The world did not shatter.
It folded.
A ripple moved across the sky like a giant sheet of silk being shaken by unseen hands. Clouds smeared sideways. Colors bled. Trees stretched to twice their height—then snapped back. The ground trembled with a strange, hollow hum, as if the planet itself had taken a breath and was holding it.
Aiden stood frozen.
Aidem did not.
"There it is," Aidem whispered, eyes fixed on the sky. "The Blink. We're out of time."
Lyra felt her knees weaken. "The myths said it would be subtle. A flicker. A distortion. But this—this feels like—"
"A warning shot," Aidem said. "The Architect has begun anchoring the collapse. When the sky blinks a second time—"
"—the Worlds erase," Aiden finished for him. His stomach dropped. "Completely?"
Aidem nodded. "Down to the bones of creation."
The tremor faded. The colors settled. The sky re-formed as if nothing had happened.
But everyone felt it.
Even the wind.
Especially the wind.
The forest around them suddenly hushed. No birds, no distant beasts. Even the leaves hung still.
As if the world was listening.
---
THE MISSION NO ONE WANTED TO SAY OUT LOUD
"We need to move," Lyra said first, shaking herself back into focus. "We can't let the second Blink hit while we're standing here arguing."
Aidem began drawing symbols in the air—bright, geometric, snapping with violet sparks. "I'm opening the route to the Veinway. It will take us under the continental fold and straight to the Obsidian Spire."
Aiden frowned. "The Spire that's supposed to house the Architect fragment?"
Aidem's expression darkened.
"No. The Spire that houses the Architect's heart. The last untouched part of Him."
Aiden didn't speak for a moment.
"…We're going to kill Him, aren't we?"
No one answered.
They didn't need to.
Lyra finally inhaled sharply. "But Aidem—if the Architect dies, the Worlds lose the stabilizing anchor. Reality could collapse anyway."
Aidem stopped drawing mid-symbol.
"Aiden is the stabilizer," Aidem said quietly. "If the Architect dies, the Anchor shifts to him. That was the role of the Lost King."
Aiden blinked. "Excuse me—what?"
Lyra paled. "Aidem… you said Aiden was the key, but you didn't say he'd replace—"
Aidem's gaze turned heavy, almost apologetic.
"You wanted the truth. There it is."
---
AIDEN FACES IT
Aiden's heartbeat thudded painfully in his ears.
Anchor of reality.
Replacement for a god.
The thing others had died trying to understand… was now his burden?
"I didn't ask for this," Aiden whispered.
"You weren't supposed to," Aidem replied. "But fate doesn't ask permission."
Aiden's hands curled into fists. "So if I fail, everything dies. If I succeed, everything depends on me. That's not fate—that's a trap."
"It's both," Aidem said. "And we will help you navigate it. You are not alone."
Lyra took Aiden's wrist.
"You have me," she said softly.
Aiden looked at her. In the midst of panicked skies and trembling earth, her eyes were steady—like they had decided he would survive even if the universe disagreed.
"Okay…" he breathed out. "Okay. Then let's go kill a god."
Aidem grinned.
"There he is."
---
THE VEINWAY OPENS
Aidem finished the last sigil, and the air tore downward into a spiraling chute of violet and black. The Veinway pulsed with veins of white light, like a glowing circulatory system dug into the fabric of reality.
"Stay close," Aidem warned. "If you fall off the core path, you'll end up anywhere between this world and the next— or never emerge."
"Comforting," Aiden muttered.
Lyra stepped in first, gripping his hand. "Then don't let go."
Aiden followed.
Aidem jumped last, sealing the spiral behind them.
They fell—no, glided—through a tunnel of interwoven timelines. Echoes of possible futures flashed on the walls: Aiden crowned in light… Lyra collapsing in battle… Aidem drowning in a void of black code… A world burning… Another frozen… Aiden standing alone with no sky above him…
"Aidem," Aiden whispered, panicked. "These visions—"
"Don't look at the ones you fear," Aidem said. "They feed on attention."
Lyra shut her eyes and leaned against Aiden. "Just listen to my breathing."
Aiden tried. Her steady inhale-exhale anchored him more than the magic did.
The Veinway shifted, accelerating.
A distant thrum began, faint but growing.
A pulse.
Boom.
Then again.
Boom.
Aidem's eyes widened.
"Oh no."
"What is it?" Aiden asked.
"That pulse," Aidem said tightly. "That's not the Spire."
Lyra stiffened. "Then what is—"
"The second Blink starting early."
The Veinway shook violently.
Cracks of pure white light split through the path.
Aidem yelled, "HOLD ON!"
Aiden grabbed Lyra. Aidem grabbed them both.
The Veinway shattered.
---
THE DROP INTO THE UNKNOWN
The world inverted—up became down, sound became pressure, light became weight.
Aiden tried to shout but had no mouth, no voice.
Then—
THUD.
He hit ground.
Aiden gasped loudly, rolling onto his back.
Sky above—red.
Ground beneath—black sand.
Air—too still.
Lyra was beside him, coughing.
Aidem staggered upright, cloak flickering like a damaged hologram.
"We're off course," Aidem said, voice shaky. "Very, very off course."
Aiden sat up. "Where the hell are we?"
Aidem swallowed.
"We're in the place where Worlds are thrown once they're erased."
Lyra's breath stopped.
"No…"
Aiden turned slowly.
"Welcome," Aidem said grimly,
"to the Graveyard of Realities."