The rain had stopped.
Only the dripping of water from shattered glass and metal kept time with Liam's heartbeat as they stepped out from the broken library. The city, though lifeless, whispered in echoes.
Each street held a memory—some shared, some stolen.
Kael kept his hand on his blade.
Nyra walked with one eye over her shoulder.
But Liam… he kept glancing at Aeris.
And Aeris never met his gaze.
They found temporary shelter in an abandoned café. Its windows were dusted in ash, but the leather booths were dry. Nyra summoned small fire spirits to warm them, the flickering light casting long shadows on peeling walls.
Liam finally broke the silence.
"I saw you, Aeris. In the vision. You were there… when the village burned."
Kael froze mid-motion.
Nyra blinked.
Aeris did not.
"I know."
The words were soft. But in them was a weight Liam hadn't heard before.
"I didn't cause it," she continued. "But I didn't stop it either."
Fragments of Flame
Aeris stood and walked to the window, arms crossed tightly.
"I came from this world," she said. "That part is true. But I wasn't born here."
She turned slowly.
"I was sent here. As a child. A… test subject."
Liam's chest tightened.
"I was taken from the other realm—your realm," she said, looking at Kael and Nyra. "Part of an early experiment to bridge the two worlds. I was meant to be a conduit… a prototype. A living mirror."
"But something went wrong."
She closed her eyes.
"The spell backfired. Instead of stabilizing the portal, it fractured it. It unleashed raw magic into the human world—into my foster village."
Her voice cracked.
"They blamed me. Rightfully. I ran. I didn't try to help. I watched the flames spread and I left."
She looked at Liam now, eyes glossy but unbroken.
"I've been trying to fix that mistake ever since."
Silence fell over them. Only the fire crackled, echoing the faint ruin outside.
Then Kael spoke, his voice quiet but sure.
"We all carry sins. You're still fighting to make things right."
Nyra nodded. "And you brought us this far. That counts."
Liam looked down at his hand, feeling the third fragment pulse inside.
Then he met her gaze.
"Let's make sure it wasn't in vain."
Signs in the Smoke
As night fell again, the city changed.
Street signs vanished.
Billboards no longer flickered.
Even the stars above seemed to shift.
A low rumble echoed from the east.
"That's not thunder," Kael muttered, standing.
From the darkness, lights approached—hovering, cold and mechanical. Drones, sleek and silver, scanning everything in their path. Behind them, a creature walked—a mechanical beast, like a lion forged from glass and bone, its eyes burning with orange flame.
The group ducked into alley shadows.
"What is that?" Nyra whispered.
Liam narrowed his eyes. "I've seen it before. The Watchers."
"They protect the remaining pieces," Aeris said. "And they eliminate anyone with fragments inside them."
Liam's blood ran cold.
"We need to move. Fast."
Flight Through Fire
They ran.
Through alleys, across rooftops. The city became a labyrinth of echoes and heat. The Watchers followed like wolves—silent, tireless, brutal.
Kael leapt from a rooftop, wind forming beneath his boots. He landed beside a drone and sliced through it with a hiss of air. Sparks burst into the rain-soaked sky.
"Go! I'll stall them!"
Nyra turned mid-run, summoning a giant hawk of flame that dove toward the beast. It roared—glass shattering from the sonic burst—then charged after her.
Liam and Aeris sprinted down a stairwell.
As they descended into an underground train station, lights flickered on—blue, ancient, unnatural.
Liam stopped.
At the far end of the platform stood a figure.
Tall.
Cloaked.
Mask of bone.
The creature removed its hood slowly.
And Liam's breath caught.
"Elira?"