Whispers Beyond the Veil
The night had deepened, but sleep never came.
Lira sat beside a flickering fire, its glow barely pushing back the darkness. Kael had already drifted into an uneasy rest nearby, but she remained awake, staring at the fragments spread out before her. The remnants of the Ascendant relics pulsed faintly, each fragment responding to the strange golden rune on her wrist.
It beat like a pulse — slow, steady, alive.
Zero's pulse.
She closed her eyes, focusing on the rhythm. Her breathing matched it, her mind sinking deeper into the connection. The world around her faded until there was only that light — a distant heartbeat echoing across the emptiness between realms.
"Where are you…" she whispered.
The moment her words crossed her lips, the light flickered — and suddenly, her vision shifted.
She saw nothing but darkness at first. A void without sound, without form, without time. Then, slowly, a faint glow appeared — like embers floating in water. Shapes began to emerge: stone pillars, twisted bridges, and oceans of liquid shadow stretching endlessly in all directions.
At the center of it all, suspended in the air, was him.
Zero hung there, unmoving, encased in a cocoon of black crystal veined with gold light. His aura still flickered weakly within it, fighting against the encroaching darkness that sought to consume him.
Her heart skipped a beat. "Zero…"
He didn't answer, but she could feel him — trapped, dreaming, fighting. The Abyss pulsed around him like a living thing, reacting to her presence. Whispers filled the air, ancient and cold, crawling across her mind like frost.
"He is ours now.""He carries the mark of the Void.""Leave him… and live."
Lira's jaw tightened. "You don't know me very well."
Her eyes flared with golden light as she reached forward — not physically, but through the bond. Power surged through her, raw and unrestrained. The whispers turned into screams as the connection deepened, threads of energy stretching from her world into the Abyss itself.
For an instant, she touched the crystal's surface — and warmth shot through her arm, burning like fire. She saw flashes — memories not her own.
Zero laughing beside her in the old training grounds.Zero defying the elders during the Ascension trials.Zero standing beneath a storm, swearing he would protect her.
Then the warmth turned cold.
A different vision appeared — one of the Abyss, vast and endless. A shape watched her from within it — a shadow with eyes like dying suns.
"You reach across the seal," it said, voice deep and resonant. "Each time you do, the barrier weakens."
Lira forced herself to stand tall, even within the vision. "Then I'll shatter it and drag him back myself."
The entity chuckled — a sound like collapsing stars. "You think you can oppose eternity? He chose this path."
"No," she whispered. "He chose me. And I'm not leaving him there."
The void shook. The whispers rose in pitch, but before the darkness could consume her, she tore herself free, gasping as she snapped back into her body.
Her heart pounded. Her hands trembled. But the rune on her wrist burned brighter now — proof that the bond still held.
Kael stirred beside the fire, blinking sleep from his eyes. "What happened?"
Lira wiped the sweat from her brow. "I found him."
Kael straightened immediately. "Where?"
"Beyond the seal. He's alive — trapped inside something. A prison of the Abyss."
Kael frowned. "Then we'll break it open."
She shook her head. "It's not that simple. The moment I reached for him, something spoke to me. Something… vast. It warned me that if I try again, the seal could collapse entirely."
Kael stood, grabbing his cloak. "Then we'll have to find another way. There's always a key."
Lira smiled faintly. "You really do sound like him sometimes."
He gave her a sideways glance. "That's the highest compliment I've ever gotten."
The night passed in silence after that, save for the crackle of the fire and the distant rumble of the rebuilding world. When morning came, they set out toward the old capital — the place where the relics were first forged. If there were answers anywhere, it would be there.
Meanwhile, beyond the veil, the Abyss stirred.
Zero's consciousness floated in the endless dark, half-dreaming, half-aware. The weight of the seal pressed down on him from all directions. Every thought felt like it took centuries to form, yet something within him refused to fade.
Light.A single thread of it, cutting through the void.
It touched him like a whisper. He couldn't see her, but he knew that light anywhere. Lira.
He reached for it instinctively, his hand trembling as he pressed it against the inner surface of his crystal prison. The moment he did, pain seared through him — but it was the kind of pain that reminded him he was still alive.
Then, for the first time in what felt like eternity, he spoke.
"Lira…"
The sound didn't carry in the Abyss, but the bond did. He could feel her presence on the other side, faint but unwavering.
He smiled weakly. "You stubborn idiot…"
The Abyss around him rumbled — displeased. Voices hissed through the dark.
"She will doom you both.""Her touch cracks the seal.""Let go."
Zero's eyes opened, glowing faintly gold. "You don't know her."
He clenched his fist, forcing his energy to rise again. The golden veins across the crystal flared, spreading wider, brighter. The darkness recoiled, and the Abyss screamed in fury.
For the first time, cracks appeared across the surface of his prison.
"Hold on, Lira," he whispered. "I'm not done yet."
Far above, in the waking world, Lira stopped suddenly on the trail. The rune on her wrist pulsed — once, twice — like a heartbeat.
Kael turned. "What is it?"
Her eyes widened, a slow smile breaking through her exhaustion. "He's fighting back."
Kael grinned. "Then let's give him something to come back to."
They continued toward the capital, unaware that, deep below the horizon, the remnants of the rifts were beginning to shimmer again — faint, rhythmic, and alive.
The bond between worlds was reforming.And neither side would remain untouched for long.