Chapter 4
The first thing Eren did when he opened his eyes was check the floor.
The shard was still there, pulsing faintly in the half-light of dawn.
He stared at it, his heartbeat uneven. He had hoped—prayed, even—that when morning came, it would vanish like a nightmare. But no. The Eclipse clung to him like a stain he couldn't wash off.
A groan slipped past his lips as he pulled himself upright. Every muscle in his body ached, his ribs throbbed where the shadow had struck him.
But beneath the pain was something else—a buzzing energy, a sharpness in his senses that hadn't been there before.
The fragments. They were changing him.
That thought both thrilled and terrified him.
By midday, the city was its usual mess—horns blaring, vendors shouting, engines coughing.
The contrast to the silence of the Eclipse was dizzying. Eren sat on the same bench outside the convenience store, a half-eaten roll of bread in his hand.
He couldn't stop thinking about the girl.
Her face when she saw him. Her scream when the shadow nearly killed him. The way she had fought, clumsy but desperate.
She wasn't just another dreamer like him. She was real. Flesh and blood. He'd seen her on the street before they met in the Eclipse.
Which meant… there were more.
The thought chilled him. If anyone else carried shards into reality, how long before someone noticed? How long before someone tried to use it?
He clenched his jaw and shoved the rest of the bread into his mouth, chewing hard.
A voice startled him.
"You're real."
Eren turned sharply.
She stood across the street, her backpack slung over her shoulder, her eyes fixed on him.
Her clothes were the same as yesterday, but her posture was different—rigid, like she was ready to run.
Eren didn't answer immediately. He scanned the area first. Too many people around. Too many ears.
He stood and jerked his chin toward an alley.
The girl hesitated, then followed.
The alley smelled of piss and garbage, but it was quiet. Eren leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"Yeah," he said finally. "I'm real."
She clutched her backpack strap tighter. "So it wasn't just me."
"No. You saw it too."
Her breath shook as she let it out. She lowered her voice. "The… Eclipse."
Eren's eyes narrowed. "You heard it too?"
She nodded.
For a moment, silence stretched between them. Then she straightened her shoulders. "I'm Mira."
Eren hesitated before answering. "Eren."
"Eren Vale?" she asked.
He stiffened. "How do you know my name?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line. "You told me. Last night. When I… shouted it."
Eren's mind flashed back to the fight. The shadow towering over him, her voice cutting through his panic—Eren!
He hadn't realized he'd given himself away.
"Right," he muttered.
Mira studied him carefully. "So this is real. The shards. The monsters. All of it."
Eren pulled the glowing shard from his pocket just enough for her to see. "You tell me."
Her eyes widened, but she quickly pulled her own shard free from her bag. It glowed faintly, like his.
They stared at each other's hands, the weight of it sinking in.
Two people. Two shards. Two keys to a world no one else seemed to see.
"What happens if we die there?" Mira asked quietly.
Eren didn't answer right away. He didn't want to. The truth hung between them, heavy and unspoken.
"Then we don't wake up," he said at last.
Her face paled, but she didn't argue. She already knew.
That night, exhaustion dragged them both under again.
The sand was waiting.
Eren appeared first, shard already in hand. His chest was tight, his ears straining for the faintest sound. Every instinct screamed danger.
Then Mira appeared a few paces away, her eyes darting around until they landed on him.
Her shoulders dropped a fraction. "Guess this is our new reality."
"Night reality," Eren muttered.
Mira gave him a sharp look. "Jokes already?"
He smirked faintly, but it didn't last. The ground trembled beneath their feet.
Shadows.
Three again. No, four this time. Taller. Faster. Their hollow eyes glowed faintly red.
Eren's gut twisted. They were evolving.
"Stay behind me," he said.
"I'm not useless," Mira shot back, her shard trembling in her grip.
Eren didn't argue. He didn't have the breath.
The shadows lunged.
Eren slashed the first one, ducking under its claws. The shard cut deeper this time, as if responding to his will. The creature dissolved, its fragment sinking into him. The burn in his chest was almost familiar now.
Mira cried out as another shadow lunged at her. She swung wildly, grazing its arm. It hissed, slamming her backward into the sand.
Eren cursed and charged, cutting the creature down before it could finish her. He yanked her to her feet. "Keep moving!"
"I said I'm not useless!" she snapped, blood on her lip.
"Then prove it!"
The last two shadows circled, hissing. Eren moved left, Mira right. For a moment, they were back-to-back, shards glowing in the broken light.
The first shadow lunged at him. Eren feinted, then drove his shard upward through its head.
The second barreled toward Mira. She held her ground this time, waited until the last second, then sidestepped and slashed across its chest. The shadow shrieked, dissolving into ash.
Mira's shard flared as a fragment sank into her. She gasped, knees buckling, but she didn't fall.
The silence that followed was heavy.
Eren stood panting, sand clinging to his skin. Mira was on her knees, clutching her shard, her shoulders shaking.
But she was alive.
And for the first time, Eren realized they weren't just surviving anymore. They were fighting back.
When they woke, the shards were still glowing in their hands.
Mira looked at him across the dim room she'd dragged him into for shelter. "If we're stuck in this…" She swallowed. "Then we'll need each other."
Eren hesitated. The streets had taught him never to trust too easily. But the Eclipse wasn't the streets.
Finally, he nodded. "For now."
Her eyes hardened. "For as long as it takes."
Eren glanced down at his shard. Its glow pulsed, faint but steady.
For the first time since the Eclipse began, he wasn't completely alone.
T O .B E . C O N T I N U E D....