Kai opened his eyes. The white light faded, replaced by a strange silence. He stood on cracked stone beneath a sky of shifting colors, gold and green swirling like storm clouds.The ground stretched endlessly. Shards of glass floated in the air, each one showing glimpses of memories.Amara as a child, laughing with her parents; Amara training with her blade; Amara standing in the vault, eyes glowing green. Kai’s chest tightened. He whispered, “This is… her mind.”His sword lay at his side, still glowing faint gold. He picked it up, gripping it tight. A voice echoed through the air. “Kai…”He turned. Amara stood ahead. But her body flickered, one moment her true self, smiling warmly, the next, her eyes green, her face twisted with vines. She whispered again, “Help me.”Then she vanished into the mist. Kai ran after her. As he ran, the ground shifted beneath him, paths splitting in every direction. Each path led toward a glowing shard floating in the distance. The shards pulsed gold an

Kai woke with a gasp. The void was gone. He lay on cold stone, his body aching as though he’d been crushed by mountains. His chest burned, his hand still clutching the hilt of his golden blade. For a moment, he thought it had all been a dream. The shattered world. Amara’s fading voice. The Gardener laughed, but when he looked at his palm, the mark was still there, half gold, half green, glowing faintly.His heart clenched. “Amara…” he whispered. His voice cracked, broken by grief. “Where are you?”Silence answered. The air smelled of smoke and rot. He slowly stood, his legs trembling, and looked around.He wasn’t in the fractured world anymore. He was back in the city, but it was not the same city he remembered.The skyline was broken. Towers leaned against one another, their windows shattered. Streets were cracked open like wounds, roots spilling from beneath the ground. Some buildings burned, their flames green instead of orange.The sky was wrong too. Not split like before, but

The world split open. Green light burst from Amara’s hands, swallowing the ruins in a wave of fire. Stone cracked, glass shattered, and roots erupted from the earth like spears.Kai barely had time to throw himself over his sword. His golden fire flared, creating a shield around him. The blast hit, tearing at his flesh, shaking his bones.He screamed, the sound lost inside the roar. The soldier ducked behind a wall, his rifle clutched to his chest, eyes wide with horror. The wall crumbled, but somehow it held, barely shielding him from the worst of the blast.When the light faded, silence fell. Dust drifted through the air. The ruins lay in pieces, blackened and broken.Kai lay on the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. His golden fire flickered weakly, almost gone.And Amara stood at the center of the destruction, her body glowing green, her eyes blank.The soldier coughed, crawling out of the rubble. His uniform was scorched, his skin blistered. He spat blood into the dirt, then

The blade cut through the air, glowing bright gold. Amara shut her eyes, tears falling. The soldier screamed her name. The Gardener laughed with thunder.But at the last second, Kai twisted his wrists.The blade did not cut Amara. It drove instead into the roots beneath her feet.The ground screamed, a sound like thousands of mouths tearing open. Green fire burst upward, clashing with his golden light.The chamber shook violently. Kai held the sword with both hands, teeth clenched, pouring everything he had into the strike. “Not her,” he growled. “Never her.”The Gardener roared. “Fool! You cannot cut me without cutting her!”But for the first time, the roots split. Amara’s body jolted as if shocked. She cried out, clutching her chest. “Kai, it’s burning, he’s burning through me, ”Kai gritted his teeth, refusing to let go of the blade. “Then burn with me. Don’t let him win.”The soldier stumbled closer, eyes wide. “Crest, what are you doing?”Kai shouted through the roar of fire and r

The creature stepped closer. It wore half of Kai’s face, stern and cold, the other half Amara’s, soft and glowing. Its body was tall, twisted with roots and fire, its hands clutching a sword of living wood wrapped in green flame.Its eyes glowed with both their colors, gold and green, yet burned with hunger. It grinned. The half of its mouth that was Amara’s whispered: “Love is weakness.”The half that was Kai’s thundered: “Trust is death.”Amara gasped, clutching Kai’s arm. “It… it’s us.”Kai tightened his grip on his sword. His jaw locked. “No. It’s not us. It’s him. Just another trick.”But deep in his chest, he felt the truth. This thing was made from pieces of them, their fears, their doubts, their sins, and it was alive.The hybrid rushed forward with inhuman speed. Its blade struck Kai’s, golden sparks flying. The ground cracked beneath them.Kai grunted, shoving back. But the hybrid’s strength was monstrous, far beyond his own.Amara raised her hands, summoning light, sending