Mist swallowed sound.Kael led the descent into the valley, glaive balanced across his shoulder. Each breath tasted of copper and cold mint; static crawled along exposed skin. The fog glowed faintly, as if moonlight bled from every drop.
Rei paced at his left, daggers loose. Thorn guarded the rear. Veyra's figments drifted—one fox-masked, one sorrow-smiled. Elias walked in the centre, gauntlet crystal spider-cracked but alive with glyphs.
Broken arches of bone-pale stone lurked in the haze. Lightning flickered beneath the mist, sheet-fire in deep water. Kael set a palm on a toppled column; runes scorched into it pulsed once, then died.
"Echoed sigils," he murmured. "Anchor that splintered."
"Temporal eddy," Elias added, tracing a glyph. "Blink wrong and you might step back into yourself."
"So we don't blink wrong," Rei said, twirling a knife.
A distant clang rang through the mist—metal on stone, echo stretched thin. The group dropped to crouch. Kael signalled: cover, listen. Another clang, then a grinding drag—heavy, undecided.
[Veilcore Sync 28 % — Essentia 38/50]
"I'll scout," Kael whispered. "If I phase, give me space."
He slipped forward, smearing into a one-metre Phantom Step—the free blur cost nothing. Beyond a narrow stone gateway crouched a mirrored figure, gargoyle-still, surface showing distorted reflections of Rei and Thorn yet none of Kael himself.
[Veil Entity — Mirrorwalker, Mist Variant]
Twin scythes unfolded. It charged. Kael blurred aside; steel hissed through air. Sparks crackled as glaive met glass hide. The creature matched him motion for motion, too perfectly.
"Vectors!" Elias shouted. A compressed force burst hammered from his gauntlet—three units gone—but the Mirrorwalker twisted past, new fractures veining the crystal.
Rei blinked two metres—one Essentia drain—and knifed at the creature's neck seam. A scythe nicked her pauldron, slicing leather; she hissed but stayed upright.
Thorn barreled in, shield first. Emberguard flared, heat rolling off steel. The impact staggered the Mirrorwalker.
Kael let power surge. Shardwalk—four metres, twelve Essentia. Reality softened; he phased through the creature's torso, re-formed behind it, and ripped the glaive upward. Crystal spine shattered. Reflected faces scattered into silver motes the fog devoured.
Essentia dipped to 26/50.
A System line flared, and—new this time—a brief gloss followed it:
[Sync 30 % — Essentia Resonance +4]Bonus energy earned for defeating an enemy while perfectly matching its pattern; fades after next anchor.
He felt the extra spark slide into his core: small, temporary, but useful. Reserve climbed back to thirty.
Rei rolled her shoulder. "Blinking's harder. Two metres fine; three burns like acid."
"Vector burst will blow this focus crystal if I over-charge again," Elias muttered.
Thorn flexed an arm, heat shimmering. "Couple more hits and you'll smell bacon."
"We pace ourselves," Kael said.
Veyra tilted her fox-mask figment. "Fog isn't empty. Another cohort marches out there."
"Malkyre," Rei guessed. "Or Eastreach."
Kael crouched by the Mirrorwalker's shards. When he pressed a hand to one, a bright pulse stitched into his nerves—an instinctive twitch.
Nerve-echo: the creature's predictive rhythm threaded into his muscles—good for a dozen strikes, then gone.
He stood. "Move before someone answers the noise we made."
They crossed a ridge of jagged glass. Night—if the Gate had nights—turned the mist violet. Stars reshuffled overhead, constellations dissolving before minds could name them. A half-collapsed arch offered shelter. Blue Veil-flame bloomed cold and smokeless.
Thorn took first watch. Elias spliced slivers of crystal to brace his gauntlet. Veyra meditated, figments orbiting. Rei stretched, working cramps from her legs.
Kael cleaned his glaive. Shardwalk jittered in his bones—no cooldown, only cost. Two full phases left before empty, or countless free blurs if he stayed disciplined.
Rei settled beside him. "Thinking about that timing twitch?"
"Temporary edge," he said. "Might save a parry."
Silence stretched. She spoke again, softer. "What happens when we hit zero Essentia?"
"Steel and muscle," he answered. "Hope that's enough."
"And if it isn't?"
"Then the Gate keeps what it owns."
"You're terrible at comfort."
"Never claimed otherwise."
Her laugh was soft in the hollow arch. Thunder rolled far off—lightning inside the fog. Pinprick torches flickered on a high ridge: another cohort.
"We all pay in different coin," Kael murmured, not sure if he meant Essentia, pain, or blood.
Thorn roused them hours later. Fog had thinned, revealing a staircase of broken glass descending into a canyon where pale blue pulses strobed like a heartbeat.
"Anchor or fracture nexus," Elias said.
Kael flexed hands; the nerve-echo still hummed, half-life burning down. Essentia rested at 32/50 after the resonance bump. Enough for a Shardwalk and change.
They started down the steps unaware that on the opposite ridge silver armour watched—Malkyre scouts ticking their progress.
The next anchor would demand more than Essentia. It would demand territory.
And here, territory was purchased in broken glass and blood.