The dimensional wound widened with a deafening crack. The temperature dropped instantly; frost spread along the floor, spiraling outward from the tear. Strange shapes moved behind the violet mist—too blurry to recognize, too sharp to ignore.
Rovan stepped forward. "I don't know what that is, but I'm punching it."
"Do NOT punch interdimensional anomalies!" Tegan snapped.
"Why not?"
"Because you'll die, that's why!"
Kaelis moved in front of Aeron, blades raised. "Lyra, what's coming through?"
Lyra's voice trembled for the first time.
"A Wraith Fragment. A scout. If it gets through, the barrier weakens further. If the barrier weakens—"
"We're screwed?" Sylas supplied.
"Worse," Lyra said. "Entire dimensions could collide."
The tear pulsed.
A shape finally broke through—a humanoid figure made of shifting shadows, eyes glowing white like cracked glass. It had no mouth, no face… only a swirling mask of energy.
The Wraith Fragment screeched—soundless but felt in every bone.
Aeron clutched his chest and cried out. The spark reacted violently, dragging him toward the creature.
"It's pulling him!" Kaelis shouted.
Lyra slammed her staff into the ground. "Everyone attack! Do not let it touch Aeron!"
Tegan fired ice arrows. They passed through the Wraith but slowed its form.
Sylas blink-stepped behind it, slashing with a charged dagger—but the blade sliced only mist.
Rovan swung a stone-fused fist and actually connected, scattering part of the Wraith's body like smoke.
"Ha!" he roared. "Take that, fog creature!"
The Wraith reformed instantly.
"Never mind," Rovan muttered.
Kaelis charged and unleashed a spiraling wind strike—Gale Reaver Arc.
The wind tore a deep gouge in the Wraith's chest, making its form flicker violently.
Lyra raised both hands. Flames roared from her palms, forming a wolf-shaped inferno.
"Spirit Flame: Lupine Mirage!"
The flaming wolf slammed into the Wraith, pinning it temporarily.
Aeron screamed. His lightning surged wildly.
"It's draining him!" Tegan realized.
The Wraith fed on the spark… and through the spark, on Aeron's life.
Kaelis' eyes hardened. She sprinted straight into the fire and shadow, grabbed Aeron by the shoulder, and pulled him backward with sheer force.
"Don't touch him!" she shouted at the Wraith.
For a moment, her eyes flashed with fury—and something else. A deeper rage. A protective fire no one expected.
The Wraith lunged.
Aeron suddenly thrust his hand forward—instinctively, desperately.
A blast of blue lightning erupted.
Not normal lightning.
Lightning that bent the air like warped glass.
The Wraith screeched as half its form disintegrated.
Lyra froze. "Aeron… that wasn't mortal power."
Aeron collapsed in Kaelis' arms, unconscious.
The Wraith reformed—smaller, weaker, but alive.
Sylas stepped forward. "I've had enough of this thing."
Tegan nodded. "Same."
Rovan cracked his knuckles. "Team attack?"
Kaelis stood up slowly, eyes burning. "Team attack."
They struck as one:
Kaelis' wind burst forced the Wraith into a tight vortex.
Tegan's ice arrows froze the vortex edges.
Rovan's earth punch shattered the ice barrier.
Sylas' shadow step slash destabilized the core.
Lyra's wolf flame swallowed the remains.
The Wraith shattered like glass.
The tear flickered… then sealed shut.
Silence filled the ruins, broken only by Aeron's shallow breathing.
Lyra knelt beside him, examining the glow beneath his skin.
"The breach is closed… but Aeron's connection is not."
Kaelis clenched her fists. "How do we fix him?"
Lyra looked up, her face grim.
"We need to travel to the one place where dimensional sparks originate."
Tegan swallowed. "Where is that?"
Lyra whispered:
"The Rift Valley."
Everyone fell silent.
The Rift Valley was considered cursed. Forbidden. A place no sane traveler approached.
Sylas exhaled slowly. "Well… we were overdue for a terrible idea."
Kaelis brushed a hand through Aeron's hair. "We'll go. All of us."
Aeron, still unconscious, murmured something no one could understand.
Except Lyra.
She turned pale.
"What did he say?" Kaelis asked.
Lyra closed her eyes.
"He said… 'The Wraith is not alone.'"