Marcus/Rocco
Nobody spoke during the drive back from Black Hollow. Not because there
was nothing to say. But because none of us knew where to even start.
The image of the tear still burned behind my eyes. The crack in reality.
The crimson sky beyond it.
And the thing that had looked back at me.
Callie sat beside me silently, staring out the window with her arms
crossed tightly. Even she looked unsettled now.
Good. At least I wasn't losing my mind alone.
Valen remained unusually quiet beside me. That bothered me most.
Normally he would've made some sarcastic comment by now. Something smug.
Something irritating.
Instead, he watched the city lights pass with an unreadable expression.
Like he was thinking. And somehow that felt worse.
Seraphina drove ahead of us through the empty streets until eventually
she pulled into the underground parking structure of an old apartment complex
near the east side of the city.
The building itself looked ordinary enough. Her apartment absolutely did
not.
I looked around slightly confused. "Uhm… so this is where you lived?"
She stared at me briefly. "Do you think I lived in the family estate?"
Well, I obviously did, but I didn't say anything.
The moment she unlocked the door and stepped aside for us to enter, I
stopped walking entirely.
Maps covered almost every wall. Not normal maps.
City maps layered over each other with red markings drawn across entire
districts.
Symbols circled in the black ink. Dates scribbled beside locations.
Strings connecting certain points together.
Some sections had photographs pinned beside them.
Destroyed alleyways. Burn marks. Things clawed apart. And almost every
single mark looked recent.
Callie exhaled slowly beside me.
"You've been tracking all of them?"
Seraphina shut the door quietly behind us.
"Yes."
I walked further into the apartment slowly, eyes scanning the walls.
"There's too many."
"There weren't before."
The answer immediately made me look toward her.
"What does that mean?"
Seraphina moved toward the largest map near the centre of the room.
The entire city had been sectioned into zones. And over half of it was
marked in red.
"These appeared within the last week," she said quietly.
My stomach dropped slightly. "A week?"
Callie frowned deeply now. "That's impossible."
"No," Seraphina corrected softly. "What happened at Black Hollow was
impossible."
The room fell silent. I stepped closer to the map slowly. Some of the
markings clustered dangerously close together.
Whatever was happening wasn't random. It was spreading.
Callie rubbed a hand against her arms quietly.
"Remember the demon that appeared out of nowhere," she muttered toward
me. "You know, the first time you demanded answers from me that day at the
park." Her expression darkened slightly. "That was one of the tears. Cause the
barrier was weakening."
Yeah of course I remembered. That was the first time I had encountered a
demon.
At the time, everything had sounded insane. Now? Insane didn't even feel strong anymore.
"What exactly are they?" I asked finally.
Seraphina's eyes shifted toward me. "Realm tears."
The name alone felt wrong.
"They occur when the barrier between worlds weakens enough for reality
to fracture."
"Between worlds…" I said quietly. "Don't tell me there's actually a full
world of demons."
Seraphina nodded once. "Yes."
Silence settled heavily across the apartment. I looked back toward the
maps again.
Toward the dozens of red marks spreading across the city.
"How long has this been happening?"
Seraphina and Callie share a look. Which instantly put me on edge.
"…Years."
I turned to her sharply. "What?"
"The instability began around the time you lost your memories."
The room suddenly felt colder.
Years ago. Not recently or suddenly. This had started seven years ago.
Callie looked disturbed again.
"But if that's true," she said slowly, "why is it getting worse now?"
"That," Seraphina replied, "is the problem."
She moved toward another wall covered almost entirely in notes.
"The bracelet acts as a seal."
My chest tightened slightly.
"It contains power meant to reinforce the barrier between realms." Her
eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "As your connection with the bracelet strengthened
again, the instability should have decreased."
But it hadn't. it had exploded. Something uncomfortable twisted slowly
in my stomach.
Because I now knew something Seraphina didn't. the bracelet wasn't just
sealing power.
It was sealing Valen.
Beside me, Valen finally looked amused again. Unfortunately.
I stared at the maps for another second before speaking carefully.
"The power sealed inside the bracelet."
Seraphina looked toward me immediately. "What about it?"
I hesitated. Then;
"Was it… Valen?"
Silence. Absolute silence.
Seraphina went completely still. Callie frowned too, confused.
And for the absolute first time since I'd known her… Seraphina Azzurro
actually looked terrified.
"Where," she muttered, "did you hear that name?"
Valen tilted his head slightly beside me. "Interesting reaction."
I ignored him.
"I just…" I hesitated. "I remembered hearing it."
Not technically a lie, if you look at it. Just… not the full truth.
Seraphina stared at me for several long seconds that felt like hours,
like she was evaluating something important.
"That name should not exist in your memories."
Well. That sounded deeply concerning. I wasn't sure how to get out of
this.
Callie looked between us now.
"Okay, somebody want to explain why we're suddenly acting weird over a
name?"
Neither of us answered immediately.
Valen crossed his arms thoughtfully beside me.
"She's more perceptive than I expected."
Please stop talking.
Seraphina finally exhaled slowly.
"Valen Caelum was the entity sealed within the bracelet realm centuries
ago."
Entity? Not person. Interesting choice of wording.
"The seal around his power is what prevents the two realms from fully
bleeding into each other," she continued. "Without it…"
Her eyes drifted briefly toward the maps covering the walls.
"The tears would spread unchecked."
Something tightened painfully in my chest again.
Black Hollow now made horrifying sense.
Valen's expression remained unreadable beside me.
And then casually, like he was commenting weather instead of cosmic
disaster, he said:
"That might actually be your fault."
I turned toward him immediately.
"What!?"
The word escaped out loud before I could stop it.
Silence.
Callie blinked at me strangely. Seraphina narrowed her eyes instantly.
"Nobody said anything," Callie said slowly.
Right. Fantastic.
Valen looked entirely unbothered by the situation he'd just created.
"Well," he continued calmly, "I healed you, didn't I?"
The world seemed to stop for another horrible second.
Then-
The scar across my chest ached slightly.