—where love becomes a weapon, and doubt becomes a door—
The rift pulses like a wounded star—violet, trembling, alive.
Glass shards glow faintly around us, vibrating against the floor with each surge. Elias keeps one arm around my waist, pulling me behind him, but I can't tear my eyes from the hand extending through the crack in reality.
It trembles with effort.
It trembles like his hand—the one that used to cup my jaw,the one that always hesitated before touching me,as if the world might collapse from too much gentleness.
"Adrian…" I breathe.
The hand curls at the sound of his name.
Behind it, the rift widens—just enough to show the faintest outline of a face, blurred and flickering. My heart leaps painfully inside my chest.
Elias tightens his grip on me.His voice shakes, but not from fear—from certainty.
"Lyra. Listen to me. That rift is unstable. If you step into it—"
"I know," I whisper.I know too well.I've seen what uncontrolled resonance can do.I watched it almost swallow him once.
Adrian's voice slips through the breach again—softer this time, like he's closer.Like he's reaching for me across a storm.
"Lyra… please…"
Just one word.Just please.And it unravels me.
My knees weaken.Elias moves with me, steadying me, but I lean toward the rift without meaning to—drawn like a magnet to a wound.
The air hums around me, pulling at my hair, my clothes, my ribs.
The resonance inside my chest answers back.A slow, aching vibration—the sound of longing.
Elias feels it. I see the panic flicker in his eyes.
"Lyra," he murmurs, "he's influencing your field."
"I'm influencing his," I whisper. "We're calling each other."
"That's exactly the danger."
But his voice grows softer at the edges, like he's losing his own argument. His fingers slip up my arm, gripping tighter—not possessive, not desperate—just human.
"Please stay with me," Elias murmurs. "Just long enough to know what you're walking into."
The rift pulses again, flaring blue.A wave of energy throws Elias off balance for half a second.
In that half-second, I see the face behind the rift clearly.
Adrian.
His cheekbones.His gentle mouth.His eyes—bright as they were the night he said my music gave him color.
He reaches again.
And this time, I reach too.
My fingertips hover an inch from the light.
Elias grabs my waist, dragging me back.
The rift shrieks—a violent, metallic howl—and the hand inside spasms, glitching in and out.
"NO!" I cry, reaching for it again.
Elias spins me toward him, gripping both my arms.His breath hits my cheek.His eyes are too close, too intense.
"Lyra," he says hoarsely, "look at me. Look at me."
I do.
And for a moment everything else fades—the rift, the violet light, the howling air.
It's just him.A man who shouldn't care this much.A man who looks like he'd tear reality apart with his bare hands if it meant pulling me back from the edge.
His forehead touches mine, gently, grounding me.
His voice falls to a whisper."Tell me you know it's not safe."
A tear slips down my cheek.
"I know."
He shuts his eyes briefly—a silent thank-god—before looking at me again.His thumb brushes my jaw.A touch that's careful, reverent, almost painful.
"Then stay," he murmurs.
I sway toward him—not fully, not enough to choose, just enough to breathe him in.
And the rift behind us roars.
A burst of violet light explodes outward, slamming into the walls. Elias throws his arm around me and pivots to shield me—
—but the energy doesn't strike us.
It stops inches away, forming a swirling halo around my body like a vortex resisting gravity.
My hair rises.My clothes ripple.My chest hums with unbearable pressure.
Elias stares in horror.
"Lyra—your field—it's locking onto the rift!"
I gasp. "I can't—stop—it—"
Energy spirals around my arms, warm and violent, crawling into my skin like ink.
And then—
The resonance speaks.
But not with a voice.
With a question.
A question that isn't soundor wordsor thought.
A question inside the marrow of my bones.
"Do you want him?"
My breath shatters.
Elias hears nothing. He only sees me freeze, sees my eyes unfocus.He shakes me hard.
"Lyra! Stay with me!"
But the resonance presses deeper.
"Do you want Adrian?""Or do you want the one who can reach you?"
My heart twists painfully.
Because the resonance isn't asking about Adrian's existence.It's asking about my choice.
The rift trembles, widening another inch.
Through it, Adrian's face flickers—hurt, desperate, wanting.
Behind me, Elias grips my shoulders, voice breaking with something he can't put into words.
"Lyra… don't leave."
The resonance tightens around my ribs.
"Choose."
A pressure builds inside my head—a low, rhythmic ache—like two frequencies fighting for space.
One sounds like Adrian's voice.One sounds like my own heartbeat.One sounds like Elias whispering my name.
They collide.
I drop to my knees, hands gripping the floor.
Elias kneels with me instantly, pulling me into his arms, pressing his forehead to my temple.
"I've got you," he whispers."Stay here. Stay with me."
My lower lip trembles.
Adrian's glowing hand stretches closer—so close it nearly touches my cheek.
Elias's arms tighten around my waist.
Adrian's light warms my skin.
Elias's breath trembles against my ear.
Two worlds.Two versions of love.Two futures.
The resonance pulses once more—not violently, not painfully—but like a heartbeat waiting for its answer.
Then a single word forms inside my mind:
"Choose."