After they had their meal jasmine went to find her family, as she proceeded she was pulled to the side by Micah who seemed to grin so hard it hurt her cheek to stare at him.
"What now?!" She winced knowing he was up to no good again.
"My friend invited me to go see the heartstone in the archives," he told her.
"What heartstone, isn't it over there?" She asked pointing to the one in the middle of the hall, Micha shook his his eyes filtering to it and back to hers.
"That's the molded version the real one is much more alive than this; I heard it a lot more alive than you can give it credit," Micah said, clearly excited. Jasmine didn't know what to say about it but she was sure it was a bad idea, visiting an archive banned to the outsider weren't they just looking for trouble.
I don't think it very much a good idea Micah, I think we should pass on that one, your friends would put you in trouble and I don't want to be part of it" Jasmine told him pulling away from his grasp.
"Come on now Minnie", he teased using his nickname for her. "We will be quick I promise, what's fun without a little rebellion," Micah said.
She didn't like the idea. Honestly, who in their right mind would? The archives weren't just any place you could stroll into they were off-limits. Only the Emperor and his chiefs had access.
But this was Micah. And if there was one thing she knew about him, it was that he never backed down, especially when he got something stupid in his head. He'd go behind her back, get into trouble, maybe drag others in too.
So yeah, better to just go with him and keep him from blowing things up... metaphorically or not.
"Fine," she said, glaring at him, "but only on one condition." Her voice came out sharper than she expected like the edge of a drawn blade.
Micah perked up immediately, grinning like he'd already won. "What? Anything!"
She narrowed her eyes. "We don't stay long. No touching anything, no wandering off. Once we step in, the clock's ticking we're out fast. Got it?"
He nodded so fast his curls bounced, then without giving her another second to breathe, he grabbed her wrist and practically yanked her down the hallway.
The doorway sits at the end of a long, polished hallway lit by floating crystal lanterns. The atmosphere grows more hushed and reverent the closer one gets.
Massive arched double doors, about 15 feet high, set into a wall of smooth, pale stone that shimmers faintly. The doors themselves are semi-transparent crystal, thick but luminescent, like polished quartz or selenite. When viewed closely, fractals of light shift within them, like frozen lightning.
At the center of the door, where the two panels meet, is a large, hexagonal crystal lock. It's facet like a gem and floats slightly off the door's surface, rotating slowly.
"Where are your friends?" Jasmine asked, seeing as they were the only ones in front of the archive. Now she was starting to hate this.
"Micah?" She called again.
"Maybe they are running late," he told her, his eyes looking through the transparent door. They had gone through hell just to bypass the guards, and she was surprised they had done that successfully. Seems they weren't scared of intruders since the door had locks.
"That's it, we are heading back now, you have seen enough," she told him, ready to leave. To hell with their plans. This was a bad idea, but she still watched it.
"Please, Jasmine, I have never been to the archives before. I just want to see what it looks like. We weren't educated about it in the human realm, and it seems everyone here knows about it," he told her pleadingly. She knew she shouldn't listen to his reasoning, but Micah had a presence that couldn't be refused, he always made sure he was making a point.
Oh good grace Micah, what more do you want to see it locked see_" she said, touching the crystal locks in the process. As soon as her hands made contact with it. The lock made a clicking sound and it undone, the gate opened like it was automatic lock. "The hell," Jasmine breathed out, her eyes wide in wonder and awe, but above all, shocked. How the hell did she unlock the door?
They stepped into stillness.
The air was cool and impossibly clean, humming faintly with energy that resonated in their bones. A dome of flawless white stone arched overhead, its surface etched with a flowing, iridescent script that pulsed softly as if reading their presence. Every corner of the Archives was bathed in gentle light—neither day nor night, but something timeless.
Jasmine and Micah slowed their steps.
"It's breathtaking," Micah breathed out, not entirely sure how to describe the archives, there were several crystals that pulsed softly.
No dust lingered. No books cluttered the space. This was not a library. Crystals each the size of a lantern floated in orbit around the sanctuary perimeter. Five in all. Suspended midair, motionless yet alive with internal light, each one pulsed in rhythm with something distant and powerful.
A deep red crystal pulsed like a heartbeat. (Scorial Vale)
A massive emerald stone glowed with the layered ring. (Verdant Mire)
A translucent orb shimmered with floating motes of gold(Veyr'Thal)
Another crackled with indigo sparks, its edges vibrating(Dynara)
And one hovered unnervingly still, utterly silent the Will Reaper's Realm. Its light was faint, yet pulled the eye like gravity. (Mer'Valka). But all were eclipsed by the crystal at the center.
