WHISPERS OF THE FORBIDDEN CREATURES: Shadows in the Light

Chapter 31: Shadows in the Light

The light of dawn revealed more than just a broken castle..it revealed the cracks in reality itself.

As Lila stepped through the threshold of the throne room, the silence pressed in again, heavy and strange. Birds did not sing. Wind did not blow. Even the trees beyond the shattered windows seemed to hold their breath.

Niall walked beside her, quiet, gaze darting toward the ruins of the battleground, but it was Thorne who finally broke the silence.

"There's something wrong," she said, her voice low. "The Veil may be gone, but something… stayed behind."

A pulse echoed through the air. Subtle. Barely there. But Lila felt it in her bones, in her blood. It wasn't the King's magic. It was older. Wilder. And it was watching them.

"Do you feel that?" she whispered.

"I feel everything," Niall murmured. "And none of it feels right."

Then the earth trembled. Not a quake, but a shudder—like a giant creature rolling in its sleep. Light fractured in the sky, bending at impossible angles. From the cracks in the ground, thin threads of silver mist began to leak upward, twisting like fingers.

Thorne's eyes widened. "No… this shouldn't be happening. The Realm of Echoes was sealed long before the Veil."

"The what?" Lila asked, heart hammering.

"The place where broken timelines bleed into ours," Thorne replied. "It's not a realm. It's a warning."

And from the heart of the mist, something stepped forward.

A figure cloaked in ash and time, faceless but not formless. It radiated memory. Grief. And power.

Lila's breath hitched.

"She has returned," the figure said, in a voice that sounded like a thousand whispers.

Everyone turned to Lila.

And in that moment, the dawn didn't feel like hope.

It felt like the beginning of something darker.

The figure stood unmoving, its cloak rustling without wind. Mist coiled around its limbs like living things, reaching outward, tasting the air. Niall instinctively stepped in front of Lila, his hand gripping the hilt of his blade.

"State your name," Thorne demanded, her staff glowing faintly.

"I have none," the figure replied, voice layered and echoing. "Names are for the anchored. I am what remains."

Lila's heart pounded as the mist crept closer. She should've been afraid but something in her stirred. Recognition again. That same ancient whisper in her blood, calling, calling...

"What do you want with me?" she asked.

The figure tilted its head. "You broke the Veil. You freed more than yourself."

It raised a hand, and suddenly the mist flashed with scenes—visions. A burning forest. Children with hollow eyes. A sky torn open like paper, leaking stars that screamed.

Lila stumbled back.

"These are the forgotten echoes," the figure continued. "Lives lost to the Veil's balance. Time unraveled. Magic unmoored."

"What do you mean?" Niall asked sharply.

"You broke the Veil," the figure repeated, slowly turning its gaze to him. "But did you think the world would stay whole?"

Silence fell. The kind that wraps around your ribs and squeezes.

Then Lila stepped forward.

"I didn't know," she said. "But I won't run from it. If I opened something… I'll face it."

A long pause.

The mist receded slightly.

"Then you must enter the Shattered Path," the figure said. "And restore what was lost—or become the next echo."

The figure vanished, the mist scattering like breath on glass.

Lila stood frozen, staring at the space it had occupied. Her mind spun, her destiny twisting once again.

"Shattered Path?" she whispered.

Thorne exhaled slowly. "That's a place no one returns from."