Chapter 5: The First Veil Fragment
The beast charged, and the world became chaos.
Seralyn moved first, drawing her twin sabers in a blur of silver. Her body reacted on instinct, the echo of years of training flooding her muscles as she launched toward the creature's side. The corrupted beast ten feet tall and blazing with molten fury swung a claw like a tree trunk at her, and she ducked, rolling under the arc and slicing at a joint of bone.
Sparks flew, but the blade barely scratched it.
Kaela's magic surged behind her. "Move!" she shouted, releasing a blast of violet fire. It slammed into the beast's flank, searing off fragments of fused stone and sending it staggering.
For a moment, they had space.
Seralyn leapt back beside her, breathing hard. "That barely did anything."
"Because it's not alive. Not really. And it's feeding off the sigils."
The creature roared again, the ground rippling from the sound. Its molten veins glowed brighter now, and the sigils on their palms pulsed in sync.
"Then we kill it fast," Seralyn growled, darting around to the side.
Kaela extended both hands, her eyes gleaming. "Keep it busy."
Seralyn didn't ask questions. She dodged the next swipe, using the crumbled shrine as cover, and drove both sabers into the beast's lower leg. The creature shrieked and twisted toward her.
Kaela began chanting.
The wind howled. The air thickened.
Ribbons of shadow coiled around Kaela's arms as her voice dropped into a forgotten tongue. Her sigil burned with unholy brilliance. She thrust her hand forward
and a black lance of raw Rift magic exploded from her palm.
It pierced the beast through the chest. The magic reacted violently to the corruption within. With a cry like a thousand shattering bells, the creature convulsed. Seralyn jumped back as its body fractured from within, light pouring from every crack.
"Down!" Kaela yelled.
The beast detonated.
Magic thunder rolled through the Wastes, shaking the land. When the dust cleared, only fragments of bone and obsidian remained, still steaming.
Seralyn lay on her back, panting.
Kaela collapsed beside her. "That was... unpleasant."
Seralyn turned her head, eyes narrowing. "You used Rift magic."
Kaela didn't answer right away. "Would you have rather died?"
Seralyn pushed herself up slowly, brushing dirt from her arms. "No. But next time, warn me before invoking the Void."
Kaela smirked weakly. "Spoilsport."
The compass buzzed against Seralyn's hip. She unclipped it.
The needle spun wildly for a moment then fixed, pointing south, where a dark canyon yawned between two jagged cliffs.
"The fragment is near," she said. "Come on."
---
They reached the canyon by midday. The sun was dull overhead, a pale disc obscured by ash-like clouds. The entrance to the temple lay at the base of the chasm, half-submerged in black sand.
The Obsidian Hollows.
Kaela stood at the edge and stared down. "No one's walked into that place in centuries."
Seralyn adjusted the straps of her satchel. "Then let's be the first."
They descended in silence. The path was treacherous, and the cliffs whispered with the voices of lost spells. By the time they reached the temple's threshold, the air had cooled to near freezing.
Two statues of forgotten gods flanked the archway, their faces worn blank by time. The doors were ajar, as though someone or something had entered before them.
Inside, the temple was darkness.
They lit mage-light orbs and pressed forward.
The walls were covered in carvings of the Veil. Great weavings of power depicted like vines curling across the stone, growing more erratic the deeper they went. The sigils on their hands flared brighter with every step.
"Whatever's here doesn't want to be found," Kaela whispered.
"Too late."
At the heart of the temple lay a circular chamber with an altar of black crystal. Hovering above it was a shard of light hovering, humming, glowing with a presence that pressed on their minds like thunder.
"The fragment," Seralyn breathed.
She stepped forward.
The world shifted.
Suddenly, she was somewhere else. The temple faded into a memory her memory.
She stood again on the battlefield of Darrowell, the day her battalion died. Smoke and screaming. The air choked with blood. And there, in the carnage, her brother, her blade through his chest.
"No," she whispered, stumbling back.
She heard Kaela scream.
Reality snapped again.
Kaela was kneeling near the altar, trembling.
"Kaela?" Seralyn rushed to her.
Kaela's eyes were wide, unfocused, staring into a memory that wasn't here.
"No. No, please "
Her voice cracked. "Not again."
Seralyn grabbed her shoulders. "It's not real. It's the fragment. It's showing us our worst regrets."
Kaela's body shook. "She was burning. I couldn't move. I just stood there. I should have... I should have let them kill me."
Seralyn tightened her grip. "You didn't. You're here. Now breathe."
Kaela's eyes filled with tears. Her sigil flickered.
"Focus on me," Seralyn said. "We get through this. Together."
Kaela clutched her wrist.
The temple stopped spinning.
The visions faded.
Above the altar, the fragment hovered, undisturbed but waiting.
Kaela's voice, though hoarse, broke the silence. "This thing... it's sentient."
Seralyn nodded slowly, her own breath still shallow. "It knows us. It feeds on what we've buried."
Kaela stepped closer, wiping her face with trembling fingers. "We can't take it by force. It has to... choose us."
Seralyn hesitated, then reached for the fragment. The moment her fingers grazed its light, the sigils on their palms blazed white. The fragment trembled.
Then, with a whisper of ancient language, it split into two smaller shards. One floated to Kaela. The other to Seralyn.
Seralyn caught hers.
Cold.
Weightless.
And yet it felt like she now carried a mountain.
Kaela's knees buckled. She sat down hard.
They sat together, surrounded by ghosts of their pasts and the burden of the future.
The sigils glowed a new color now.
A deep violet.
A bond reforged.