The camp was quieter than Kael expected.

  Too quiet.

  From the ridge above, he could see the remnants of fire pits and trampled earth, but no guards patrolled the perimeter. No laughter. No shouting. Just the low hum of Aether drifting unnaturally through the air, like a held breath.

  Something was wrong.

  Kael crouched behind a jagged rock formation, his fingers brushing the sigil etched into his wrist. The mark pulsed faintly, responding to the corrupted Aether below. He had felt it growing stronger since dawn, tugging at him like a hook beneath the skin.

  “They moved,” he whispered.

  Lyra, kneeling beside him, narrowed her eyes. “Or they’re waiting.”

  They both knew which was worse.

  The captive—an Aether-bound scout taken three days earlier—was the reason Kael had pushed this mission forward. Leaving someone behind meant leaving information behind. And in the Fracture Zones, information killed faster than blades.

  Kael inhaled slowly and slid down the ridge.

  The camp revealed itself piece by piece as he approached. Torn tents. Broken restraints. Blood soaked into the dust, already dark and sticky. No bodies.

  “Half an hour ago,” Lyra muttered, examining the ground. “Maybe less.”

  A sudden sound cut through the air.

  A groan.

  Kael spun toward the sound, heart hammering, and spotted a figure slumped against a shattered supply crate near the edge of the camp. A man—young, barely older than Kael—his clothes scorched, eyes half-open.

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  Alive.

  Kael rushed forward, dropping to one knee. “Hey. You’re safe now.”

  The man’s lips trembled. “No… not safe.”

  His eyes flicked upward.

  Too late.

  The ground erupted.

  Aether flared violently as chains of crystallized energy snapped up from beneath the soil, wrapping around Kael’s legs and yanking him off balance. He hit the dirt hard, the impact driving the air from his lungs.

  Figures emerged from the shadows—four of them—faces masked, bodies etched with unstable Aether veins that glowed sickly blue.

  Fracture Cultists.

  “Trap,” Lyra hissed, already drawing her blade.

  Kael struggled against the bindings, pain shooting through his legs as the chains tightened. The sigil on his wrist burned, reacting violently to the corrupted flow. The world blurred at the edges.

  The captive laughed weakly.

  “I tried to warn you,” he said, before his eyes rolled back.

  Lyra moved like lightning.

  She cut down the first cultist before he could react, blade slicing clean through the Aether channels in his chest. The second raised a hand, chanting—but Lyra kicked off the crate and drove her sword through his throat.

  The remaining two turned their focus to Kael.

  Aether surged.

  The chains constricted, trying to draw something out of him.

  Kael screamed.

  Not from pain—but from the sudden sense of being opened.

  The sigil flared bright white.

  Power answered.

  The chains shattered in a burst of raw Aether, sending fragments slicing through the air. One cultist was torn apart instantly. The other staggered back, clutching his head, shrieking as the energy backlash ripped through his body.

  Silence fell.

  Kael collapsed to his hands and knees, gasping.

  Lyra rushed to him. “Kael—don’t do that again. Ever.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” he said hoarsely. “They were… pulling something out of me.”

  She looked at the glowing sigil, now dimming. “They know what you are.”

  Before Kael could respond, a faint cough came from behind them.

  The captive stirred.

  Kael crawled over, carefully lifting the man’s head. His breathing was shallow. Unstable.

  “We have to move,” Lyra said. “More will come.”

  The man’s eyes fluttered open. “They took… the others,” he whispered. “Deeper into the Zone. For the Rite.”

  Kael’s heart sank.

  “How many?” he asked.

  The man swallowed. “Too many.”

  His head fell back.

  Gone.

  Lyra closed his eyes silently.

  Kael stood slowly, fists clenched.

  They had come to rescue one person.

  They had arrived too late.

  Worse—they had revealed themselves.

  “This wasn’t a rescue,” Lyra said softly. “It was a message.”

  Kael stared into the fractured horizon, where corrupted Aether twisted the sky into jagged patterns.

  “Then we send one back,” he replied.

  But deep down, he knew the truth.

  The Fracture had just claimed another step ahead of them.

  And it wasn’t done yet.