The Collision
The sky cracked open like glass. Kael's sensors screamed, alarms blaring inside his neural interface as the world beneath him shuddered violently. He fell forward, nearly colliding with the metal railing of the observation deck. The city—once a gleaming hive of technological perfection—was twisting, bending, folding in ways physics should never allow. Skyscrapers elongated and curved impossibly, streets ripped apart like paper, and light itself fractured into streaks of blinding color.
Kael's hand went to his sidearm instinctively, the neural link in his cybernetic arm already running threat scans. Nothing he saw made sense. Gravity shifted randomly, pulling him toward the edge of the building and then away, alternating so violently that he almost lost his balance. He tried to focus, to locate the nearest source of danger, but the sensors couldn't process the chaos.
Then he saw her.
A figure appeared across the fractured sky, hovering—or perhaps falling—through the shards of the crumbling cityscape. Her hair glowed faintly with a pulsing, golden light, and a long cloak billowed around her as if caught in wind that didn't exist. She raised her arms, and flames erupted from her hands, not just ordinary fire, but colors Kael had no names for, swirling and coiling like living serpents. The fire met the fractured metal below her, and it didn't burn; it warped. The ground twisted like molten wax, folding upward to meet the sky.
Kael blinked. He had trained for countless urban combat scenarios, AI revolutions, even rogue cybernetic uprisings—but this… this was beyond anything he could imagine.
He activated his exosuit thrusters, propelling himself toward her through the twisting void. The air shimmered, distorted, and Kael's HUD blinked with errors as sensors overloaded. He had to get closer, needed to understand what—or who—she was.
"Hey!" he shouted, though his voice barely carried in the fractured atmosphere. "Identify yourself!"
The figure turned, and for a moment, Kael could see her face. Young, perhaps not older than twenty, but with eyes that seemed older than the stars themselves. And then, the shock: she spoke, not in words, but in a resonance that vibrated inside Kael's skull. He heard the meaning rather than sound: "Get back, or you die."
Kael didn't stop. Reflexes took over. Thrusters fired, grappling hooks engaged, and he hurtled toward the floating figure. He could feel the shift in gravity tugging him sideways, the world folding in ways that made his stomach churn. And then, just as he reached what he thought was solid ground, it disappeared. He fell—no, was pulled—through what should have been air but now felt like liquid light, tumbling head over heels in a kaleidoscope of color.
And then he landed.
The impact should have shattered bones, but the surface beneath him was soft, almost organic, pulsating beneath his weight. He scrambled to his feet, scanning the area. The city was gone. Or perhaps he was gone from it. The buildings, the streets, the sky—everything had fractured into jagged islands of reality suspended in empty space. Between them were voids of black, dotted with flickering fragments of stars that didn't belong to any known constellation.
The figure stood on one of the floating islands, arms crossed now, staring at him with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.
"I am Lyra," she said, and this time the words came as sound, though her voice carried an echo that made it feel like it belonged to a thousand worlds at once. "You shouldn't be here."
"And neither should you," Kael replied, adjusting his suit's targeting sensors. "Explain yourself. Now."
Lyra's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, a pulse of energy shot from her hands, knocking Kael back a few meters. He landed hard but rolled, activating shields embedded in his cybernetic frame. Sparks flew across his suit as the energy collided with his defenses.
"I told you," Lyra said, her voice calm but tinged with something darker, "this is not your war. Leave."
Kael froze. That wasn't just a warning—it was a command. Something about the reality around them told him she wasn't bluffing. He looked down at the fractured islands below; the void seemed to pulse and breathe. And then he realized—the city hadn't just been destroyed. It had been… merged. Pieces of his world, of something else, something alien, were stitched together in a chaotic tapestry.
"Explain what's happening!" he shouted, desperation creeping into his voice. "Why is everything—"
A shockwave tore through the fractured space, cutting him off. Buildings and fragments of metal and stone twisted violently, and a deep roar echoed from the void. Kael's HUD registered multiple entities—creatures neither fully organic nor mechanical—moving with purpose. Their forms shimmered, half-seen through the folds of fractured reality.
Lyra's expression hardened. "You don't understand," she said. "The worlds… they're colliding. And when worlds collide, death follows."
