Chapter Four:
The forest trembled as another crack spread across the sky. The light from above turned the trees silver and red. Lyra and Kael stood in the middle of it, their eyes locked.
"Your kind and mine are enemies," Kael said, his voice heavy. "If they see us together, they will try to kill us both."
Lyra's wings flickered, but she didn't move away. "Maybe the stories are wrong. Maybe… you are not what they say."
Kael looked down at his claws, sharp and dark. "I am a demon. I have destroyed worlds. I was sent here through the fracture to do the same."
Lyra's breath caught. She should have feared him, but instead she whispered, "Then why do you look so sad?"
Kael's chest rose and fell. No one had ever asked him that. No one had ever cared.
Before he could answer, the forest lit with blue sparks. From the shadows, glowing shapes appeared—fairy guards. They carried crystal spears, their faces stern.
"Lyra!" one shouted. "Step away from him! He is a demon!"
Her heart raced. She looked at Kael. His wings spread wide, ready to fight, his eyes burning once more.
But Lyra moved fast. She stood in front of him, her arms out. "No! He is not here to hurt me!"
The guards froze in shock. "You defend a demon?"
Kael growled low, but Lyra turned to him. "Don't fight. Please."
The sky above cracked again, louder, a piece of burning stone falling through the fracture and crashing into the far mountains. The ground shook.
Lyra shouted, "Look! The world is breaking! We cannot waste time fighting each other. We must find out why."
The guards hesitated. Kael lowered his wings, though his eyes stayed sharp.
In that moment, a choice hung in the air. Fairy and demon. Enemy and enemy. Yet Lyra had stood by him, even against her own people.
Kael whispered, almost too soft to hear, "Why do you risk this?"
Lyra looked at him, her wings glowing brighter than ever. "Because… I feel something when I look at you. Something I can't explain."
For the first time in his long, dark life, Kael felt the same.
And deep inside, he knew—this was only the beginning.