The world ended in light.At least, that was how it felt when Collins reached the edge of the mountains and saw the Rift for the first time.The sky was no longer sky — it was a wound. A spiral of white and black light tore through the clouds, bleeding radiance and shadow in equal measure. The land beneath it floated in fragments, islands of stone and forest suspended in the air like pieces of a shattered world. The wind howled, bending space itself, and the stars above flickered as if afraid to look down.Collins stood at the precipice, his cloak whipping behind him, the pendant glowing with four elemental lights — earth, water, fire, wind — each pulsing as though alive. The air around him shimmered with unstable energy.Elyndra stepped beside him, eyes wide. “This place…” she whispered. “It’s where the veil between realms breaks. The Celestial Rift… the ancient path between worlds.”Collins nodded slowly. “It feels alive. Watching.”“Because it is,” a new voice said behind them.The

The sky cracked open.The Celestial Rift — once a wound of darkness and light — now shimmered with calm radiance. The raging winds softened, the scattered islands of stone drifted closer together, and the storm that had raged for centuries grew still.At the center of it all, Collins Lutherchris floated in the air, surrounded by a halo of light so pure it had no color. The pendant at his chest blazed with one unified flame — the Fifth, reborn.Elyndra shielded her eyes as the brilliance spread. “Collins… what’s happening to you?” she shouted above the trembling air.He looked down at her — and for a moment, even he didn’t know. The light pouring from him wasn’t just fire or wind, not earth or water. It was everything and nothing, creation and stillness. He felt his body, his mind, and even his soul stretch across the Rift, touching every corner of the realm.Kaelor, standing a few paces away, could barely hold his sword steady. “By the gods… I’ve never felt power like this. The elemen

The ground beneath Collins fractured into glowing cracks, each one radiating power that pulsed with his heartbeat. The Realm Between began to bend around him — a reality made of thought and memory, trembling under the weight of two versions of one soul.Before him stood his mirror — the Shadow Collins, a perfect reflection down to the smallest detail, yet his eyes burned with unfiltered chaos. Where Collins’ flame shimmered gold and blue, the shadow’s burned black and violet, devouring the light around it.The air crackled as both raised their hands simultaneously.> “One of us,” the shadow said, its voice hauntingly calm, “is a lie.”Collins’ grip tightened on the orb of flame forming in his palm. “Then I’ll find out which one.”The moment he finished speaking, the world erupted.Fire and wind collided midair, sending waves of pressure rolling across the Realm. Collins was thrown back, his feet skidding against the ground that wasn’t quite solid. His reflection moved in perfect synch

The Rift’s heart pulsed like a living thing.Collins and Elyndra stood on the jagged edge of a floating cliff, looking down at an endless chasm where molten light and shadows swirled like an ocean in chaos. The air burned with raw magic — the kind no spell could control.Elyndra gripped her staff, its crystal dim under the oppressive energy. “This is impossible,” she said quietly. “No mage can stand here without their magic being torn apart.”Collins crouched, brushing his fingers along the ground. The earth vibrated beneath his touch — not in warning, but in recognition. “It’s not destroying me,” he murmured. “It’s… resonating.”He felt it again — that strange pulse echoing inside his chest, like two hearts beating at once. One was his. The other belonged to something else.Elyndra’s gaze followed the spiral of runes glowing faintly in the stone, leading into the chasm. “Those symbols… they’re sealing marks.”“Sealing what?”She hesitated. “Something the ancient Orders swore to erase

The world shook as Collins and Elyndra ran.The platform behind them ruptured like shattered glass, chunks of stone falling into the swirling abyss below. A beam of molten light shot upward from the half-opened Gate, spiraling into the sky like a second sun breaking free of the earth.The Sixth Element was awakening.Collins stumbled as the ground lurched. Elyndra dragged him behind a jagged column just before another blast of energy ripped through the cavern, turning stone into dust.“Collins! Stay with me!” she shouted over the deafening roar.He clutched his chest, struggling to breathe. The Fifth Flame inside him was raging — not in aggression, but in panic.It was afraid.Collins had never felt anything like that from the flame. “It… it doesn’t want to fight him,” he gasped.Elyndra’s eyes sharpened. “No. It’s warning you.”Another tremor cracked the floor beneath them. From across the cavern, the golden eye behind the Gate blazed brighter, spilling rays of blinding light through