Chapter 15: The Crystal Within

Elira didn't sleep that night.

After Kael's confession beneath the decaying ceiling of the Red Sky Hotel, her mind had spiraled into a whirlwind of truths she wasn't ready to accept. She walked home in silence, her fingers brushing the edge of the glowing pendant that no longer felt like jewelry but a brand—proof of something inside her that could change everything.

She stood at her window now, staring out at the faint sunrise peeking between high-rise buildings. A fresh breeze whispered through the cracked glass, but she barely noticed. Her heart was thudding with a single realization.

She wasn't normal.

Her life had never been hers. It was borrowed, protected, hidden by her father who ran from a world full of power and pain. She thought of the stories he told when she was a child—wild tales of stars that whispered and rivers that ran backward. She had thought he was just imaginative.

Now, she knew he had been preparing her.

Preparing her for this.

Behind her, the pendant on the nightstand pulsed again. She turned toward it slowly, then stepped forward and picked it up. It glowed warmly in her hand, and with every pulse, she felt something respond inside her chest, like an echo.

She opened the small notebook she'd found tucked under a floorboard the night before. It was her father's. His neat handwriting filled every page, recounting the story of the escape, the war, and his desperate flight through the door hidden in the Red Sky Hotel.

He had stolen the Crystal Heart not because he wanted power, but because he wanted to break the chains of their kind.

He wanted freedom.

For her.

Elira's throat tightened as she flipped to the last page. There, written in fading ink, were the words that struck her the most.

"The day will come when they find you. When that happens, don't be afraid of who you are. Be afraid of what they will do to you if you don't fight back."

The floor creaked outside her bedroom.

Her breath caught.

She turned, heart racing, and reached for the pendant. The glow brightened as her hand closed around it, like it sensed the danger too.

The door burst open.

Kael stood there, panting, eyes wild.

"They're here."

Elira didn't need to ask who.

She heard the soft hum of energy in the hallway. A surge of magic, foreign and alive, filled the air. Shadows danced behind Kael, stretching unnaturally.

"Come with me," he said urgently.

She didn't hesitate.

Grabbing her father's notebook and shoving it into her backpack, she followed Kael out of the room. The hallway outside shimmered strangely, as if the fabric of the air was warping. They ran through it, Kael shielding her with one arm while drawing a glowing rune in the air with his other hand.

A blast of power shot down the corridor, hitting the floor where she had just been standing. The tiles exploded in a flash of heat and sound.

Zara stepped into view at the end of the hall, her eyes gleaming silver. Her hands were encased in magic, her long cloak trailing behind her like shadowed wings.

"Give her to me, Kael," Zara said, her voice calm but commanding. "You know the consequences."

Kael tightened his grip on Elira's wrist. "I'm done following orders."

Zara sighed. "Then I'll take her myself."

She raised her hand, and a ripple of light surged toward them. Kael shoved Elira behind him and raised a protective shield just in time. The magic clashed with his, sending shockwaves through the corridor. Lights burst, the walls cracked, and smoke filled the air.

Kael turned to Elira. "You need to run. Get to the hotel."

"What about you?"

"I'll hold her off."

"No!" she cried. "You can't fight her alone!"

Kael gave her a brief, fierce look. "You're not just carrying the Heart, Elira. You are the Heart. If they take you, it's over."

Another blast exploded nearby. Elira flinched as Kael turned and sprinted at Zara, colliding with her in a flash of energy.

Elira ran.

Down the stairwell, leaping over broken rails and debris, heart pounding like a war drum. She burst through the ground floor doors and out into the street, not caring that dawn was breaking and people were beginning to stare.

The Red Sky Hotel shimmered in the morning haze across the block.

She ran to it like her life depended on it.

Because it did.

As she reached the steps, the pendant around her neck pulsed with blinding light. The door appeared before her, ancient and glowing, reacting to her presence. The same door she had touched the night before.

This time, she didn't hesitate.

Her fingers pressed to the runes.

The door opened.

A sudden pull dragged her inside, like gravity reversing. The hotel around her faded. The air grew colder, thicker, and more surreal. She stumbled into another realm—a world filled with crimson skies, silver mountains, and floating towers in the distance.

Her breath hitched.

This was it.

The magical world.

The place her father had fled. The place she was born to return to.

But instead of answers, all she felt was the deep, aching sense that everything had just begun.

She wasn't just a lost daughter or an innocent woman caught in a cosmic war.

She was the key.

She was the weapon.

And they were coming for her.