The Fractured Light
Elira woke to the sound of her own heartbeat—loud, uneven, echoing like footsteps down a long corridor. Her body throbbed with pain. Every muscle felt torn, every breath like fire. She was lying on a stone bench inside the chapel, the pendant—now cracked—resting on her chest like a wounded star.
Cael watched her from the shadows, arms folded, his expression unreadable.
"You're alive," he said.
"I almost wasn't," Elira croaked, pushing herself upright. The world tilted. The memory of the Ashen Master's attack flooded back—the screams, the darkness swallowing the children, the helplessness that hollowed her. "I failed…"
Cael's eyes hardened. "Failure would've been not standing back up."
Elira gripped the pendant. "It cracked. I didn't think it could."
"It shouldn't have." Cael approached, his cloak whispering against the floor. "You pushed the Veil harder than any untrained Watcher ever has. Your light exceeded its shell. It cracked because you outgrew it."
Outgrew it? The idea terrified her.
"Does that mean I'm stronger?" she asked.
"It means the enemy knows you are." His gaze sharpened. "
The chapel trembled as a cold draft slipped through the broken windows. Elira shivered. The shadows seemed to lean in, listening. Watching.
Cael placed a hand over the pendant. A faint glow escaped from the cracks, threads of silver weaving and unweaving like restless fire. "The Veil responds to you," he murmured. "You are connected to it in a way even the past Watchers were not."
Elira swallowed. "Why me, Cael? Why does the Veil keep showing me memories from other lives? Are those even mine?"
He hesitated—a rare crack in his normally calm facade.
"You have lived many lives, Elira. But you have never completed your purpose." His eyes darkened. "Each time, the Ashen Master has stopped you before your awakening was complete."
A chill pierced her. So this wasn't her first war with him. It was a cycle—one she had been losing for centuries.
Before she could speak, the chapel door creaked open.
A girl stepped inside—no older than seventeen, hooded cloak dripping with rain. Her eyes glowed faint amber, not silver like Elira's. She carried a faint air of danger, like lightning waiting to strike.
"Cael," she said, voice low. "You should've told her I was coming."
Elira tensed. "Who are you?"
The girl lowered her hood. Her eyes were fierce, sharp, full of unanswered questions.
"My name is Selene," she said. "I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here because the Ashen Master sent hunters after you both."
Elira stiffened. "You're working with him?"
Selene smirked. "Hardly. I ran before he could finish corrupting me." She lifted her sleeve, revealing dark veins spiraling toward her shoulder. "This is what I'm fighting."
A half-corrupted soul.
Elira stepped back, pendant flaring instinctively.
Cael intervened. "Selene has information we need. About the breach that will open in three nights. If the Ashen Master succeeds, the Veil will fall completely."
Elira stared at the half-corrupted girl. Selene's eyes held fear—but also strength. Pain—but also defiance
"What do you need from me?" Elira asked.
Selene's answer was simple, terrifying, and final:
"To survive."
Few hours later...
Selene sat at the edge of the ruined chapel window, staring out at the city below. The mist clung to the rooftops like ghosts. Elira watched her from a distance, unsure if she trusted the newcomer—or feared her.
"How much has the corruption spread?" Cael asked, examining Selene's arm.
Selene's jaw tightened. "It's faster now. The Ashen Master wants me fully taken before the breach opens. And he wants her—" she nodded at Elira— "broken."
Elira stepped forward. "Why? Why is he so fixated on me?"
Selene studied Elira with unsettling precision. "Because you're the one he hasn't been able to destroy. Not permanently." Her voice lowered. "You keep coming back."
The words hit Elira like a blow. She wasn't just fighting for her life—she was fighting for lives she no longer remembered.
Selene continued, her voice cracking slightly. "When I first heard him speak, I thought he was offering strength. Protection. Freedom. But his power eats you from the inside…" She looked at the veins crawling beneath her skin. "I was supposed to become his vessel."
Elira's chest tightened. "Can we stop the corruption?"
"No." Selene paused. "But we can slow it. And we can use me as a bridge."
Elira frowned. "A bridge?"
Selena nodded. "When he speaks to his corrupted, I hear fragments. Orders. Plans. If you amplify your light through me, I can hear everything clearly."
Cael stiffened. "It's dangerous. If the Ashen Master senses you listening—"
"He already knows I'm resisting," Selene snapped. "There's nothing left to lose."
Elira approached her slowly. "Selene… you don't have to stand alone."
Their eyes met. Selene looked away quickly—too quickly
"I don't trust easily," Selene whispered. "But you… your light doesn't burn me. It should, but it doesn't Elira hesitated, then extended her hand. "Let me try something."
Selene's eyes widened as Elira placed her fingers over the darkened veins. A warm pulse spread from Elira's hand—not a scorching purge, but a gentle push, like light whispering through broken glass.
Selene gasped. "It… eases the pain."
Cael watched, troubled. "This has never happened before."
Elira felt the Veil stirring within her, threads of silver knitting around Selene's darkness—and holding it back.
Then Selene jerked violently. Her eyes rolled back.
"Elira—stop!" Cael said, grabbing her
But it was too late.Selene's voice split, two tones speaking at once—hers and the Ashen Master's.
"Watcher… You dare meddle with my marked?"
The chapel trembled. Shadows swirled like furious storms
Elira froze, heart racing.
Selene's eyes snapped open—one amber, one black.
"The breach opens in three nights."
Selene collapsed, unconscious.
The shadows retreated.
And Elira knew— The real war was about to begin.