Before Kael could respond, one of the creatures lunged across the void at them. It had limbs that bent at impossible angles, a body made of shadow and metal, eyes like burning coals. Kael fired, plasma rounds tearing through part of its form, but it barely slowed.
Lyra lifted her hands, and a vortex of energy spun around the creature, pulling it apart. Kael could only watch, stunned, as her magic—no, her power—shredded the creature, dispersing it into motes of glowing light.
"This isn't just a city," Kael muttered, "it's a battlefield. And we're in the middle of it."
Lyra's gaze softened, almost imperceptibly. "No. You're in the middle of a test. Survive, or everything ends."
Before Kael could respond, a ripple ran through the void. The floating islands quivered, and a tear opened between them, revealing glimpses of another reality—skies filled with molten rivers, towers of black crystal, and shadowy figures moving like hunters. Something primal and intelligent. Kael felt it reach for him, a cold thought pressing into his mind: You are not welcome.
He stumbled backward. "Lyra… what is that?"
"That," she said, her voice trembling slightly for the first time, "is only the beginning."
The void expanded suddenly, swallowing part of the island beneath them. Kael's instincts screamed: the gravity was failing. He grabbed at the edge, holding on as the world shifted like a storm-tossed ship. He looked at Lyra, expecting fear or hesitation. She stood firm, energy crackling around her hands, eyes locked on the horizon where more of the strange creatures were emerging.
"We need to move," she said, and without waiting for a reply, leapt across the gap between islands, landing with a graceful, powerful thud. Kael followed, though his cybernetic legs barely caught him in time. He glanced down and saw the abyss stretching endlessly, dotted with fragments of cities, forests, and mountains from places he didn't recognize.
They were no longer in a single world—they were in the collision point of multiple realities.
Kael's mind raced. If this was real… if multiple worlds had truly merged… the implications were unimaginable. Civilizations, technologies, magic, everything, all intertwined—and not necessarily compatible. One wrong step could collapse a fragment entirely, taking whatever—or whoever—was on it with them.
Another roar echoed. This time, Kael recognized a pattern. The creatures weren't attacking randomly—they were hunting. Scanning, adapting, predicting. And now they had spotted them.
Lyra raised a hand, and the air shimmered, forming a barrier of golden energy. Kael activated his weapons systems, plasma rifles humming, exosuit shields glowing. For a moment, the two of them stood back-to-back, surrounded by the fractured beauty and danger of a universe gone mad.
Then another figure appeared across the void. Smaller, quicker, crouched atop a floating fragment of a ruined tower. Kael squinted. It was human—or at least humanoid—but the form was strange, almost distorted, as if reality itself couldn't hold it together. And then the figure spoke, voice harsh and clipped:
"You don't belong here either. Step aside, or die."
Kael's pulse spiked. He didn't know this person, didn't know if they were ally or enemy. But something told him this newcomer wasn't waiting for conversation.
The void trembled again. Islands twisted, energy arcs shot across the skies, and the first wave of creatures lunged at them. Kael's rifle discharged automatically, laser rounds slicing through the nearest foe. Lyra's magic flared, binding others in golden threads that disintegrated them instantly.
The newcomer moved like lightning, striking creatures with lethal precision. Kael noticed the humanoid's armor: patchwork technology, worn but effective, and a strange emblem glowing faintly on the shoulder. Not any symbol Kael had ever seen.
"Who are you?" Kael shouted over the chaos.
The figure paused for a moment, just long enough for Kael to notice a scar across one cheek, eyes filled with calculated intent. "Name's Riven," the stranger said. "And you're about to die if you don't move."
Before Kael could react further, the ground beneath them shifted violently. One of the floating islands began to collapse entirely, and Kael had only moments to react. He grabbed Lyra's arm, thrusting her aside as the platform gave way, and both tumbled through empty space, Riven catching them mid-fall with surprising strength.
Kael's mind spun. Worlds colliding. Creatures hunting. Strange, powerful allies—or enemies—appearing out of nowhere. He didn't know who to trust. And somewhere, far beyond the void, a presence waited—silent, patient, and watching.
Something called The Shard.
And Kael knew, instinctively, that this was only the beginning.