The city of Eryndor was too quiet.
Not empty.
Not abandoned.
Just… restrained.
Like something had wrapped invisible hands around its throat and whispered, "Stay calm."
People still moved through the streets—vendors arranged their stalls, children walked beside their parents, guards stood at their posts—but everything felt… delayed. Artificial.
Voices never rose too high.
Laughter died too quickly.
Even footsteps seemed softer, like the ground itself was listening.
Kael noticed all of it.
He couldn't stop noticing.
That pull inside him—
it hadn't faded since the tower.
If anything…
It had grown stronger.
Not a pain. Not exactly.
More like… pressure.
Like something beneath reality was pressing upward, trying to break through—and he was the weakest point.
Or the key.
"You're doing it again."
Lyra's voice cut cleanly through his thoughts.
Kael blinked. "Doing what?"
"Drifting."
He turned slightly toward her, though his eyes still lingered on the street ahead. "I'm not drifting. I'm trying to understand what's happening to me."
"And staring into nothing helps?"
"It's not nothing."
That made her pause.
Kael's gaze sharpened.
Because it wasn't nothing.
It was there again.
At the far end of the street.
A figure.
Still. Unmoving.
Watching him.
No face. No clear shape. Just… a presence that bent the air around it. Like it didn't fully belong.
Kael's breath hitched.
Then—
It was gone.
Like it had never existed.
"…You saw something," Lyra said quietly.
Kael nodded slowly. "It's following me."
"No," she said, more certain than she felt.
"It's waiting."
Lyra didn't respond immediately.
For once… she didn't argue.
The rest of the day passed like a shadow.
They moved through the city, but Kael barely remembered where they went. Every reflection in glass, every narrow alley, every flicker of movement—
He checked.
Again and again.
Nothing.
And yet…
The feeling never left.
That night—
Eryndor slept.
Or at least pretended to.
But Kael didn't.
He sat at the edge of the small room they'd taken shelter in, staring at the wall, waiting.
For what, he didn't know.
Maybe for the feeling to stop.
Maybe for it to get worse.
Lyra lay across the room, eyes closed—but not fully asleep.
"You should rest," she muttered.
"I tried."
"And?"
Kael didn't answer.
Because he knew what would happen.
Still…
Eventually, exhaustion won.
He lay back.
Closed his eyes.
And instantly—
He was gone.
The world shifted.
Not like a dream.
Dreams faded, blurred, changed.
This didn't.
It snapped into place.
The same broken land stretched endlessly before him—jagged stone floating in a vast, hollow void. Fragments of ruins drifted in the air, frozen like time had abandoned them mid-collapse.
The sky—
If it could be called that—
Was cracked.
Not metaphorically.
Actually cracked.
Thin lines of glowing fracture stretched across it, pulsing faintly… like something behind it was trying to break through.
Kael stood still.
"…I'm here again."
"You never left."
The voice.
Closer this time.
Clearer.
It no longer echoed like it came from everywhere.
Now—
It felt like it stood right behind him.
Kael didn't turn.
"…Who are you?"
Silence.
Then—
"You already know."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Then why can't I remember?"
A pause.
Longer this time.
He felt something shift in the air—like attention focusing.
"You're beginning to."
The ground beneath him trembled.
Small pieces of stone lifted into the air, slowly orbiting him.
Kael clenched his fists. "Then show me."
The cracks in the sky brightened.
"You're not ready to see everything."
"Then show me something."
For a moment—
Nothing happened.
Then—
The world bent.
Not broke.
Bent.
Like reality itself was being folded open.
Kael staggered slightly as the space in front of him tore apart—not violently, but smoothly, like a curtain being drawn back.
And beyond it—
He saw.
Not clearly.
Not fully.
But enough.
A different place.
A real place.
Not ruins.
Not emptiness.
A world that looked whole—
but wrong.
The sky there wasn't cracked.
It was watching.
Not physically.
But he felt it.
An awareness.
Something vast.
Ancient.
Looking back at him.
Kael's breath caught.
"…What is that?"
The voice answered, softer now.
"That… is what remains."
"Of what?"
No answer.
Instead—
The vision shifted.
Faster now.
Flashes.
A city—far greater than Eryndor—collapsing in silence.
Figures standing against something unseen… and losing.
Light being swallowed.
Names he didn't understand echoing through his mind.
And then—
Himself.
But not as he was.
Standing in that other world.
Unbroken.
Unafraid.
And… aware.
Kael stumbled back.
"No—"
The vision snapped shut.
The broken world returned.
The silence crashed back in.
Kael dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
"What… was that…?"
The voice lingered.
Calm.
Certain.
"The truth… you were meant to forget."
Kael looked up, anger cutting through the fear.
"I don't want fragments."
The cracks in the sky pulsed again.
"Then stop resisting."
"I'm not resisting!"
"You are."
The floating debris around him froze mid-air.
"Because a part of you already knows…"
A pause.
Then, quieter—
"…and it's afraid."
Kael's chest tightened.
For the first time—
He didn't argue.
He woke up suddenly.
Gasping.
Back in the room.
Dark.
Silent.
But different.
The air felt heavier.
Realer.
Lyra was already sitting up, staring at him.
"You saw it again."
Kael nodded slowly.
But his expression had changed.
Less confusion.
More…
Understanding.
And something else.
Something dangerous.
"…It's not just calling me anymore," he said.
Lyra frowned. "Then what is it doing?"
Kael looked toward the window—toward the sleeping city beyond.
His voice dropped.
"…It's showing me where I came from."
Silence filled the room.
And somewhere—
Far beyond Eryndor—
Something stirred in response.