The wind howled through the empty watchtowers of the old sector, carrying whispers of stories never told, of pain never healed. Night had settled deep into the bones of the resistance outpost, casting long shadows on the cracked walls and dusty corridors. The fire pits burned low, but no one slept.
Kael was gone.
Gone, without a trace.
One minute, she'd been standing beside me, holding the last encrypted tablet from the scouting team. The next—vanished into thin air.
We didn't hear the doors open. No alarm went off. Nothing.
Just silence, and then absence.
I was numb.
Not the kind of numb that comes with physical pain, but the kind that hits when your world rearranges without asking you first. I had checked every hallway, every corridor, every vent. I even yelled her name into the void, hoping she'd just… answer. But she didn't.
Now I sat alone in her room, knees tucked under my chin, staring at the faint mark on the floor where her boots used to rest every night. Her scent still lingered — sharp and smoky, like storm-charged air after a battle.
A knock interrupted my spiral.
Ashi.
She stepped in without waiting for an invite. Her eyes were red, and not just from lack of sleep. She knew. We all did.
"She didn't leave by choice," Ashi said, voice gravel-thick. "This was planned. Precise. The Queen's people… maybe even worse."
That thought made my stomach twist.
"We go after her," I said, voice steady but soft.
Ashi raised an eyebrow. "We don't even know where to start."
I stood. "Then we start with what we have."
The command council convened that same night, now missing two key members — Kael, and peace. The loss felt like a crater in our ranks. People murmured, some questioned whether we were cursed, or if the Queen could simply reach us wherever, whenever.
But I didn't have time for doubt.
"We track her," I said again. "She has a shard from the portal crystal. We can use it. If we reverse the frequency of her last activation—"
"You want to trace a fragment of dimensional energy?" Eryn interrupted. "That's practically guessing."
I turned sharply. "Then guess with me. Because standing here won't bring her back."
A silence followed. Not one of defiance—but of realization. No one else had the courage to speak, so Ashi leaned forward and started recalibrating the scanners.
Twelve hours.
That's how long it took to get a signal. Weak, flickering, bouncing off mountain ridges on the far eastern edge of the continent.
But it was her. Kael's energy signature, buried deep beneath layers of stone and something else… darker.
The region was abandoned — a dead zone known as Vraex Hollow. Stories said it was a fracture point from the early portal experiments. Locals called it "the Grave Where Time Forgot."
I geared up in silence. Not because I was scared. But because I knew I wouldn't return the same.
The entrance to Vraex Hollow looked like the maw of some ancient creature. A jagged hole in the mountain, veins of glowing blue crystal webbing its edges. Every step inside made my Mark pulse, flicker, ache.
The cave walls were carved — not by nature, but by hands long lost to history. Symbols lined the rock like language and warning. The deeper I went, the less air remained.
Then I heard it.
A hum.
Not mechanical. Not natural. It sounded… alive.
I followed the sound.
What I found chilled me.
Kael.
She floated inside a suspension field, glowing lines etched into the stone floor around her in a circular design. Her body was limp, but her eyes were open — wide, unfocused, caught in some kind of trance.
I moved to step forward, but the ground pulsed beneath me.
"You shouldn't be here."
The voice came from everywhere.
And then… she appeared.
Not the Queen.
Someone else.
A woman cloaked in crimson robes, taller than any human I'd seen, skin like glass filled with starlight.
"You are the Eighth," she said. "The last. The balance."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I growled.
She smiled, head tilting like a curious cat. "The Queen wasn't wrong. The Marks are keys. But she only wanted power. We? We want restoration."
"You kidnapped Kael."
"We saved her from being a pawn."
I clenched my fists. "Release her. Now."
The woman stepped aside, revealing an ancient pedestal behind Kael — glowing, humming, vibrating with power. My Mark responded instantly, its light brightening to a blinding gold.
"She is your tether," the woman said. "But you? You are the lock. And the door… is waking."
Suddenly, pain.
A searing flood of energy shot from the floor into my body, locking my limbs in place. Visions stormed my mind — cities drowned in fire, galaxies collapsing, a thousand versions of myself screaming across time.
I fell.
Darkness.
When I opened my eyes, I was back at the outpost.
Ashi knelt beside me, tears streaking her cheeks. "You were gone for days."
I tried to sit up. "Kael?"
She hesitated. "Still missing. But something else happened. Look."
She handed me a mirror.
My Mark had changed. It was no longer a simple shape — now it spiraled like a galaxy, etched with tiny runes.
And beneath it, a second mark had begun to form.
"We don't know what it means," Ashi said. "But everyone's talking. They think you're… evolving."
I looked out the window.
The sky was burning red.
A storm was coming.
Not just of war.
Of truth.
To be CONTINUED.....