CHAPTER 19 — The Riftborne King
The Shattered Realms had fallen quiet.
Too quiet.
Kai and Lyra stood on the edge of a floating island that rocked gently in the void like a ship at anchor. The air shimmered with fractured light, still unstable from the Hollow Queen's collapse. Riven and Aeri scouted the skies while the Hollow Queen rested, weakened and flawed, shadows flickering around her like fading smoke.
But Kai barely noticed any of that.
His gaze was locked on Lyra.
She stood beside him, wings half-spread in the soft violet glow of the fractured dusk, her starlit markings fading gently with every calm breath. She seemed… lighter, freer—after confronting her mother, after choosing her path, after choosing him.
He exhaled softly.
"You okay?"
Lyra nodded, eyes fixed on the drifting shards of reality. "I should be exhausted, but… I'm not." She turned to him, a small smile forming. "I think it's you. Being near you makes the energy settle instead of overwhelm me."
Kai blinked, throat tightening—not with fear, but something warm and steady.
"Funny… I was thinking the same thing."
Their hands brushed, and Lyra's freckles glowed faintly like tiny stars. She didn't pull away this time.
She intertwined their fingers.
The Hollow Queen's quiet voice rose behind them.
"You two… remind me of what I once had."
Her voice was weak but no longer venomous.
Kai turned, cautious but not hostile.
"Save your strength. You shattered half your core fighting the Rift fragment."
The Queen nodded, her expression softer than ever before. "Lyra… come here. I must speak with you."
Lyra hesitated, then squeezed Kai's hand gently and stepped toward her mother.
The air tightened around them as mother and daughter faced each other—not as enemies, not entirely as family, but somewhere painfully in-between.
A Mother's Confession
The Hollow Queen's dark wings flickered out behind her, ragged and dim.
She studied her daughter with a mix of awe and regret.
"You've awakened something… extraordinary," she whispered. "The power you hold now is beyond what I ever touched—even before the Rift twisted me."
Lyra swallowed. "I didn't want power. I just… wanted to protect everyone."
"That," the Queen said softly, "is why you deserve it."
Kai watched from a few steps away, ready to jump in if needed—but also respecting this fragile moment.
The Queen lifted her shaking hand. "Let me show you what the Rift truly is."
A small sphere of shadow and light formed between her palms—balanced, fragile, pulsing with danger.
"In its purest form," the Queen continued, "the Rift is not evil. It is a crown seeking a ruler. I thought I could wear it. I was wrong."
She fixed her gaze on Lyra.
"But it responds to hearts that are whole—unbroken. Hearts that have chosen their path."
Lyra's eyes widened.
"You think… it chose me?"
"I know it did."
Lyra stepped back—overwhelmed, frightened, unsure. Kai immediately moved behind her, his presence calm and grounding. Lyra leaned back against him instinctively.
The Queen noticed, her voice almost wistful.
"And he is your anchor. Of course."
Lyra's cheeks warmed. Kai didn't say a word—but his arm gently rested along her back, steady and reassuring.
The Hollow Queen closed her hand around the small sphere of energy.
"I can no longer hold the Rift back. Someone else will rise to claim it." Her voice darkened. "Someone darker. Hungrier."
Kai tensed.
"Someone worse than you?"
"Yes," the Queen whispered. "The Riftborne King."
The Riftborne King Arrives
The skies darkened so fast the air itself froze.
Every floating shard trembled.
A low, echoing rumble rolled through the realms—and then the sky cracked open like shattered glass.
Purple lightning spiraled outward.
A figure stepped through the tear.
Tall. Armored in broken obsidian. Eyes burning with Rift-fire. His aura felt ancient and merciless, colder than the void itself.
The Hollow Queen dropped to her knees instantly.
"No… he's arrived far too soon."
Kai stepped forward, putting himself between Lyra and the intruder. "Who is he?"
The Queen's voice trembled.
"He is the one the Rift was meant for. The one it forged long before I touched it. A being born from collapsing worlds. He is its rightful heir."
Lyra's grip tightened on Kai's arm.
"So… he's a monster?"
"No," the Queen whispered.
"He is worse. He is a king who lost his kingdom and vowed never to lose again."
The Riftborne King's voice boomed across the floating landscape.
"Lyra of the Hollow Queen… Child of balance… Give me the Rift's blessing. It belongs to me."
Lyra's wings flared instinctively.
"I don't belong to you!"
He tilted his head, amused.
"No. But your power does."
Kai stepped directly in front of her, fists crackling with flame and lightning.
"She's not giving you anything."
The King finally looked at Kai—really looked—and laughed, a deep, echoing sound that chilled the realms.
"You are nothing, mortal spark. A flicker beside a star."
Kai didn't flinch.
"Maybe. But this 'flicker' is the one standing with her."
Lyra touched Kai's shoulder, warmth blooming through her wings.
"And he's not alone."
The King extended a hand. Shadow ripples exploded outward.
Kai reacted instantly, pulling Lyra close as the attack struck. They slid across cracked stone until Kai anchored them with a burst of earth-energy.
"Kai!" Lyra gasped, grabbing his face. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he winced. "Just not loving being thrown across a collapsing dimension."
Even in fear, she smiled.
"We'll face him together."
Kai exhaled. "Always."
The Battle Begins
Aeri swooped down, blades glowing.
Riven leapt beside her in full fox form.
The Hollow Queen forced herself up, shadows trembling around her.
The Riftborne King raised his hand.
A single gesture.
The air pressure crushed downward. Aeri was hurled into a floating cliff. Riven skidded across the ground, yelping. The Hollow Queen collapsed again, coughing violently.
Kai and Lyra alone remained standing.
Lyra squeezed Kai's hand.
"We have to combine our power again."
Kai nodded, stepping beside her, their shoulders pressed together. "Just tell me what you need."
Lyra looked into his eyes, deep and certain.
"You."
Her wings burst into radiant silver. His power flared gold and red. Their energies intertwined like intertwined threads of fate.
Kai lifted her hand in his.
"Let's show him what we are."
Together, they charged.
To Be Continued…