Chapter Three: Between Worlds
Elena's stomach lurched as if she'd stepped off a cliff. Light and shadow wrapped around her, pulling in every direction at once. Her breath caught in her throat—too bright, too dark, too much. The ground seemed to vanish beneath her feet, yet Kael's hand was iron in hers, steady, unyielding.
Then, as quickly as it began, the chaos broke.
Elena stumbled forward, catching herself against Kael's arm. Her vision blurred, then cleared—and she froze.
They stood in a place that wasn't earth, wasn't sky. A vast expanse stretched around them, endless and surreal. The ground shimmered like glass, reflecting a sky painted in impossible colors—violet, silver, crimson, shifting as though alive. Mountains floated weightlessly in the distance, upside-down and right-side-up at once. Rivers of light cut through the air, twisting like living streams.
Elena's mouth went dry. "Where… are we?"
Kael released her hand gently, though the warmth lingered. "The Veil. A place between worlds. It keeps mortals out… and secrets in."
She turned slowly, overwhelmed. The beauty was undeniable, breathtaking, but it was wrong too. Too perfect. Too fragile. "This isn't real."
His voice was quiet, but certain. "It's real enough to kill you."
Her gaze snapped to him. "That's supposed to make me feel better?"
He didn't answer right away, scanning the horizon with a wary intensity. "The Veil isn't stable. It shifts, rearranges. Some places are safe. Others…" His eyes darkened. "Others aren't."
Elena wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly very small in the endless expanse. "And you brought me here?"
"I brought you where the hunters couldn't follow." His tone was calm, but edged with something harder. "They'll chase you anywhere in your world. Here, you have a chance to breathe."
She wanted to argue, to scream, to demand answers. But instead she just whispered, "Breathe, she says." She let out a shaky laugh that broke into something close to a sob.
Kael's expression softened—just slightly. "It's overwhelming at first. But you'll adjust."
Elena shook her head. "I don't want to adjust. I want to go home."
"You can't." His reply was immediate, firm. Then quieter: "Not yet."
Her chest tightened, a mix of fear and fury. "So I'm just supposed to trust you? A stranger who drags me into some nightmare world without explaining anything?"
His jaw clenched. "Would you rather I left you in the alley? With them?"
The memory of glowing red eyes, claws scraping brick, the hiss of "She's ours"—it silenced her. She hugged herself tighter, staring at the strange ground beneath her feet.
Kael sighed, the sound low, reluctant. "I don't ask for trust. Only that you stay alive long enough to decide."
Something in his voice—a crack, quickly smothered—made her glance at him. For the first time, she noticed the weariness in his posture, the shadows beneath his eyes. He carried himself like steel, but steel that had been tempered by fire too many times.
Against her will, compassion tugged at her chest.
Before she could speak, the air around them shifted.
A ripple coursed through the Veil, warping the glassy ground. The rivers of light flickered. Elena staggered. "What was that?"
Kael's head snapped toward the horizon. His entire body stilled, every muscle coiled. "We're not alone."
The words chilled her. "What do you mean, not alone?"
He drew a blade from the shadows, its edge black and gleaming. "The Veil is home to more than beauty."
A sound rose—low at first, then higher. A keening wail, like glass shattering underwater. Elena clapped her hands over her ears, her skin prickling. Shapes emerged from the shifting sky—elongated, translucent, almost human, but stretched too thin, their faces hollow voids. They drifted closer, gliding instead of walking, their bodies rippling like smoke.
Elena's blood froze. "What are those?"
"Wraiths," Kael said grimly. "They're drawn to energy." His gaze flicked to her arm, where the mark pulsed through her sleeve. "Especially yours."
The nearest wraith shrieked, darting forward with unnatural speed. Kael met it head-on, blade cutting clean through its form. It shattered into shards of light before dissolving.
But more came. Dozens. Their wails filled the air, a storm of sound.
"Stay behind me," Kael ordered, shadows spiraling around him as he slashed through the advancing swarm.
Elena obeyed at first, but the mark on her arm burned, flaring hotter with each strike. The light seeped through her skin, spilling into the Veil around her. The wraiths faltered, their movements jerky, their hollow faces turning toward her.
"Elena!" Kael's shout snapped her out of the daze. "Control it!"
"I don't know how!" she cried, clutching her arm as the glow grew blinding.
The wraiths lunged together, a tide of shimmering bodies. Kael cursed, shadows surging to form a barrier around her. They struck against it, hissing, clawing, breaking through piece by piece.
Elena's panic rose, breath coming too fast. The light roared inside her, wild, uncontainable. She wanted it to stop—but more than that, she wanted them gone.
The mark answered.
A pulse erupted from her skin, a shockwave of pure radiance. It blasted outward, tearing through the wraiths like fire through paper. Their screams split the air before they disintegrated, vanishing into shards that rained down like dying stars.
Silence followed.
Elena fell to her knees, gasping, her whole body trembling. The glow dimmed slowly, leaving her drained, her vision swimming.
Kael was at her side in an instant, crouching, his shadowy blade gone. "Elena." His voice was sharp, urgent. "Look at me."
She forced her eyes open. His face was close, too close—sharp lines, unreadable eyes, the faintest trace of something softer beneath.
"You did it," he said quietly.
"I didn't do anything," she whispered, shaking. "It just—it just happened."
He studied her for a long moment, then said, "The mark is waking. Faster than I thought."
Her breath hitched. "What does that mean?"
Kael's gaze flicked away, toward the fading horizon. "It means we have less time than I hoped."
Her chest tightened. "Less time for what?"
"For you to choose," he said, almost to himself.
Elena wanted to demand answers, to grab him and shake the truth out of him. But exhaustion pressed down on her, heavier than stone. Her eyelids drooped, her body swaying.
Kael caught her shoulders, steadying her. For a moment, she thought he might pull away, keep the distance he always guarded so fiercely. But he didn't. His grip was firm, grounding.
"Rest," he said softly, almost a command, almost a plea. "I'll keep watch."
Her vision blurred, the strange colors of the Veil smearing together. The last thing she felt was Kael's hand, steady and warm, anchoring her against the impossible world.
And then, darkness took her.