The crystal pulsed like a heart that had never stopped beating.
Its glow bled into the fissure, filling the darkness with a radiance that seemed alive. Every pulse carried a rhythm that was not merely seen but felt, a low thrum that sank into bone and marrow. Azure light rippled across the jagged walls, painting them in ghostly hues, as though the stone itself bent in reverence. Leo stood frozen, his breath shallow, the edges of his vision trembling as if the world could not decide whether to remain or dissolve.
He reached out. His fingertips brushed the shard.
The sensation was neither cold nor warm but both, a paradox that wrapped around him like fire and ice braided into one. His skin prickled, his chest tightened, and then the rhythm of the crystal seized his own veins. The beat of his heart faltered, caught, then synchronized, two rhythms merging into one.
The moment stretched, drawn thin until time itself seemed fragile.
And then the world shattered.
A deluge of visions tore through him, not drifting like dreams but crashing like waves that threatened to drown the shore of his mind. They were not his memories, yet they cut sharper than anything he had lived.
He saw cities that were not of Earth, towers woven of glass and starlight, spiraling so high they pierced the heavens. Bridges of radiant crystal spanned rivers of liquid fire, while skies burned with colors no mortal tongue could name. He saw armies clad in armor etched with runes that pulsed like living scripture. They marched beneath banners that carried sigils older than language itself, their steps shaking the very realm.
He saw titans of stone rise from mountains, their limbs carved from continents, their roars sundering valleys. Against them came winged leviathans, scales blazing with constellations, wings tearing clouds into ribbons. The heavens thundered as they clashed, every strike unraveling the laws of creation.
And then silence.
Ash.
Ruins stretching across horizons. Cities burned hollow. Skies without light. The void left behind when even gods lay broken, their remnants scattered like dust upon forgotten winds.
Leo tore his hand away, staggering back against the wall of the fissure, lungs gasping, throat burning as if he had swallowed embers. But the visions did not vanish. They lingered like echoes behind his eyes, images carved into his soul. And though he tried to shake them away, something remained.
A heartbeat not his own.
It throbbed within him, steady and unrelenting, a foreign rhythm harmonizing with his own. His veins hummed. His skin tingled. The air seemed thinner, lighter, yet charged, as though each breath carried the weight of unseen storms.
It knows me.
The thought came unbidden, chilling and intoxicating at once. The crystal had not simply revealed itself. It had recognized him.
Above, the battle raged. The prowlers' roars shook the air, their molten spines rattling like blades. Sofia's voice cut through the chaos, sharp commands cracking like whips. Evelyn's chants carried the cadence of sacred hymns, her light weaving threads of restoration. Owen cursed as his drones flickered, their beams scattering against prowler hides.
Leo pressed his palm to the stone, forcing his body upright. Yet something within him had changed. His limbs felt alien, his muscles taut, his blood flowing with unnatural clarity. His vision sharpened; cracks in the stone no longer seemed fractures but paths, as though his body already knew how to climb. His fingers gripped instinctively, his legs pushed with strength he did not recall having. He ascended without pause, each movement smooth, precise, guided by instinct not born of his own training.
When he emerged from the fissure, the battlefield lay before him like a storm given form.
Half a dozen prowlers circled the team, their molten eyes searing in the gloom. Their growls reverberated through the stone, vibrating in Leo's bones. Owen's drones sparked, barely holding the pack at bay. Evelyn knelt over a bloodied Reclaimer, her aura straining as it poured into wounds deeper than flesh. Even Sofia, blade flashing arcs of silver light, fought with the tautness of attrition, her movements fierce but weighed down by the relentless tide.
One prowler lunged. Evelyn turned too late, her defenses spent.
Leo moved.
The world slowed. His heartbeat thundered, echoing with that foreign rhythm. The prowler's leap became a sluggish arc, every ripple of its muscles visible, every spark of molten ichor dripping in slow descent. His body surged forward with a grace he had never commanded. He raised his rifle.
