The human world was different.
Liam felt it the moment his boots touched the cracked pavement beneath him. The air was heavier, laced with the scent of exhaust and decay. The sky was a dull gray, and the city that stretched ahead seemed like a forgotten ruin — abandoned buildings, flickering streetlights, and silence far too thick for any ordinary night.
They had arrived at the outskirts of a city that Aeris called "Glimmerhaven," once a thriving metropolis now lost in the shadows of both time and magic. The crystal had brought them here, just as Aeris promised — not to a place, but a moment suspended in the fracture between two worlds.
Nyra stepped forward, rubbing her arms. "It feels dead."
"Or like something's waiting," Kael muttered, scanning the streets.
Aeris nodded grimly. "This place once pulsed with life. It was one of the first cities where magic seeped through from the realm. They tried to harness it. But something... broke. Realmwalkers disappeared. Protectors vanished. And then this place was buried."
Liam stared ahead, eyes narrowing. "We're here for a reason. Elira's voice — it led us back. She said return to where it began."
Aeris looked at him. "Then this city might be where it all went wrong."
They moved cautiously through the streets. Nyra summoned a small familiar — a glowing fox-like creature that darted ahead, checking alleyways. She winced slightly. "I'm keeping it small. Summoning's harder here. I feel like my mana is being drained."
"Same here," Kael muttered. "Feels like I'm breathing through soaked cloth. This place is suppressing everything."
Aeris didn't respond. She was already watching the skyline.
Liam kept to her side. Something tugged at him. Familiarity. He'd never been to Glimmerhaven before, but each street corner seemed to echo with ghosts he couldn't name. They passed a collapsed building, graffiti scrawled across its walls. A line caught his eye:
"The flame remembers, even when the ash forgets."
He stopped.
Aeris turned. "What is it?"
Liam touched the wall. The words pulsed faintly with violet light.
"It's realmscript," he whispered. "Old. From the time of the Veil War. Someone left a mark here. A signal."
A low growl echoed from a nearby alley.
Kael was already drawing his weapon. "Company."
Out of the darkness came a hulking shape — not a beast, not a man. A creature twisted by realm corruption. Pale skin stretched over a skeletal frame, with violet-glowing veins and elongated limbs. Its mouth opened in a shriek that shattered windows.
"Move!" Aeris shouted.
Nyra threw up a barrier, but it cracked on impact as the creature lunged. Liam ducked, pulling her out of the way just as Kael launched himself at the monster.
His blade clashed with the creature's claws, sparks flying as metal met corrupted bone. Kael grunted, twisting around and driving his wind-infused blade into its torso — but the creature didn't fall. It screeched louder.
More shrieks answered.
"We're not alone," Nyra gasped. "It's calling others!"
Aeris pulled out a charm — a protective sigil etched into a sliver of crystal. "Fall back to the tower!" she shouted, pointing to a building marked with the same realmscript as the wall.
They ran.
Behind them, the street exploded with movement — crawling, snarling, shrieking horrors, all glowing with the same cursed light. The city was alive with them. Dormant until now.
They burst into the building — an old library, its roof half-collapsed, shelves turned to dust. Aeris slammed the sigil onto the door, and a pulse of energy rippled outward, repelling the creatures just long enough to seal it.
Silence fell, broken only by ragged breaths.
Liam leaned against a wall, his heart pounding. "What the hell were those?"
"Fragments," Aeris said quietly. "When a protector dies without completing their oath, their soul can fracture. If left in cursed ground like this... it becomes that."
Kael spat to the side. "So these things used to be like us?"
Nyra looked pale. "And if we die here... we might become the same."
They sat in silence, the weight of the city pressing in on them.
Then a soft voice echoed from the darkness of the library.
"You shouldn't be here."
They turned. A figure emerged from the shadows — an old man, frail but bright-eyed, with a long coat covered in runes. He looked at them with sadness and awe.
"You carry the mark of the Mirrorbound," he said to Liam.
Liam stepped forward. "You know what that is?"
The old man nodded. "I was once a protector. One of Elira's circle. When the realm shattered, we stayed. We thought we could preserve what was left. We were wrong."
Aeris walked forward. "We're looking for the next fragment. We believe the protectors here held it."
The old man turned away. "Then you've come too late. The fragments were scattered. But one remains... trapped beneath this city, locked in the roots of Glimmerhaven itself."
Nyra frowned. "Why locked?"
"Because even Elira feared what it might awaken."
Liam's pulse quickened. "She knew? She was here?"
"She was," the man said. "And she left more than memories. She left warnings."
He led them down a hidden staircase beneath the library — into the catacombs. As they walked, the air grew colder, and the walls were etched with realmscript warnings:
Do not wake the Sleeper.
Memory is a wound that never closes.
What was sealed must never be named.
Liam swallowed hard. "What is the Sleeper?"
The old man didn't answer.
Finally, they reached a chamber.
A massive seal glowed in the center — violet and silver. Floating above it was a shard, humming with power.
Liam stepped forward. "The third fragment."
The moment his fingers touched it, the room shook.
The seal cracked.
From the depths below came a scream — not of pain, but of awakening.
The old man turned to them, eyes wide with fear. "You've done it. It's waking up. Run!"
But it was too late.
From the floor rose a figure — feminine, graceful, and cloaked in shadow. Her face was familiar.
Elira.
But not.
Her eyes were hollow. Her voice was not her own.
"You seek truth. Then drown in it."
The chamber exploded in darkness.
And the hunt for the truth would now cost more than they could ever imagine.