The Fall
There was no sound. No light. No body to cling to.
Aria floated in the nothingness, her mind unraveling. She had screamed Damian's name, but her voice had dissolved with the void.
For an eternity—or a heartbeat—she fell. Until suddenly…
Light.
It wasn't the golden glare of the Forgotten One, nor the white radiance of her own flames. This light was soft, fragile, like the first glow of dawn through mist.
Aria gasped as her feet touched solid ground.
Beneath her lay a field of glassy petals, glowing faintly in shifting hues of silver and violet. Above stretched a sky divided in two—half burning sunset, half cool twilight—forever frozen between day and night.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"Where… am I?"
Damian's Awakening
A cough. Weak, but real.
Aria spun, heart thundering. Just a few paces away, Damian lay sprawled across the luminous petals.
"Damian!" She rushed to him, dropping to her knees. Her hands shook as she touched his face. Warm. Alive.
His eyes fluttered open—storm-gray, dazed but unbroken. His lips curved faintly.
"You… always find me."
Her tears spilled freely. She pressed her forehead to his.
"And I always will."
They clung to each other, both trembling, both alive. The collapse had taken everything—but not them.
The Realm Speaks
A wind stirred the glowing field, carrying whispers. Not the cruel taunts of shadows, but voices softer, layered like overlapping echoes.
> Children of the chain… welcome to the Realm Between.
The ground pulsed faintly beneath their feet. Aria gripped Damian's hand tighter, her chest tightening.
"Did you hear that?"
He nodded grimly. His sword pulsed with light at his side, as if warning him.
"Yes. And I don't think it's done."
From the horizon, shapes emerged—towering figures draped in robes of twilight flame. Their faces were veiled, their forms shifting like mist, neither alive nor fully spirit.
One lifted a hand, voice resonating through the still air.
> You broke the Forgotten One's chain. But breaking binds always leaves a fracture. You are standing in it
Damian frowned, stepping in front of Aria instinctively.
"A fracture… between worlds?"
The figure inclined its head.
> Between what was and what could be. Between dawn and dusk. Between life… and memory
Aria's skin prickled. She whispered, "We're not dead?"
The figure's veil rippled.
> Not yet. But not entirely alive either. You are caught where endings and beginnings meet.
Trial of the Bond
The ground split open beneath them. From the chasm surged visions—memories not their own.
Aria saw a battlefield littered with broken blades. Damian saw a village in flames, children crying for mothers who never returned.
The whispers deepened.
> To pass the fracture, you must prove your bond is stronger than what tears worlds apart.
The visions shifted, becoming crueler.
Aria stumbled as she saw Damian—gray eyes cold, his sword dripping her blood.
"You always doomed me, Aria. Every life, every death—it was your fault."
She fell to her knees, clutching her head.
"No! That's not you!"
Damian groaned, clutching his chest as a vision of Aria appeared before him—her smile cruel, her touch poisonous.
"You're nothing without me, Damian. Just a weapon waiting to be discarded."
His breath grew ragged. But through the pain, he forced his gaze to the real Aria, trembling but defiant, reaching for him.
"Not her," he rasped. "Never her."
Breaking the Illusion
Aria crawled toward him, tears and fury blazing in equal measure. She seized his hand, their runes sparking on contact.
"Damian! Look at me! I don't care what they show us. I don't care what curse binds us. You are mine, and I am yours."
Damian's chest heaved, his eyes burning as he clutched her hand back.
"And nothing—no shadow, no god, no curse—changes that."
Their runes blazed so brightly that the illusions shattered, burning away into smoke.
The robed figures stepped back, their voices layered with something like awe.
> You defy what countless lifetimes could not. Perhaps the fracture bends to you after all.
The Gift and the Warning
From the center of the glowing field, a crystal rose—half burning like the sun, half cool like the moon. It pulsed with raw power.
The figures intoned together:
> Take it, and you bind yourselves deeper than any chain. But know this: bonds strong enough to defy eternity… can also break eternity itself.
Aria and Damian exchanged a look. Her hand tightened on his.
"We don't have a choice, do we?"
Damian's jaw clenched. "No. But this time… we choose it together."
They stepped forward, hands entwined, and touched the crystal.
Light exploded—half dawn, half dusk—rushing into their veins. Their runes fused, blazing brighter than ever before.
The fracture trembled. The figures whispered a final warning.
> What you carry now will either save every realm… or shatter them beyond repair.
The light dimmed. Aria and Damian opened their eyes—only to find themselves no longer in the glowing field.
They stood atop a cliff beneath a storm-dark sky. Below stretched a realm of twisted forests and broken cities, lightning crawling like veins across the horizon.
Damian's hand tightened on his sword.
"This isn't our world."
Aria swallowed, clutching his hand. Her runes burned hotter than ever.
"No. But it looks like it needs us."
Above, thunder roared. And in the storm's heart—eyes opened. Watching. Waiting.