The faint light of a fractured dawn bled through the mist.
Kazi sat up slowly, every muscle in her body stiff from the night spent curled against cold stone. Her cloak clung to her like a second skin, damp with the heavy moisture that seeped from the fractured ground. For a moment, she simply breathed, listening to the slow crackle of dying embers and the distant, ghostly howls that echoed beyond the ruins.
Dakarai stirred nearby, groaning under his breath as he pushed himself upright. His Volt Mark flickered weakly against his skin, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat, a faint, stubborn glow refusing to die.
Both found that Rhazir was already awake.
He stood at the far edge of their broken camp, his back to them, staring out across the endless stretch of mist and ruin. His coat barely stirred in the thin, cold breeze. He hadn't slept, at least not that Kazi had seen. And if he had been wounded during the battle with Luma, there was no sign of it now.
Kazi's fingers tightened around the hilt of her makeshift dagger.
A part of her still wanted to ask him how much of what happened had been by design.
Another part of her already knew the answer.
She pulled herself to her feet, wincing as sharp pain flared along her side. Dakarai rose beside her, his movements sluggish but determined.
"You ready?" he asked quietly.
Kazi nodded once.
Ready enough.
Rhazir turned at the sound of their footsteps.
"We move now," he said without preamble. "The resonance pocket is destabilizing. If we wait too long, the fracture will collapse entirely, and us with it."
Kazi exchanged a look with Dakarai.
They didn't need any more convincing.
Without another word, they gathered their things, what little they had, and followed Rhazir deeper into the mist.
The ground beneath their feet was less stable now.
Cracks yawned wider across the surface, mist hissing through them like steam escaping a broken machine. The shattered landscape groaned and shifted as they moved, sending tremors through the air that made the hairs on Kazi's arms stand on end.
Every step felt like walking across a dying world.
The resonance field buzzed louder the closer they came to the fracture's boundary. Kazi could feel it vibrating through her bones, whispering promises and threats she couldn't quite understand.
"Do you feel that?" Dakarai muttered, glancing around warily.
Kazi nodded grimly. "It's unraveling."
"The whole pocket's falling apart," Rhazir added, his voice calm, almost casual. "We pushed it too far with the battle. The resonance can't sustain itself anymore."
"And if it collapses while we're still inside?" Dakarai asked.
"You don't want to find out," Rhazir said simply.
They quickened their pace.
After what felt like hours of weaving through crumbling ruins and shifting pathways, they reached it.
The edge of the fracture.
It looked different now, angrier; a raw gaping wound in reality itself, the edges crackling with unstable energy. Beyond it, Kazi could see faint outlines of trees and sky; the real world, waiting beyond their reach.
But between them and the exit, the mist thickened, churning violently, forming barriers and shapes that twisted and flickered in the shifting light.
Kazi swallowed hard.
"Luma didn't seal it behind her," she said. "She left it open."
Rhazir nodded. "An invitation."
"Or a trap," Dakarai muttered.
Kazi stepped forward anyway.
The mist resisted her touch, pressing against her skin like a living wall. She summoned the ember in her chest, letting the Mark's energy flare out around her, burning a narrow path through the mist.
Dakarai followed close behind, sparks flickering along his arms.
Together, they forced their way forward.
The mist clawed at them, pulling at their clothes, their hair, their thoughts. Kazi felt it trying to drag her back, trying to show her visions of Luma, smiling, laughing, betraying. She gritted her teeth and pushed harder, focusing on the feel of the real world beyond the fracture.
One step at a time.
One breath at a time.
She didn't know when her hand found Dakarai's.
But she was grateful for the anchor.
They burst through the final wall of mist with a cry, stumbling onto solid ground.
Kazi fell to her knees, gasping for air that wasn't thick with rot and resonance.
Above them, the sky was real again, blue and endless, unmarred by cracks or swirling clouds.
Trees swayed gently in the wind.
Birds cried distantly.
It was almost enough to make her cry.
Dakarai slumped down beside her, his head tipped back, drinking in the sky like a man starved of hope.
Behind them, the fracture pulsed once, then slowly, quietly, began to close.
Rhazir stepped through last, his coat billowing around him like a second shadow.
He looked unchanged.
Untouched.
Kazi pushed herself up, breathing heavily.
"We're out," she said, the words tasting strange on her tongue.
"For now," Rhazir corrected.
Kazi turned to face him fully.
"No more delays," she said. "We find the next bearer and we work on getting stronger."
Dakarai rose beside her, his Volt Mark flaring with stubborn light.
"And next time," he said, "we finish this."
Rhazir's smile was small and secretive.
"As you wish."
He turned and started walking toward the treeline.
Kazi and Dakarai followed, the embers of defeat still burning in their veins.
They weren't whole.
They weren't ready.
But they were alive.
And that would have to be enough.
For now.