surface was cool beneath my touch, but beneath the stone, beneath the air, something stirred.
"So this place… it's connected to the war?"
Riven's smirk faded. His expression shifted into something darker. Something unreadable.
"More than you know."
A shiver curled down my spine.
I wasn't sure if that excited me, or terrified me.
Riven exhaled, tilting his head toward the ruins. "We're standing exactly where it took place."
I froze.
The words slammed into me like a physical force.
Slowly, I looked around again, the ruins, the worn carvings, the fractured rift.
This wasn't just an ancient site. This was the battlefield. The heart of the Celestial Rift Conflict.
My breath came unsteady, my fingers trailing across the cool surface of the pillar.
How many had fought here? How many had fallen?
No wonder the energy felt so charged.
It wasn't just magic lingering in these stones. It was history.
I swallowed hard and turned back to Riven. "And you just casually decided to bring me here?"
His gaze flickered with something unreadable. "You needed to see it."
I let out a short, disbelieving laugh. "Right. Because staring at the remnants of a battle that nearly shattered realms is exactly what I needed today."
Riven smirked, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I thought you wanted answers."
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to look back at the ruins.
I did. I just wasn't sure I was ready for them.
I barely registered Riven's presence behind me as my feet carried me forward, deeper into the ruins, as if drawn by an invisible force.
The pulse of the rift called to me, its glow shifting and swirling, casting distorted light against the ancient stone.
I knew I should stop. But I didn't.
I couldn't.
The air hummed against my skin, the magic so thick it felt like a heartbeat. Alive. Waiting. Remembering.
My breath came slow and steady as I reached out, fingers hovering just inches from the light spilling from the rift.
I felt a crack of energy: sharp, electric, splitting through the air like a fracture in reality.
And then the world shattered around me.
Heat slammed into me. A deafening roar of magic and destruction swallowed everything.
I gasped, staggering, but the weight on my shoulders wasn't mine.
The armor was heavy, the grip of a blade firm in my hand, its warmth pulsing against my palm.
I wasn't in the ruins anymore. I was inside him. The Celestial Guardian.
And I was standing at the heart of the battlefield.
The ground trembled beneath my boots as battle raged, magic colliding in violent explosions that sent shockwaves through the air.
The Pyrix King was a living inferno, flames seething from his form, molten gold and red streaking through the battlefield in trails of destruction. His armor glowed like embers, his presence suffocating, overpowering.
And beside him: The Noctari King.
I had seen him in the vision before.
But now, I was standing before him.
He was young. Too young to command the kind of fear he did.
Long, dark hair cascaded over his shoulders in loose tresses, his frame wrapped in black armor that shimmered with something unnatural.
But his eyes: Cold. Empty. Unfeeling.
Shadows curled at his feet, twisting like living tendrils, shifting with every movement. He wasn't like the Pyrix King, who burned through everything in his path.
He was measured. Calculated. Unreadable.
And those empty, hollow eyes locked onto me.
I felt the power coursing through the guardian's body, through mine.
Magic burned beneath my skin, light surging through my blade, filling my veins with something ancient and unrelenting.
But there was something else. Something feeding me.
A link.
An unseen tether, pulsing with energy.
She was there. The hidden woman.
I couldn't see her, but I could feel her.
Like a silent force just beyond my reach, fueling me, binding me to this fight.
The Pyrix King took a step forward, flames licking at the air around him.
"You hold a dead cause, Xavian."
His voice crackled like burning embers.
Xavian's grip on the blade tightened. My grip tightened.
The Noctari King's voice was lower, smooth, unreadable.
"The leylines were never meant to be contained. You of all people should know that."
A sharp pulse shot through my chest.
I felt Xavian's heartbeat, strong, steady, but heavy with something more than just battle.
Resolve. Determination. Fury.
And something else. Something deeply connected to the woman I still couldn't see.
I turned, or tried to.
Tried to find her. Tried to understand why she mattered.
Just then, the Noctari King moved.
Fast. Too fast.
Shadows twisted around him, shifting like smoke, and before I could react, his hand lifted. Darkness rushed forward, and the world ripped away.
I jerked back into existence.
My body stumbled, my breath ragged, the ruins spinning around me.
The battlefield was gone and the sky was whole again.
The rift was fractured once more.
But I was still shaking. Still feeling the battle in my veins.
I gasped, barely able to steady myself before Riven's hands caught my arms.
"Athena!"
His grip was firm, grounding, his eyes sharp and focused. Like he had been trying to pull me back.
I sucked in a breath, my pulse thundering.
I wasn't just seeing the past. I was inside it.
I looked up at Riven, my voice barely above a whisper.
"I wasn't just watching. I was him. Xavian. The Celestial Guardian. I could feel everything. The power. The weight of the battle. The link to..."
I hesitated, the name lingering at the tip of my tongue.
But I didn't know it. Riven didn't look surprised.
He looked like he had been expecting this. And that terrified me more than anything.