Rheon expected pain.
Bone-crushing, breath-stealing, final pain.
Instead, he felt weightlessness.
For half a second, there was nothing—no falling, no wind, no scream—just a pressure wrapping around his chest like invisible arms holding him together.
Then the world slammed back in.
Water.
Cold. Violent. Everywhere.
Rheon hit the river hard, the impact knocking the air from his lungs as white water swallowed him whole. He tumbled end over end, vision flashing with light and shadow.
Hands were still locked with his.
That was the only thing keeping him from panicking.
Elara.
Kael.
He kicked upward blindly, lungs burning, mind screaming—
And suddenly the river bent.
Not parted.
Bent.
The current curved around them in a smooth, impossible arc, forming a hollow pocket of air as if the water itself refused to touch them.
Rheon sucked in a desperate breath.
They weren't drowning.
They were standing—or floating—inside a dome of vibrating light at the center of the river.
Kael coughed, bracing himself instinctively, muscles taut like he expected the world to attack again.
Elara collapsed to her knees.
"I—" she gasped. "I didn't mean to—"
The dome trembled.
Rheon rushed to her side without thinking, grabbing her shoulders. The instant he touched her—
The vibration spiked.
The water surged violently, slamming against the invisible barrier.
Elara cried out, clutching his jacket. "Rheon—don't—your emotions—"
"I know," he said through clenched teeth, forcing himself to slow his breathing. "I know. Just—look at me. Stay with me."
Her eyes locked onto his.
Their heartbeats aligned.
The dome stabilized.
Kael stared at them, awe and unease flickering across his face. "You're anchoring her through each other."
Rheon swallowed. "That sounds… bad."
"It is," Kael said. "But it worked."
The light around them faded slowly, the river returning to its natural chaos—but gently now, as if exhausted.
They drifted toward the riverbank and collapsed onto wet stone and mud, gasping, shaking, alive.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Elara laughed.
It burst out of her—soft, broken, disbelieving.
"We jumped off a cliff," she said breathlessly. "And survived."
Rheon let out a shaky laugh too. "Yeah. Let's… never do that again."
Kael didn't laugh.
He was staring at his hands.
Blood.
But not his.
Thin lines of glowing white still traced his skin, fading slowly like dying embers.
"We didn't just survive," he said quietly. "We activated something."
The forest around them was too still.
No insects.
No birds.
No wind.
Rheon felt it then—the aftertaste of power. Not strength. Not heat.
Connection.
He could feel Elara's exhaustion like it was his own. Kael's coiled vigilance pressed against his spine like a warning.
"This sync," Rheon said slowly, "it's getting tighter."
Elara hugged herself. "When you grabbed me… it was too much. Your fear flooded me. And when Kael pulled me—his control grounded me."
Kael stiffened slightly.
Rheon noticed.
Of course he did.
"That's great," Rheon muttered. "So what—you're the stabilizer, she's the amplifier, and I'm the emotional grenade?"
Kael met his eyes. "Seems that way."
The tension snapped tight between them.
Elara looked from one to the other, her pulse fluttering dangerously.
"Please," she whispered. "Not now."
Rheon exhaled sharply and looked away. "Sorry."
The silence that followed was heavier than the fall.
Then—
A sound.
Metal.
Footsteps.
Kael's head snapped up instantly. He moved in front of Elara without thinking.
Rheon felt the instinct echo inside him.
Figures emerged from the trees on the far bank—five of them this time, armored, weapons lowered but ready.
Not the same soldiers as before.
Different insignia.
A different spiral—broken, jagged.
One of them raised a hand.
"Stand down," a woman's voice called out through a modulator. "We're not here to capture you."
Rheon scoffed. "That's what the last guys said before trying to kill us."
"We know," she replied. "That's why they failed."
Kael's jaw clenched. "Who are you?"
The woman removed her helmet.
Her eyes glowed faintly white.
"We're the ones trying to stop the Spiral from finishing what it started."
She looked directly at Elara.
"And if you don't come with us right now—"
The river behind them roared.
The dome of water surged again for a split second, reacting to Elara's rising panic.
The woman didn't flinch.
"—you won't survive Phase Three."
Rheon felt it.
That cold, watching presence.
The Spiral, shifting its attention.
Elara's hand trembled as she reached for both of them at once.
Rheon and Kael didn't hesitate.
They took it.
Three heartbeats aligned.
And somewhere deep beneath the riverbed, something ancient and patient stirred.