CHAPTER 22 The Celestial Rift A Fractured Reality

 The Celestial Rift a Fractured Reality

The wind howled through the ruins, carrying whispers of a time long forgotten. The moon, once full and luminous, now flickered uncertainly, as if struggling to hold its place in the sky.

Lyra stood at the temple's edge, her fingers tracing the pulsing golden mark on her forearm. Something was wrong.

It was as if reality itself was splintering.

She closed her eyes.

She could feel him.

Eryx.

Not just a vague sense of his presence, but something deeper—like a string tying them together through the stars themselves. A bond that shouldn't exist yet refused to break.

And something was pulling at him.

Dragging him into the abyss.

No. I won't let him be taken.

A cold shiver ran down her spine.

Kael placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "If you're going to do something reckless, at least warn us first."

Lyra exhaled sharply. "I'm not being reckless."

Alden scoffed. "That's exactly what someone reckless would say."

She shot him a glare before turning back to the sky. "Something's changed. The celestial energy feels… unstable."

Selene's eyes darkened. "The queen has begun the second phase of her ritual."

Kael cursed under his breath. "We need to move. Now."

"Where?" Alden asked. "We don't even know where Eryx is."

Lyra's golden mark flared.

A vision flooded her mind—

Eryx, bound in chains of light and darkness, hovering in a place where time did not exist.

A place between worlds.

Her eyes snapped open.

"I know where he is."

 The Rift Opens

The group moved swiftly through the Veil wood, where the boundaries between worlds were weakest. The further they traveled, the more the air crackled with an unseen force—something ancient stirring beneath the surface.

The trees loomed taller, their leaves glowing with faint silver light. The ground pulsed, as if the land itself was alive, breathing in sync with the celestial energy surging through the air.

Then, the sky split open.

A massive rift tore through the fabric of reality, revealing a swirling vortex of darkness and celestial light.

A voice echoed from within:

Lyra.

Her breath hitched.

Eryx.

Without thinking, she sprinted toward the rift.

"Lyra, wait!" Kael shouted, but it was too late.

She stepped forward—

And the world vanished.

 The Prison Between Worlds

Lyra's body felt weightless, suspended in an endless sea of golden constellations. Stars drifted around her, flickering in and out of existence.

She was nowhere.

She was everywhere.

And then, she saw him.

Eryx.

He was bound by chains of light and shadow, floating in the heart of the celestial abyss. His silver eyes were dim, his body still, as if the weight of the cosmos itself pressed upon him.

"Eryx!" Lyra's voice shattered the silence. She tried to move toward him, but the space around them stretched, resisting her like an unseen force.

His eyes flickered open. "Lyra?" His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.

Relief flooded through her—until she saw the look in his eyes.

Not relief.

Fear.

"You—" he inhaled sharply, his chains tightening, cutting into his wrists. "You shouldn't be here."

"I came for you."

A flicker of something—pain? Guilt? —passed across his face. "No. You need to leave. Now."

Lyra's chest tightened. "Tell me what's happening."

The space around them shuddered.

The shadows moved.

A voice, smooth as silk, whispered through the void.

"You were always meant to come, child of the stars."

Lyra turned—

And her breath caught in her throat.

Her mother stood before her.

Queen Evelyne, untouched by the chaos around them, her celestial robes flowing like mist.

Her expression was calm. Too calm.

"Mother?" Lyra whispered, her voice barely audible.

Evelyne smiled. "It's time you learned the truth."

The Queen's Truth

Lyra's pulse thundered in her ears. Her mother—whom she had believed dead for years—stood before her, unaged, ethereal, powerful.

She took a step back. "This isn't real."

Evelyne's eyes softened. "It is more real than anything you've ever known."

Eryx struggled against his chains. "Lyra, don't listen to her."

Evelyne's gaze flickered toward him. "Still so defiant." She sighed, turning back to Lyra. "You don't understand, do you?"

Lyra's hands curled into fists. "Understand what?"

A slow, knowing smile spread across Evelyne's lips.

"That I was never your enemy."

The words pierced through Lyra like a dagger.

She shook her head. "You tried to—"

"I tried to prepare you." Evelyne's voice was steady, unyielding. "The celestial mark, the visions, the rift—it was all meant to lead you here."

"To what?" Lyra demanded.

"To your destiny."

Evelyne raised her hand.

A golden sigil formed in the air between them, its energy thrumming with power. The same power Lyra had felt when she first awakened her magic.

She stared at it, shaken.

Eryx's voice was desperate now. "Lyra, she's lying."

But was she?

Everything—every vision, every trial, every pain—had led her to this moment.

A choice.

The stars pulsed around them, awaiting her decision.

One path would save Eldoris.

The other would doom it