Small rifts began appearing everywhere.
Each one led somewhere different.
A desert where time moved strangely.
A frozen wasteland.
A forest of living shadows.
Ariya and her team began closing them one by one.
But each mission became more dangerous.
In the desert realm, Kael aged ten years in minutes before escaping.
In the shadow forest, creatures whispered their deepest fears.
And with every rift Ariya felt something strange inside her.
The Veil was reacting to her.
Almost like it recognized her.
One night during a mission, Ariya touched a rift.
Instead of burning her…
It obeyed her.
The tear in reality closed instantly.
Her teammates stared.
Kael looked worried.
"You didn't tell me you could do that," he said.
"I didn't know I could."
But deep inside…
She felt the truth.
She had always been connected to the Veil.
The Fractured Dawn struck back.
They ambushed Ariya's team while they investigated another rift.
Explosions rocked the ruins.
Crossers with strange powers attacked from every direction.
Ariya fought through them with deadly precision.
But their leader waited in the center of the battlefield.
The same man from the arena.
His voice echoed through the chaos.
"You saved me once," he said.
"And then you doomed us all."
Before Ariya could react—
Energy chains wrapped around Kael.
He collapsed.
Captured.