POV: KAELIS
Timeline: During transport
Location: Between dimensions
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Everything is wrong.
We're not in the Shadowlands anymore.
We're not anywhere.
We're between.
Between realms.
Between realities.
Between existence and void.
It's like being trapped inside a kaleidoscope that's also screaming.
"What is this?!" Kieran gasps beside me.
"Dimensional transit!" Nyx shouts, but his voice sounds distant—echoing. "The crack led to the space between realms! We need to find an exit before—"
The water sphere protecting us shudders.
Nyx is struggling.
Even he can't maintain this indefinitely.
I see movement in the not-space around us.
Creatures that shouldn't exist.
Fragments of broken realities.
Echoes of dead worlds.
"Don't look at them!" Ravion commands. "They feed on attention. On consciousness. Just—"
Too late.
I looked.
One of the things sees me.
It has too many eyes.
Not enough form.
And it's hungry.
It lunges toward the sphere.
"KAELIS!" Kieran screams.
I react on instinct.
Water magic explodes from my hands—chaotic, wild—merging with Nyx's controlled constructs.
The creature slams into the combined barrier and DISSOLVES.
"Good!" Nyx gasps. "Keep—keep doing that! I can't—can't hold this much longer—"
Another creature.
Then another.
They're being drawn to us.
To the twins.
To the PROPHECY POWER radiating from me and Kieran.
"They want what we have," Kieran realizes. "The prophecy magic—it's like a beacon here!"
"Then we need to HIDE it." Ravion's shadows coil around both of us. "Suppressing your signatures—"
It helps.
The creatures slow.
But we're still trapped.
Still floating in nothing-space.
Still nowhere near an exit.
"There has to be a way out!" I shout. "Nyx, can you—"
"Looking!" His eyes are closed, concentrating. "Water exists in all realms. All dimensions. I'm trying to feel for—THERE!"
His eyes snap open.
"Northwest! Relative to our position! I feel the Tidelands!"
"How far?" I demand.
"Too far. I can't—I don't have enough power to push us that distance."
"Then we help." Kieran grabs my hand. "The twin bond. Our combined power. We channel it through you."
"That's never been tested—"
"We don't have time for testing!"
I tighten my grip on Kieran's hand.
"On three. Channel everything into Nyx. One—"
"Wait, we should discuss—" Nyx starts.
"Two—"
"At least plan the—" Ravion tries.
"THREE!"
Power EXPLODES from both of us.
Twin bond.
Prophecy magic.
Pure, combined force.
It surges into Nyx through me.
His eyes turn pure SILVER—blazing like twin suns.
"I CAN FEEL EVERYTHING!" His voice echoes through the between-space. "Every drop of water in every realm! Every ocean! Every—"
"Focus!" I shout. "The Tidelands!"
"RIGHT!"
He thrusts his hands forward.
The water sphere SHOOTS ahead—faster than thought, faster than reality can process.
We tear through the between-space, creatures scattering, dimensions blurring—
And then we CRASH through—