The shot rang out, thunder echoing across the plain. The bullet blazed with a faint azure glow, and when it struck, it carved through the beast's skull as though guided by Heaven itself. The prowler collapsed, ichor hissing as it sizzled across black stone.
For a breath, silence fell.
Then the pack roared, fury multiplying.
Sofia's gaze snapped to him, eyes widening. "What did you—"
But Leo had already moved again. He rolled beneath snapping jaws, rose with fluid grace, and fired point-blank. His bullets seared with that strange blue shimmer, each strike biting deeper than steel alone could. Sparks of azure danced across the battlefield, trailing from every motion of his arms, every strike of his rifle butt.
Energy surged through him, intoxicating, relentless. It was as though the realm itself coursed into his body, lending him strength not his own.
The others faltered in awe.
Owen's voice broke in disbelief. "He's resonating… with the portal!"
Evelyn's face went pale. "That's impossible! Resonance devours mortals. It burns them alive from within!"
Yet Leo felt no fire consuming him, no decay unraveling his flesh. Instead he felt alive, more alive than he had ever known, as though he had been half-asleep his entire life and only now awakened.
Another prowler lunged, its spines glowing with molten heat. Time slowed again. Leo saw its path before it moved, sidestepped with uncanny ease, and drove the butt of his rifle into its jaw. Azure sparks erupted. The beast reeled, and Sofia's blade flashed, severing its head in a single merciless stroke.
Together they turned the tide. Owen's drones blinded. Evelyn healed. Sofia struck like a reaper of death. And Leo surged like a storm loosed from chains, his every strike carrying the weight of a realm's fury.
When the final prowler fell, silence settled once more. The ichor hissed against stone, filling the air with a stench of scorched sulfur. The team stood panting, their breaths harsh, their gazes fixed not on the battlefield but on Leo.
He staggered, rifle trembling, as the glow in his veins dimmed. Yet it did not vanish. It lingered, steady and subtle, a presence that refused to fade. Like a secret whispered into the marrow of his being, waiting for the right moment to be spoken aloud.
The others closed in, weapons still half-drawn.
Sofia's voice cut into him, colder than steel. "What did you touch?"
Leo's mouth was dry. "A crystal. It… answered me. I don't know why."
Evelyn shook her head, her hands trembling despite her composure. "Artifacts lend strength for a moment. They shatter, they fade. They do not resonate. Not unless—" She bit her lip, refusing to finish.
Owen's wristpad flickered with frantic readings. His face drained of color. "He's overflowing. The system can't even measure this. These levels shouldn't exist."
Sofia sheathed her blade with deliberate calm. Her eyes locked onto Leo's. "Listen carefully, Rivers. What happened to you is no blessing. It is a sentence. If the Council learns, they will dissect you, bind you, or worse. To them you will not be a Reclaimer. You will be a weapon… or a curse."
Cold sank into Leo's stomach. His voice cracked. "Then what do I do?"
Sofia's gaze shifted to the horizon. Beyond the fissures, the colossal silhouette still lumbered, its vast form eclipsing mountains, each movement shaking the plain. She clenched her jaw, her voice low with finality.
"For now, nothing. We finish the mission. We survive. And no one speaks of this. Not yet."
Leo nodded faintly, though the hum within him grew restless, pressing against his ribs, whispering like a storm seeking to break free.
The team pressed deeper into the realm. Each step was heavy with silence, yet for Leo, the world had changed. The ground thrummed beneath his boots, harmonizing with the pulse within him. The shattered ruins seemed to stir, their runes faintly glowing as he passed, as though his presence alone roused ancient slumber.
And then his eyes caught them.
Tall robed figures stood across the jagged skyline, etched in shadow, their forms indistinct yet unmistakably watching. Their presence weighed on him, vast and solemn, like the gaze of ancient judges.
He blinked once, and they were gone.
But the truth lingered, unshaken.
Something had awakened. Not only within him, but within the realm itself.