Keal's POV
The first thing I noticed was the silence.
Not the quiet you get when the wind dies, but a deep, unnatural pause like the whole cavern had drawn in a breath and forgotten how to let it go.
Lyra's hand was still in mine, cold as the river's skin. The golden figure stood to my right, its glow thinner now, flickering along the edges like a dying flame. The shadow in the water watched from below, a hundred unblinking eyes shifting restlessly.
And in front of us the breach.
It had widened since the last heartbeat I'd counted. No longer just a seam in the wall, it was a jagged mouth spilling pale, bending light into the air. I could see shapes moving in it half-formed, stretched, impossible. Things I didn't want to name.
The eclipsed-eyed entity lingered just beyond the threshold, motionless but not still. Its form shifted in tiny ways a ripple across its shoulders, a slow curl in its finger like the surface of a deep sea waiting to pull you under.
"Little flame," it said, voice threading through the quiet, "your time runs thin."
Lyra didn't answer. She was staring into the breach, her breathing uneven. Her pulse beat against my grip like it wanted out.
I stepped in front of her. "She's not going anywhere with you."
The entity's eclipsed eyes slid toward me. "That's what you said last time."
Something cold prickled my spine. "Last time?"
The Keeper spoke then, voice low, almost wary. "Don't listen. It feeds on what it knows you fear."
"Do I?" the entity murmured. "Or do I simply remind you of truths you buried?"
The breach pulsed. The air smelled faintly of ash now. Somewhere beyond it, something moved fast a sound like claws on glass.
I tightened my hold on Lyra's hand. "We're leaving."
"You can't," the golden figure said flatly. "Not without closing the breach."
"Then close it."
Its molten eyes flicked to Lyra. "She's the only one who can."
Lyra turned to it, her voice rough. "I don't even know how."
"You will," the Keeper said. "Or you won't. But if you choose not to… this world will learn what it means to burn."
The entity smiled if you could call the slight, slow curve of its shape a smile. "And you will learn what it means to belong."
The shadow in the river stirred, water hissing where it touched the stone. "The breach draws hungers from both sides. Choose wrong, and you won't even have a body left to regret it."
The breach flared suddenly, and for a heartbeat I saw her another Lyra on the other side. Black-veined skin. Gold-lit eyes. The look of someone who'd already made a choice she couldn't undo.
Lyra stumbled back, her breath catching. I caught her before she could fall.
"Keal," she whispered, "if I close it… what if I lose myself?"
I didn't have an answer. I wanted to tell her I'd pull her back no matter what. That I wouldn't let anything take her. But in my gut, I knew that might be the first lie I'd ever tell her.
The Keeper's voice cut through. "The breach is unstable. If she waits, it will take the choice from her hands."
The entity stepped forward, eclipsed eyes locked on her. "Then don't wait."
The light from the breach tore higher, a sound like splitting bone filling the cavern. Dust rained from above. The river rose. And for the first time, I realized the stone beneath our feet was cracking thin lines racing outward from where Lyra stood.
The shadow's voice dropped to a hiss. "It's choosing her."
And then the ground gave way.
Lyra's hand tore from mine. She fell—not into the river, not onto stone, but into the breach's impossible light.
Her scream didn't echo.
It just… stopped.
And she was gone.
She didn't fall.
She was taken.
One heartbeat she was in my hand, her skin ice-cold. The next, the light swallowed her, and the weight of her was gone like she'd been erased.
I lunged forward. My fingers caught nothing but heat and a pressure that made my bones ache. The breach's light roared in my ears like a storm, but when I reached into it, the pain was instant like I'd shoved my arm into a furnace.
I pulled back, teeth clenched, the skin already blistering.
"Bring her back!" My voice was a snarl, aimed at the eclipsed-eyed thing.
It didn't move. "You think I control the flame once it's lit?"
"You brought her here." I stepped toward it, dagger raised. "You'll take me to her."
The entity tilted its head, and for the first time, I thought I saw it… amused. "You won't survive where she's gone."
"I don't care"
The ground shook again, cutting me off. Cracks split through the stone under my boots. The black river surged, water rising higher than it should have been able to, its shadowed depths churning like something vast was waking.
The Keeper's voice cut through the noise. "Keal! Step away from it!"
I didn't move. "Not without her."
"You can't follow," the golden figure said, striding toward the breach, its glow pushing the shadows back a fraction. "Not yet. The breach feeds on what's unprepared. If you go through now, you won't come back whole."
"Then send me prepared!"
The Keeper stopped just short of me. Up close, the light around its mask was thinner, and its molten eyes seemed older somehow tired. "You think she's alone, but she's not. Something waits for her there. The question is whether it will protect her… or finish what the breach began."
The shadow in the river hissed, many eyes swiveling toward me. "You've seen it, haven't you? The other one. The version of her that burns."
I clenched my jaw. "I've seen enough to know she's still herself."
The river laughed a sound like water breaking glass. "For now."
Before I could answer, the breach pulsed violently. A gust of cold slammed through the cavern, strong enough to stagger me back. The light inside twisted, almost collapsing inward.
The entity took a step toward it. "It closes."
I grabbed its arm or tried to. My fingers went straight through the shape of it, like I'd reached into smoke.
It glanced at me, eclipsed eyes unreadable. "When it opens again, Alpha, you may not like what comes back through."
And then it was gone fading into the pale light like it had never been there at all.
The breach flared once, blinding white
then snapped shut.
Silence fell.
Only the hiss of the river remained, and the faint crackle of the Keeper's light.
I stood there, breathing hard, my arm throbbing, the air around me too still.
The Keeper spoke quietly. "If you mean to get her back, you'll need more than anger."
"What do I need?" My voice came out rough.
Its molten eyes met mine. "The one thing you don't have time."
The shadow in the river whispered, almost pleased. "And every moment you wait, she changes."
The golden figure turned toward the far end of the cavern, where the stone wall had begun to shimmer faintly, like something behind it was pressing to get through. "Then we start now."
I didn't know what waited beyond that wall, but I knew this
Whatever had taken Lyra thought it could keep her.
It was wrong.