It stood alone, held aloft by a twisted lattice of radiant stone and starlight. Taller than either of them, its suface shimmered with every hue and none, shifting with the weight of somethng watching back. It was a conduit, perhaps a heart, binding the realms in resonance.
"It's… perfect," Micah whispered, stepping forward, voice trembling. "Like it was never touched by time."
Jasmine didn't answer. He was staring up at it, brows furrowed. The core crystal was pulsing, slow and deliberate but there was something off.
The other crystals from the realms flickered not bright, just a small flare, like something in them stirred. Not a warning, not really.
"I think it knows we're here," Micah said under his breath, his eyes still on the glow center.
And then the whole place shifted.
It was small. Barely anything. But Jasmine felt it. Like the room had just… exhaled.
The writing along the walls blinked just once. The humming sound in the air dipped a little, like it missed a beat. Then right in the middle of the main crystal, the one floating dead center, a thin crack showed up. Thin as a strand of hair. It started from the top and crept its way down, slow and cold, like frost crawling on glass.
Neither Jasmine or Micah saw it happen. They were too busy looking at everything else. Too busy being caught in the beauty of it all.
But the other crystals the ones that floated quietly in their own corners had started to fade. Just slightly. One at a time, their glow began to dim like something inside them was pulling back.
At the center of the chamber, resting in this weird cradle made of black stone and silver that shimmered faintly, the crystal pulsed. Softly.
Micah crept a bit closer to one of the crystals, his eyes wide. "Do you see that?" he whispered, sounding like he didn't wanna break the moment.
Jasmine crossed her arms, tapping her foot without meaning to. "Time's up, Micah. Let's go back to the hall," she said. Her gaze flicked from the glowing crystal to him, still acting like a kid in a candy store.
He didn't say anything. Just reached his hand out, stopping right before touching it. He didn't touch it though. Neither of them did. They weren't that stupid.
Jasmine sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Micah," she hissed, her tone sharp now, like a warning. Her lips pressed into this thin line that usually meant she was one step away from losing it.
"Let's go," she said again, this time more firm.
Micah finally looked back at her.
The hum got deeper. Not louder, but heavier, like it settled in their bones. The crystal's soft glow started to twist veins of red crawled through it like thin cracks of lightning. Down at its base tiny lines started to spread, like spiderwebs... but not the kind anyone would notice unless they were actually staring right at it.
Jasmine wasn't. She was too busy burning holes into Micah with her glare.
Neither of them noticed how the air had shifted. A kind of stillness that wasn't normal. Like the room was holding its breath.
A loud, sharp crack snapped through the chamber like thunder right in their ears. Jasmine flinched. Micah jumped. Outside the hall, people turned their heads just as the sky dimmed not like evening, but wrong. Too sudden. Too still.
Then it tore.
A long, jagged line split through the sky like glass shattering, the sound it made wasn't a boom, or a crack, it was... a scream. Like the world itself was crying out.
And then Silence.
A heartbeat later, the Core just… broke. Not with a crash or explosion, but a strange quiet snap It cracked clean in two, the pieces just… floating there. Like time forgot to keep them falling. Each half gave off this weird glow—fighting with each other, colors clashing like oil and fire.
Then, from the split between them, something ripped open.
A hole. No—not just a hole. A swirling black void. Darker than anything real, like the color black wasn't even dark enough to explain it. It looked alive, almost. But not in a way that made sense. Like it wasn't just missing something it was a wound in the world itself. A big ugly hole where existence should be.
The void pulsed once.
And just like that... the sky went out.
Everywhere Scorial Vale with its burning skies, Veyr'Thal's glowing basin ticking in its eternal loop, the shadows of Mer'Valka and Dynara, even the quiet depths of Verdant Mire every single place looked up at once.
And they saw it.
A gash in the sky, hanging there like a curse. Between the ruined pieces of the shattered crystal, a giant dark eye stared back.
Not blinking.
Not moving.
Just watching.
And it wasn't just emptiness. It was like... the world itself had been cut. Like something was very, very wrong and whatever this thing was, it wasn't meant to be seen.
There were gasps of shock in the hall. The emperor rose from his throne, and he stepped down from his step, seeing the void that had darkened in the sky. Yes, it was midnight, but the darkness didn't know day or night; it just unraveled, pricking the skin like a thousand needles.
It was terrifying.
Sounds, thunder.
There was no moon in the sky, no star nothing but utter darkness.
It looks like darkness, but it has yet to begin. It is slowly eating the realms alive.