Chapter 14

Nexus.

Gates.

As I slumped there on the floor, still on my knees, a realization hit me.

I don't like this.

In a single day, I had lost count of how many times I nearly lost my mind, my sense of self—my very existence—to various things. First, the fortress failing. Then, the connection. And now this creeping certainty that magic, as I understood it, was becoming something else entirely.

Magic wasn't supposed to be like this.

It was supposed to be structured. Intentional. Ritualized. You study, you prepare, you cast. Cause and effect. A beautifully intricate system that followed certain immutable laws. Or at least, that's how it had always been for me.

And yet, here I was, kneeling in the aftermath of something so raw, so fundamental, that it barely resembled magic at all.

I exhaled sharply and forced myself upright, limbs unsteady, thoughts still sluggish from the aftershock. The fortress hummed around me, no longer a dying thing but something newly bound to me in ways I hadn't foreseen. I could feel it—its structure, its energy, the pulse of enchantments once lost now sluggishly reigniting. The weight of its existence pressed against mine, not quite sentient but aware, connected. I wasn't merely within it—I was part of it.

But there was something else, too.

The Astral Nexus was closed. But now it was groaning. Like someone—something—was trying to break down the castle walls.

The realization sent a cold spike down my spine. I turned my gaze toward the swirling core, its crystalline depths shifting with unnatural light. The sigils and runes surrounding it were steadying, yes, but they weren't sealing.

The connection I'd restored had stabilized the fortress, but it hadn't solved the underlying issue. The Nexus was more than just a wellspring of power now—it was a gateway.

And now something was hammering against the doors, trying to force them open again.

A slow, shuddering breath escaped me. Not again.

"…Right. Because things weren't bad enough already."

My voice was raw with exhaustion, but the bitterness behind it remained intact. I ran a hand through my hair, gripping at the strands as if that would somehow stop the sheer absurdity of the situation from sinking any deeper.

"Let's see. In one day, I've bound myself to an entire fortress, nearly collapsed from arcane overload, and now, now I get to deal with—" I gestured wildly at the flickering Nexus and the presence knocking. "—this. A hole in reality. Because clearly, I wasn't dealing with enough."

I let out a sharp, humorless laugh. "You know what? Sure. Why not? At this point, I should start keeping score."

Frustration twisted in my gut, hot and seething. The kind that burned low and deep, feeding into something heavier. It wouldn't fix anything. But it wouldn't fade either. And I wouldn't let it.

No more losing control. No more grasping at solutions in the dark. If magic wanted to twist the knife, then fine. I'd learn how to twist it back.

I took a slow breath, steadying myself.

Gather your strength. One day at a time. See it through.

The Nexus was giving in.

Then it happened.

A surge of power erupted from the Nexus, a violent ripple tearing through the chamber. The air thickened, folding in on itself, heavy like a storm about to break. The sigils flickered erratically before flaring—too bright, too wild, as if trying and failing to contain whatever was forcing its way through.

Then the tear appeared.

A jagged, shifting wound in reality, edges crawling with something too fluid to be shadow and too solid to be light. It twisted unnaturally, folding and unfolding in ways that defied sense, like a wound that refused to decide whether it was healing or festering. The colors—or what passed for them—bled into each other, unnatural shades that had no place in this world. The writhing beyond it was unseen, but not unnoticed—I could feel it, a presence pressing against my mind like an itch beneath the skin, like a whisper just on the edge of hearing.

Something was looking back. Familiar.

I had just enough time to process the sheer, existential wrongness of it all before the pull began. Air roared past me, dragging me toward the breach with hungry, relentless force.

"Oh, come on—"

And then gravity betrayed me.