Chapter 29: Fractured Realms
—Narrated by Eli Whitmore
---
Silence.
That was the first thing I heard when I woke up.
Not wind. Not voices. Not even my own breath at first.
Just silence.
Then came the pain—a slow, heavy throb in my head, like someone had cracked my thoughts open. My eyes blinked open to a sky I didn't recognize. It was purple, but not soft like twilight. This sky pulsed, as if alive, and every few seconds a flicker of broken stars blinked in and out.
I sat up slowly, rubbing my chest. The seal mark still glowed faintly beneath my shirt. My fingers brushed it gently. Still there.
Still alive.
But…
Where was everyone?
"Thorne?" I whispered. "Felix? Ryker? Luna? Draven?"
No answer.
My heart dropped.
I stood slowly, legs shaking under me. The ground was uneven—shards of crystal jutted from the dirt, and strange trees hung upside down in the distance, like the realm had been flipped and shattered. Magic shimmered in the air like static.
"Where... am I?"
Then I saw it. A tear in the sky, like a rip in cloth. And through it—I saw glimpses.
A glowing moon. A burning forest. A deep sea. A mountain of bones.
All different. All connected by invisible threads.
> The realms had broken.
We didn't just seal Nyxar…
We shattered reality.
---
The Realm of Echoes
I walked through the strange forest—if it could even be called that. The trees whispered like ghosts. Some had no roots. Some grew upside down. Every step felt like walking through a memory.
Then… I heard something.
A laugh.
A voice I knew by heart.
"Felix?" I called, turning sharply.
No reply.
I ran.
Branches scratched my arms, and the world around me kept shifting—one minute forest, next minute sand, then glass. But I didn't stop.
I saw a shadow up ahead.
Someone kneeling.
I gasped. "Felix!"
But when I got closer, it wasn't Felix.
It was me.
Or something that looked like me—eyes hollow, skin cracked like broken stone. It reached toward me and whispered,
> "You forgot them. You left them behind."
I staggered back, my breath caught in my throat. "You're not real."
The thing smiled. "Neither is this place."
Then it crumbled like dust.
And behind it…
"—ELI!"
A real voice this time.
Felix.
I turned so fast I nearly fell. And there he was—running toward me across a glowing bridge made of stardust and dream fragments.
I rushed forward, and when we finally met, we just—hugged.
Tightly. Desperately.
"You're okay," he breathed. "I thought… I thought you—"
"I'm here," I said, holding him. "Where's everyone else?"
He shook his head. "I woke up in a dream maze. There were so many illusions. Ryker was with me for a second, but then we got split. I heard Luna scream. And I saw Thorne… I saw him vanish into the white."
My chest hurt at his name. "We have to find them."
"I know," he said, squeezing my hand. "But this place… it's unstable. The realms are bleeding into each other."
"We start now," I said firmly. "Before it gets worse."
---
Following the threads of magic, Felix and I stepped into another tear. The world melted into sand and stone. Floating ruins hovered in the sky like shattered planets. Flames danced on the water.
This realm was chaos.
We heard a loud crack—and a blast of shadow fire lit the sky.
"That's Ryker!" Felix shouted.
We sprinted across cracked glass platforms and floating stones until we reached a burning field. Ryker was there, fighting off a creature made of molten eyes and chains. He swung his twin daggers, wrapped in shadowlight.
"RYKER!" I yelled.
He turned at the sound, eyes lighting up. "You're late!"
Felix grinned. "Of course you'd start a fight before we even find you."
Ryker hurled a dagger that exploded in a blast of wind, knocking the creature back. He ran toward us and we met him in the middle.
He pulled both of us into a tight hug. "You two are a sight for sore eyes."
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"Luna and Draven got sucked into a river of time. I tried to go after them, but this realm keeps shifting," he said. "We're running out of safe places. This whole dimension is falling apart."
"We need to find them," I said. "Then Thorne."
Felix lowered his voice. "You think… he's still out there?"
I looked up at the broken sky.
"I don't know. But I'll find him. Even if I have to search every realm."
---
The River of Time
The next tear took us to a realm that looked like a frozen dream. A river flowed in the sky, its waters made of shifting images—memories, futures, and maybes.
Draven floated within it, trying to reach Luna, who was caught in a whirlpool of golden threads.
"Help!" Luna shouted, struggling against the current.
"Hold on!" I yelled. Felix created a bridge of moonlight while Ryker pulled out shadow chains to anchor us.
I dove into the current, the images pulling at me—visions of Thorne falling, me screaming, a child I didn't know, a future I didn't understand.
I pushed through them and grabbed Luna's hand. "I've got you!"
She gripped me tightly as Felix and Ryker pulled us both out. Draven followed, breathless and soaked.
We collapsed on the soft grass, shaking.
"Thank you," Luna whispered.
"We're all together now," I said. "Almost."
Everyone went silent.
Then Draven spoke softly. "Thorne?"
"I haven't found him yet," I said. "But I will."
---
The End of the Beginning
We found a hidden place in the Fractured Realms—a bubble where time slowed, and magic didn't crackle.
We rested. Healed. Talked.
We shared dreams. Fears. Hopes.
Felix leaned on Ryker's shoulder. Luna watched the stars that blinked in and out. Draven carved protective runes into the earth.
And me?
I sat alone, looking into the next tear.
Because I knew…
Thorne was out there. Somewhere in the dark.
And I would find him.
Even if I had to break every law of time and magic to do it.
---
To be continued…