SHADOWS OF THE VOID

Darkness stretched endlessly around them.

Kieran and Elara stood on an obsidian surface that **shifted and pulsed** beneath their feet, as though something massive and unseen was breathing just beneath them. The air was thick, heavy with a pressure that made their skin tingle. The whispers had faded, but a deep **hum** now filled the void—a soundless vibration that pressed into their bones.

Kieran clenched his fists, willing his power to work, to show him something—**anything**—that could guide them. But his foresight flickered and died before it could even form a vision.

Elara exhaled sharply, her golden eyes darting across the shifting landscape. "I hate this place."

"Same," Kieran muttered. "But we need to move."

They walked cautiously, each step making the ground ripple beneath them like disturbed water.

**Then the first sign of danger appeared.**

The shadows ahead of them **twisted**, forming shapes that were almost humanoid, but not quite. Limbs stretched unnaturally long, heads tilted at angles that shouldn't be possible. Their bodies were featureless, their forms **shifting like liquid smoke**, and yet... they were moving **toward** them.

Elara tensed. "Kieran."

"I see them."

The figures made no sound. No footsteps, no breathing. Just a slow, deliberate **approach**.

Kieran's heartbeat pounded in his ears. "Stay close."

Elara nodded, but then her form **flickered**—her shape **warping uncontrollably** for a brief second before settling again. Her powers were just as unreliable as his.

**We can't fight like this.**

The figures stopped a few feet away.

Then, as if sensing their weakness, they **lunged**.

Kieran reacted instinctively, raising his hands and focusing on his foresight—**just a second ahead, that's all I need—**

Nothing.

His power **failed** him.

One of the shadow creatures **slammed** into him, knocking him to the ground. Its form was **cold**, colder than anything he'd ever felt, like touching the emptiness of space itself.

Elara shifted into something with claws and **ripped through** another creature—only for it to **reform** immediately, as if her attack had never landed.

Kieran gasped for breath, struggling beneath the creature pressing him into the ground. The void **itself** seemed to be pressing down on him, crushing his ribs, his skull—

And then the shadows **spoke**.

**"You do not belong here."**

A voice like shattered glass and dying stars, layered and echoing from every direction.

Kieran's vision blurred.

And for a moment—**just a moment**—he wasn't in Alexia anymore.

—

### **The Instability of Natuka and Earth**

A glimpse. A fracture in time.

**Natuka burned.**

The skies, once filled with mystical energy, had become **fractured**, unstable. The mischievous vines that once tested travelers had become **hostile**, wrapping around villages and consuming everything in their path. The creatures of Natuka—some beautiful, some terrifying—now wandered aimlessly, their very existence unraveling.

And Rebel—

Rebel stood in the center of it all, his hands clenched at his sides, golden energy crackling around him. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes—his **eyes**—were filled with something terrifying.

Regret.

But it was too late. Natuka was **falling apart**.

**And Earth—**

On the other side of the portal, the hidden connection between the worlds was **rupturing**. Strange events had begun—earthquakes in places where there should be none, whispers in the wind that carried secrets from another world. Plants that shouldn't have been able to move began shifting, reaching toward unseen forces.

People were beginning to **notice**.

The balance was breaking.

And Kieran and Elara were not there to stop it.

—

### **Back in Alexia**

Kieran's vision snapped back to the present.

He gasped for breath, the weight of the shadow creature still pressing down on him. But something had changed.

His **powers had flickered on.**

For just a moment, Alexia had let him see.

And what he saw terrified him.

Elara slashed through another creature, panting, her form shifting uncontrollably between human and beast. "Kieran—whatever you're gonna do, do it **now!**"

He gritted his teeth.

They had to escape. And fast.

Because if they didn't…

There might not be a world left to return to.

—

### **End of Chapter 16**

(Word count: ~1,500)

This chapter builds tension with their first real encounter in Alexia while also revealing that both Natuka and Earth are beginning to collapse in their absence.