The night air was wrong.
Kael felt it in his bones before he even opened his eyes. The usual hum of the forest—wind rustling leaves, distant owls, soft branches creaking—had vanished. In its place, there was a stillness so heavy it pressed down on his chest like a stone.
He blinked.
The moon hung above him, too close, too wide, bleeding pale light across the clearing where they'd set up camp the night before. But the trees… the trees were twisted now—longer, thinner, bent at odd angles like they were leaning in to listen.
Kael sat up, fists clenched in the dirt. Aria lay nearby, her skin cold with the shimmer of silver veins just under the surface. Her breathing was shallow. Too shallow.
He touched her arm. "Aria?"
No response.
Behind him, Lyra stood motionless, staring toward the treeline. Her pupils were gone, swallowed by an eerie white glow.
He rose quickly. "Lyra—"
She lifted a finger. "Don't speak. They're watching."
Kael followed her gaze. Shadows moved between the trees, tall and silent. Their shapes weren't quite human, and they never touched the ground.
"What is this?" he whispered.
"The Veil's edge," she murmured. "We crossed it last night without meaning to. And now... it knows you're here."
Kael's jaw tightened. The shard in his chest pulsed once, then again, each throb louder than the last. Something old had stirred. And it wasn't finished.
One of the shadows stepped forward.
It wore no face, only a hollow veil of silver light wrapped where its head should be. And though it made no sound, Kael heard it.
"You carry the blood that broke the sky."
Kael staggered back.
The thing took another step. Aria's body began to glow—faint, but steady—until her chest rose with a sudden breath.
She gasped.
"Kael," she whispered, voice thin. "It's not just the shard. You've woken something."
The faceless figure lifted an arm. The air cracked.
Then the world broke open behind Kael, and the forest was no longer a forest at all—but a field of flickering mirrors, each reflecting a different future.
Only one of them ended with Kael still breathing.