As dawn broke over the shattered hills of Elaris, a cold wind swept through the ruins of the Veiled Moon. Steven stood atop a stone balcony, his cloak billowing behind him. Something had shifted within him since the Mirror Chamber. Not just in power—but in awareness.
The Codex no longer whispered—it spoke.
Its voice was not a single tone but a symphony of echoes, like the voices of ancient mages, fallen civilizations, forgotten dreams. And now, it called him… to the Rift.
Elareen sensed the disturbance. "The Codex is pointing somewhere, isn't it?"
Steven nodded. "I see a place… where the stars bend. A rupture in the world."
Her expression darkened. "The Rift of Erindor. No one returns from there."
"Then I'll be the first."
Before she could protest, a pulse of energy radiated from the ground. The Circle of the Veiled Moon rushed outside as the sky above ripped. Not torn by magic—but by something older. Something hungry.
From the breach descended a figure cloaked in starlight and shadows—tall, with silver hair like woven galaxies and eyes void of color.
Aravon stepped forward, eyes wide. "No… It can't be…"
The figure touched down silently. "It has been centuries, Aravon. And you still play the guide."
Elareen whispered, "That's Atheron… one of the original Codex-Bearers."
Steven's heart pounded. "But he's supposed to be dead."
Atheron smiled—cold and wise. "Death is but a gate, young Lethal. And I walked through it to find truth. Now I return… with a warning."
The wind stopped. The world seemed to freeze.
"The Rift," Atheron said, "is not a place. It is a wound. And the Absence is using it to bleed into every realm. If you step through it, Steven… you will not return the same."
Steven stepped forward. "I have to go. If I don't—this world ends."
Atheron's eyes narrowed. "Then take this."
He extended a hand, revealing a fragment of the original Codex—pulsing, unstable, alive.
Steven reached out.
And as their hands touched—his vision shattered.
He was no longer in the ruins. No longer in his body.
He stood at the edge of the Rift.
Staring into infinity.
And somet
hing stared back.
---
To be continued