Chapter 1: The Shattering
Kael Alirae couldn't breathe.
Their back hit the alley wall with a hard thud, the sound of distant horns and footsteps blurring into a smear of white noise. Rain slid down their face, their neck, their trembling hands. The cold of the concrete beneath their knees felt too real, too sharp, too here.
They clutched at the front of their jacket like it would hold them together.
"I'm fine," they gasped, their voice hoarse. "It's just… a panic attack. Just another one. Breathe in, two-three. Out, two-three. You're not dying. You're not "
A flicker of movement.
Kael froze, eyes wide.
The shadows shifted, unnatural in the way they bent against the orange halo of a nearby streetlight. It wasn't a trick of the storm. The shadows moved like they had a purpose curling and twitching like fingers made of ink.
Their throat tightened. "No, no, no, not again "
The air changed. Thickened.
The alley pulsed like a living thing.
Kael tried to stand, but their legs buckled. Their palms hit the ground with a splash that rippled in slow motion. For a second, they thought their ears had stopped working everything went muffled, like they were underwater.
Then came the sound. A low, resonant hum. Like someone dragging a violin bow across a cathedral bell.
A sharp crack broke the silence so loud, so deep it tore the sky.
Right above them.
Kael looked up. The storm had parted in a jagged line, like someone had clawed through the fabric of the world. And inside the tear, beyond the rain and clouds, there was light.
But not white. Not holy. It was violet. Viscous. It shimmered like oil on fire. It moved.
Something was in there.
Looking back.
Kael's scream didn't even make it out. The ground disappeared. The world folded in on itself. There was no up, no down just color and pressure and silence so loud it shattered thought.
Falling.
They were falling.
Kael hit the earth like a dropped star.
The impact wasn't physical it was emotional. A thousand feelings, not theirs, surged through their veins. Rage. Loneliness. Hunger. A longing so deep it cut like glass.
And then… nothing.
They woke to silence.
Real silence.
No traffic. No city noise. No storm.
Their body ached with a weight that didn't feel human. Kael blinked up at a sky the color of dried blood, split with streaks of indigo lightning. Above them loomed jagged spires of black stone, like a forest of obsidian growing from ash. The air was thick with the scent of iron and roses. Cold, wet roses.
And bones.
They were lying in a nest of bones long, twisted, hollow things that looked disturbingly humanoid. Some were too long, some had multiple joints. A ribcage curled beside them like a malformed harp. A skull, split clean down the center, rested near their shoulder.
Kael sat up too fast. Pain shot through their head, but they choked it down.
"What the hell," they whispered. "What the actual hell is this "
A breath.
Not theirs.
Kael stilled.
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
He was tall inhumanly tall with skin like moonlight and hair blacker than the sky. Tattoos, or maybe scars, curled up his bare arms in a language Kael didn't recognize. Chains snaked around his wrists and ankles, glowing faintly with deep red runes, and his eyes his eyes were molten silver.
He stared at them like they were an insect. Or a memory.
Kael's throat worked. "W-Who are you?"
No answer.
The stranger tilted his head slightly, eyes narrowing. His expression didn't change yet the air seemed to get colder.
"I asked you a question." Kael tried to push to their feet but stumbled again, hand landing in a pile of ribs.
Still no answer.
His voice, when it finally came, was like gravel soaked in honey. Smooth but rough around the edges. Tired. Angry.
"…You're not supposed to be here."
Kael blinked. "What?"
"You're human." His lip curled in distaste. "You reek of your world."
Kael's heart kicked against their ribs. "Okay, so… I'm dreaming. This is a hallucination. I've completely snapped. Classic mental breakdown. Happens on birthdays all the time, right?"
He stepped closer.
Kael scrambled back on hands and knees until their back hit the curved edge of a bone. They winced.
The man crouched, unbothered by the filth or the rot, his chain dragging through the pile with a faint chime. He leaned in, those silver eyes boring into theirs.
"You're real," he said, voice lower now. "And you're not dreaming. You broke through. But you weren't meant to."
Kael's breath came fast. "Through what? Where am I?"
The man exhaled like the answer exhausted him.
"Elaris."
Kael shook their head. "That's… that's not a real place."
His gaze hardened. "It was real long before your kind learned to walk upright."
Kael swallowed. "And you are?"
He stood slowly, the chains on his arms tightening like they had a mind of their own. His hair stirred in a wind Kael couldn't feel.
"I was once called Riven Calyx. The Harbinger. The Halfborn. The one chained for what cannot be forgiven."
Kael stared. "That's… dramatic."
He gave a humorless chuckle. "Spoken like someone who doesn't yet understand what this realm does to the innocent."
Kael got shakily to their feet, brushing dust and bone from their jeans. "Well, I'd love to go back to my very non-magical realm where buildings don't breathe and the sky isn't bleeding."
"You can't," Riven said simply.
Kael froze. "Why not?"
"Because the rift is closed. And if it reopens again, something worse might follow."
Something about the way he said it made Kael's skin crawl.
They squared their shoulders anyway. "Then help me survive here."
Riven turned, already walking away, chains dragging behind him like reluctant shadows.
"No."
"No?"
"I don't help Veinborns."
Kael blinked. "I don't know what that is."
Riven paused, just enough to glance over his shoulder. "You will."
Then he vanished into the bones and the darkness beyond.
Kael was alone again. And the sky was beginning to whisper.