Silence.
Then, a sharp intake of breath.
Arka's eyes snapped open to a sky of swirling gold and black. The ground beneath him pulsed faintly like a living thing — the surface made of fractured light, suspended over an endless abyss. The air shimmered with the scent of ozone and ash.
He pushed himself to his feet, disoriented. The Heart's light was gone, replaced by fragments of shattered runes floating midair, fading one by one.
"Lyra!"
His voice echoed into the void. No reply. Only the hollow hum of something vast and broken.
He took a step forward. The ground rippled beneath him like liquid glass, reforming with every move. He realized then — this wasn't the Sanctuary anymore. It was the Balance Realm itself, torn apart.
The voice came suddenly, distant yet familiar.
"Arka…"
He turned sharply. For a moment, he thought it was Lyra — but the tone was older, colder. From the horizon, a figure walked toward him, draped in a tattered cloak of starlight. Their face was hidden beneath a hood, but the aura was unmistakable.
"Who are you?" Arka demanded.
The figure stopped a few paces away. "The Balance you once served."
Light flared behind the hood, revealing a pair of shifting eyes — one gold, one black. "Or what's left of it."
Arka stiffened. "The Heart collapsed. Why?"
"The vessel was incomplete," the entity replied. "The Echo was not ready. And neither were you."
"Where is she?"
The Balance lowered its head. "Trapped where your shadow meets her light — the reflection realm. If she fails to find her way back, the corruption will consume her."
Arka's jaw clenched. "Then I'll bring her back."
"Do you even know what she's become?" the Balance murmured. "She holds both your light and Kael's memory. That power will break her before it saves her."
"Then I'll break the world to rebuild her if I have to."
The Balance was silent for a long moment. Then it raised a hand, pointing toward the abyss. "Then go. But know this — if she awakens the Balance's full core within the Shadow Realm, it will not be her who returns. It will be something else."
Arka didn't hesitate. He leapt into the darkness.
The world shattered around him — and then rebuilt itself.
Lyra awoke to cold rain.
She sat up, gasping, clutching her chest. Her crystal pulsed dimly, flickering like a dying star. Around her stretched a ruined reflection of the Sanctuary — black stone, twisted architecture, and sky veined with red lightning.
"This isn't…" She caught her breath. "The real world."
The air shimmered. A voice answered from nowhere.
"You've entered the Reflection. The realm between Balance and Void."
Lyra turned. A shadow stood a few meters away, shaped like a person but made of liquid darkness. Yet its eyes were gold — familiar, too familiar.
"Kael?" she whispered.
The figure tilted its head. "No. I am what she left behind."
The shadow's voice was soft, neither male nor female, echoing slightly. "You carry her memories. Her light. But you've never carried her burden."
Lyra took a step back. "What do you mean?"
The shadow extended a hand. The world around them flickered, and suddenly Lyra saw flashes of Kael's life — the wars, the betrayals, the final battle where she sacrificed herself to seal the Balance.
Lyra screamed and fell to her knees. The images wouldn't stop — pain, blood, stars burning out one by one.
"Make it stop!"
"Face it," the shadow said gently. "Only when you accept the pain can you control the Balance within you."
Lyra trembled. "I'm not her."
"No," the shadow agreed, "but you are what comes after."
It stepped closer, placing its hand over her chest. "And when the Balance breaks again, you will be the one who decides what rises from its ashes."
The mark on her palm flared, searing her skin with golden light. Lyra screamed — but didn't pull away.
Somewhere beyond that broken sky, she heard Arka's voice calling her name.
Her eyes opened — glowing brighter than before.
"I won't disappear," she whispered. "Not like her."
The shadow smiled faintly, its form dissolving into mist. "Then prove it."
Lightning split the reflection sky, and Lyra stood, power coursing through her veins — unstable but alive.
She looked up, her voice steady now. "Wait for me, Arka. I'll find my way back."
Far above, in the Balance Realm, Arka's descent slowed as a beam of light cut through the abyss — a single thread of golden energy reaching toward him.
He reached for it, his fingers brushing faint warmth.
For the first time since the collapse, he felt her pulse again.
And he smiled.
"Good," he whispered. "You're still fighting."
Then he fell deeper — into the heart of the fracture, where light and shadow collided.