The sky cracked open at dawn.
Not with thunder or lightning, but with a long, glowing fracture stretching across the horizon like molten glass. From it spilled shimmering dust that fell slowly, silently, coating the forests, rivers, and rooftops of the kingdom of Aeloria in silver light.
Liora saw it first.
She had been climbing the eastern watchtower—again—despite being forbidden—again—when the sky split wide enough to make her forget the cold stone biting into her hands. She stared upward, breath trapped in her chest.
The stories were true.
"The Veil is breaking," she whispered.
Behind her, the tower bells began to scream.
---
By midday, the entire kingdom trembled with rumor and fear. Ancient prophecies were dragged from dusty shelves. Priests lit endless candles. Soldiers sharpened weapons meant for enemies no one had ever seen.
Because beyond the Veil lay the Wild Realms—lands of living storms, shifting mountains, and creatures born from raw magic itself. For centuries, the Veil had sealed them away.
Until now.
Liora ran through the crowded marketplace, clutching the strange object she had found at the tower's peak—a shard of translucent crystal humming faintly with warmth. It had fallen from the broken sky and landed at her feet like it had been waiting for her.
And when she touched it…
She had heard something.
Not a voice. Not exactly. More like a memory that didn't belong to her.
Find the Heart before the world remembers its true shape.
She had no idea what that meant. But she knew one thing with absolute certainty—
She had to leave the city.
---
By sunset, Liora stood at the kingdom's outer gate, arguing with a guard twice her size.
"You're sixteen," he said flatly.
"Seventeen in three months."
"Which is not now."
"The Veil is breaking!"
"Yes," he replied, "which is exactly why no one is allowed beyond the walls."
She tightened her grip on the crystal shard. It pulsed—once, twice—like a heartbeat.
Then the ground shook.
A deep roar rolled across the plains beyond the walls. The horizon warped, bending like heat over flame. From the rippling air emerged something vast—impossible to fully see, like a shape half-remembered from a dream.
The guard went pale.
"What… is that?"
Liora didn't answer. She was staring at the shard, now blazing with light. The memory-voice surged again, urgent and sharp.
It has crossed early. Run.
The massive unseen thing slammed against the outer barrier. The air exploded outward. Stone cracked. Magic screamed.
The guard stumbled back.
Liora didn't wait.
She ran straight through the gate as it shuddered open in panic.
Into the unknown.
---
The world beyond the Veil's weakening edge felt wrong in ways she couldn't explain.
Grass grew in spirals instead of straight blades. Shadows moved before their objects did. The wind carried whispers that almost formed words.
She walked for hours, guided only by the shard's faint pull. Every step deeper made her skin prickle, as though reality itself was watching her.
By nightfall, she found the first ruin.
A ring of floating stone pillars hovered above a mirror-smooth lake. Each pillar slowly rotated, carved with symbols that shifted when she tried to focus on them.
At the center floated a single orb of pale gold light.
The shard in her hand burned hot.
"The Heart?" she murmured.
She stepped onto the lake's surface—and it held her weight like glass.
Halfway to the center, the whispers returned.
But now they were loud.
Hungry.
The lake darkened beneath her feet. Something massive moved below the surface, coiling upward like living smoke. The floating pillars began spinning faster, humming in warning.
She froze.
A shape surged upward—vast, fluid, made of liquid shadow and glimmering eyes.
It spoke directly into her mind.
YOU ARE NOT OF THE OLD WORLD. WHY DO YOU SEEK ITS HEART?
Her voice shook, but she answered aloud anyway.
"Because something crossed over. Something dangerous. And I think this… this Heart can stop it."
The creature rose higher, towering above her, its form endlessly shifting.
THE HEART DOES NOT STOP CHANGE. IT CHOOSES WHO GUIDES IT.
Liora swallowed hard. "Then… let it choose."
The golden orb drifted closer.
Her shard shattered into glittering dust.
Light flooded her vision—
And suddenly she understood.
The Veil had never been a prison.
It had been a pause.
The Wild Realms weren't invading.
They were returning.
And something ancient—something that feared change—had broken through early to seize control before the worlds fully merged again.
Her eyes snapped open.
The shadow creature watched silently.
"What crossed over…" she whispered, "…is trying to reshape everything before balance can return."
The golden Heart hovered inches from her palm.
Warm. Alive. Waiting.
"Then I'll guide it," she said softly. "Not to stop the change. But to make sure the world survives it."
The creature's countless eyes blinked in unison.
Then it bowed.
The Heart fused into her chest like sunlight sinking into water.
Power surged through her veins—wild, vast, terrifying.
Far in the distance, something roared in fury.
Liora turned toward the sound, wind swirling around her rising form.
The sky was still cracked.
The world was still breaking.
But now—
She was no longer just a witness.
She was the one the Heart had chosen to shape what came next.
And her adventure had only just begun.