Fractured Realms

The Realm of Shadows

The light of the ash realm faded behind us. What replaced it was absence. Not darkness, but something worse, a stillness that devoured light and sound alike.

We stepped through the passage the symbol had opened, and the ground beneath my feet turned smooth and cold. The air was thick and heavy, pressing against my lungs as if the world itself resented breath.

The first thing I noticed was the reflection.

The floor was made of black glass that stretched endlessly, mirroring everything above it. My boots made no sound on its surface. The faint glow of my light reflected at me, smaller and weaker, as though drained by the realm itself.

Seryn’s voice came softly beside me. “The Realm of Shadows. Few return from here unchanged.”

I looked around. “Why?”

“Because the realm does not create new enemies. It only gives form to the ones already inside you.”

Her words lingered as we walked. The silence was unbearable. No wind, no echo, no life. Even our reflections moved a heartbeat slower, as though lagging behind reality.

I tried to focus on the faint pulse of the light within my chest. It felt dimmer here, like something was pressing against it. My thoughts began to blur, drifting toward memories I had buried — faces, voices, the sound of Elara calling my name before the collapse.

“Stay focused,” Seryn said. “The shadows feed on thought.”

I nodded, but the air felt heavier with every step. The horizon flickered, revealing faint silhouettes moving through the mist. I couldn’t tell if they were far away or very close.

We reached what looked like the ruins of a temple. Columns rose from the glass, their reflections stretching downward into infinity. The air shimmered faintly, filled with the smell of rain on stone.

Seryn stopped. “Something is coming.”

Her reflection did not stop.

It kept walking forward, separating from the mirrored floor until it stood facing her. The mirrored Seryn lifted her staff, her expression cold and empty.

I took a step back. My reflection followed. Then it smiled.

The real Seryn raised her weapon. “Do not engage it. Shadows mirror intent.”

But my reflection moved first. Its eyes glowed faintly with blue light — my light. It raised its blade, identical to mine, and I felt the pull in my chest as if it were drawing power from me.

I swung at it, and it met my strike perfectly. The clash produced no sound, only vibration that echoed through my bones.

The shadow moved faster than I did. Every motion it made was sharper, cleaner. It was me without hesitation, without doubt.

Each swing pushed me back, and each parry drained more of my strength. The light in my blade began to flicker, while the shadow’s glow only brightened.

I stumbled, the edge of the glass cracking beneath my heel. The shadow lunged, its blade aimed at my chest. I blocked it by instinct. The impact sent me to my knees.

Its voice broke the silence. “You cannot win against what you created.”

The sound was my own voice, stripped of warmth.

“You are only the shell,” it said. “I am what remains when guilt burns away.”

It struck again. I barely dodged, feeling the blade pass close enough to sear the air. The reflection of the world rippled with each movement, as if the realm itself were watching.

Seryn fought her own mirror nearby. Each strike between them left streaks of white and black light that clashed and dissolved. She shouted something to me, but her voice warped, lost in the echoing silence.

The shadow circled me, its expression cold and precise. I could see every detail of myself in it, from the scars on my hands to the fear in my eyes.

“What are you?” I demanded.

“The part of you that remembers what you did,” it said. “The one who stopped pretending it was an accident.”

I tried to attack again, but my strength faltered. The blade grew heavy. The shadow caught my arm, forcing me down. Its blade hovered over my throat.

“You broke the world,” it whispered. “You killed her.”

The words struck harder than any weapon. For a heartbeat, I believed them.

The light within me dimmed.

The shadow raised its sword. The reflection of the realm pulsed brighter, feeding it. The blade began to descend.

Then, from somewhere deep within me, I heard her voice.

Elara.

Not as memory. As presence.

“Kael.”

The single word carried warmth and weight. It was not forgiveness. It was a reminder.

The light inside me responded, surging upward like a heartbeat breaking through water. I caught the shadow’s blade between my hands. The metal burned my palms, but I held on.

The glow from my chest burst outward, enveloping us both. The air around us cracked with light.

The shadow hissed, its form flickering. “You cannot hide from me.”

“I’m not hiding,” I said. “Not anymore.”

The light grew brighter, spreading across the mirrored ground. For the first time, the reflection looked afraid.

It tried to strike again, but I drove my own blade through its chest. There was no sound, only a ripple that spread outward through the glass like a wave.

The shadow dissolved into light and smoke. Its last words lingered in my mind even as it vanished. “Then you will become what I was.”

Silence returned.

The reflection beneath my feet was gone. I saw only darkness where there had been glass.

I fell to my knees, chest burning, the blade still glowing faintly in my hand. My reflection did not return. For a moment, I felt nothing at all.

Then Seryn appeared beside me, her own reflection gone. Her face was pale, her voice low. “You did it.”

I looked up at her. “No. I just stopped running.”

She studied me for a long moment. “The realm of shadows shows only what you fear most. You faced it and lived. That means something.”

I did not answer. My thoughts were still heavy with what the shadow had said.

The floor beneath us began to tremble. Cracks spread outward, revealing light beneath the surface. The realm was changing.

Seryn turned sharply toward the horizon. “Something else is coming.”

The light intensified, forming shapes that moved through the cracks. They were not like the shadows we had fought. These were fluid, shifting forms of darkness that moved with purpose.

She lifted her staff. “Get ready.”

Before I could react, the ground split open between us. Seryn was thrown back, her body disappearing into the dark. I reached for her, but she was gone.

“Seryn!”

The only answer was silence.

The ground around me began to fall away, each piece drifting into the abyss below. The light from my blade flickered weakly, struggling to hold against the encroaching dark.

Then, faintly, I heard her voice again. Not Seryn’s.

“Elara.”

I turned, searching the void, but there was nothing. Only the echo of her name carried by a wind that did not exist.

The realm of shadows began to close in, folding over itself like a living thing.

I gripped the blade tighter. “I will find you,” I whispered. “Both of you.”

The last of the light disappeared, and I fell into silence once more.