The Border of Distortion
The terrain grew jagged, twisted—trees grown sideways, rivers looping into themselves. Even sound bent oddly.
Mireth pointed ahead:
"We're entering the Shatterreach. A Mana Storm sleeps here. You feel it?"
Cael did. The world pulsed, not with life—but with memory pressure, as though the ground itself remembered too much.
"Stay close. Speak only if you're certain you're awake."
They stepped inside.
The Storm Beneath Reality
No thunder. No wind. Just shifting layers of moments.
A bird froze mid-flight, then unraveled into feathers of light.
Cael saw himself walking beside himself, older, eyes glowing void-black.
Mireth flickered—at one point appearing far younger, her hair short and laughing.
Then Cael blinked—and he was alone.
Within the Core Pulse
He stood in a clearing made of glass trees and floating stones. In the center, a cracked monolith hummed—an ancient Essentia conduit, fractured by a failed sealing.
His shard pulsed violently.
"Six will seek. One shall seal.
But none will remain the same."
The voice came not from around him, but within.
Visions surged:
A boy of ash and fur standing against titanic beasts in a burning savannah.
A silver-haired martial artist meditating in a realm where time reversed.
A masked tactician rewriting the code of a collapsing city.
And finally—
Himself. Alone. Kneeling in the center of a collapsing star.
"You will break… and be the glue."
Mireth Pulls Him Back
A jolt. Pain. Cael gasped as he was yanked from the clearing.
Mireth's hands were glowing. Her face pale.
"Don't stare at the Core Pulse that long. You could've unraveled."
Cael's breath shook. "I saw others. Not… people here. But like me. Carriers."
Mireth stared.
"Then the storm knows more than I do."
The Storm's Legacy
They escaped the Shatterreach before nightfall, but something was different.
Cael's shard now showed faint constellation patterns when placed near leystones.
He remembered names he hadn't learned.
His next void spell hummed with clarity instead of static.
Mireth eyed him with caution.
"It left a mark on you."
Cael nodded.
"And now I can feel… where the next seal might be."