The teleportation sigil released them in a burst of white?gold light.
Aiden hit the ground first, knees sinking into red dust that felt too warm. Jessica stumbled beside him, catching herself with her staff as the world snapped into focus around them.
The Frontier stretched out in a jagged sprawl of broken earth and twisted metal—nothing like the serene Sanctum. Even the air smelled wrong, like static clinging to iron. The sky still flickered with faint cracks of red lightning.
Aiden didn’t care about any of it.
He felt the echo.
A deep, terrible pull under his ribs.
A tremor of fear that wasn’t fully his.
Lyra.
Jessica steadied herself, violet hair whipping in the dry wind. “Aiden… did you feel that surge?”
He nodded, unable to speak.
Because the closer he got to the epicenter, the stronger the bond pulled—magnetizing him forward with a force that felt ancient and alive.
Jessica touched his arm, anchoring him. “We follow your lead. Tell me where.”
Aiden pointed toward the horizon, voice unsteady. “That way. She’s—she’s close. I can feel her.”
Jessica didn’t question it. She simply nodded.
They moved.
Across the Red Fields
The wind howled low, carrying dust in spiraling patterns. Every few steps, Aiden saw signs of corruption:
- Stone darkened with red veins
- Trees twisted into unnatural shapes
- Metal debris vibrating faintly
Jessica knelt beside a half?buried skeleton—wolf?like, but corrupted beyond recognition.
“Everything here feels wrong,” she murmured. “Like Order never touched this place.”
Aiden clenched his fists. “Lyra’s been walking through this.”
“Then she’s stronger than we realized,” Jessica said softly.
He didn’t know whether to be relieved or more afraid.
They pressed onward, the sky darkening overhead.
And then Aiden staggered mid?step.
Jessica grabbed his shoulders. “Aiden—?”
He gasped, air sucked from his lungs.
A pulse tore through him like a wave of heat and static.
Aiden fell to one knee.
Light—red and violet—exploded behind his eyes.
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He felt Lyra slam into something. Felt her pain. Felt her heartbeat spike. Felt her anger ignite—
And then…
felt her vanish.
Not gone.
Not dead.
But submerged beneath something enormous.
Jessica dropped to her knees beside him. “Aiden! Talk to me. What did you feel?”
His throat tightened. “She—she unleashed something. Something massive. And then… it swallowed her.”
Jessica’s expression darkened. “Corruption fallout.”
Aiden nodded, trembling. “She was at the center.”
Jessica placed both hands on his face, turning him toward her. “Aiden. Breathe. If she were gone, your resonance would’ve snapped. But it didn’t.”
He forced himself to breathe.
Slow.
Shaky.
But alive.
Jessica stood and extended a hand. “Then that means she’s still out there. And we have to move.”
He took her hand.
And kept walking.
When the Sky Breaks Open
They crested a ridge just as the sky cracked again—this time with a violent arc of red lightning so bright it illuminated the entire Western horizon.
Jessica raised her staff instinctively. “Stars… what is that?”
Aiden’s heart lurched.
Below them, the earth had been carved into a massive crater of red dust and fractured stone. The ground was still smoldering, heat waves rising in shimmering distortions.
But at the center—
Someone moved.
A small, wavering flicker of glowing red-violet light.
Aiden didn’t think.
He ran.
“Wait—Aiden!” Jessica shouted, sprinting after him.
He skidded down the ridge, dust spraying behind him as he barreled toward the crater. Every heartbeat felt like it was dragging him forward by force of will alone.
He reached the center—
And froze.
What Remains
The dust parted around a single figure kneeling in the scorched crater.
Kael.
Burned. Bleeding. Barely conscious.
His dual blades lay cracked beside him.
He looked up slowly when Aiden approached, eyes barely recognizing the world.
“…You’re—Aiden,” Kael rasped.
Aiden grabbed him before he collapsed fully. “Where is she? Where’s my sister?”
Kael swallowed hard, throat raw. “Alive.”
Aiden’s knees nearly buckled with relief.
Jessica dropped beside them, scanning Kael quickly, hands glowing with faint Orderlight as she stabilized him.
“Where?” Aiden demanded.
Kael’s gaze drifted to the right—toward a narrow canyon, jagged and pitch-black, corruption veins glowing along its walls.
“She went in,” Kael whispered. “After the fallout hit. After she… changed.”
Aiden’s stomach tightened. “Changed?”
Kael gripped Aiden’s wrist with surprising strength.
“Listen to me,” he hissed through clenched teeth. “Your sister isn’t just using Chaos.”
His voice trembled.
“She’s awakening it.”
Jessica froze.
Aiden felt the blood drain from his face.
Kael’s next words were hoarse. Terrified.
“Lyra is becoming a Catalyst.”
The wind died.
The world held its breath.
Aiden stared into the glowing canyon as the truth settled heavy and cold.
Lyra wasn’t just in danger.
She was the danger.
And if he didn’t reach her soon…
There might not be a world left for them to escape.
He stood.
Jessica rose beside him.
Kael slumped unconscious in her arms.
Aiden stepped toward the canyon entrance.
Toward the glowing corruption veins.
Toward his sister.
Hold on, Lyra, he whispered inside.
I’m coming.
And he walked into the darkness.