Kaelis's vision swam as the world around him shifted. The chaotic void that had swallowed him whole was now fading, giving way to the dim outline of the battlefield he had just fought on. The air, once dense with the stench of decay and fire, now hung still, silent as death itself.
His hand still gripped the shard its cold, unnerving weight reminding him that this was no victory, merely a delay of the inevitable. The twisted reflection of himself was gone, but in its place lingered a deeper dread, something far worse than the monstrosity he had just destroyed.
Lyra approached him carefully, her twin blades still unsheathed, though her posture had relaxed. She studied him for a moment, her expression hidden behind the dark mask she always wore. But Kaelis knew her well enough to sense the concern behind her silence. He couldn't blame her. The fight had taken more out of him than he'd let on.
"You're still standing," she remarked dryly, sheathing her swords. "I'll give you that. But next time, when you say you have a plan, I'd appreciate if it didn't involve you almost turning into a demon."
Kaelis let out a humorless chuckle, though it quickly dissolved into a cough. "Noted. Next time, less demonic possession."
Lyra tilted her head slightly, but her eyes remained fixed on the shard in his hand. "That thing," she said, her voice now edged with suspicion. "It's more than just a piece of your soul, isn't it?"
Kaelis nodded, his gaze locked on the shard's pulsing glow. "It's… ancient. Far older than I am, older than the Eclipse. It's a fragment of something larger, something… beyond this realm." His voice wavered as he spoke, the realization sinking in. The shard was more than just a key to his survival. It was the heart of the very chaos they were fighting to control.
Lyra stepped closer, her eyes narrowing. "And now it's inside you. Is that going to be a problem?"
Kaelis hesitated, unsure of how to answer. He could feel the shard's energy coursing through him, a volatile mix of power and madness. The voices of the consumed souls still echoed faintly in his mind, whispering in tongues he couldn't fully understand. "It could be," he admitted finally. "But without it, we're lost. I'm lost."
For a long moment, Lyra said nothing. She stared at the shard, her thoughts unreadable. Then, with a sharp exhale, she turned away, scanning the desolate battlefield. "We need to move. This place isn't safe. Whatever we just killed, it's only the beginning."
Kaelis nodded, though the weariness clung to his bones like lead. Every muscle ached, every step felt like a battle in itself. But Lyra was right. The death of the abomination had not cleansed this cursed land. It was still bleeding, still unraveling. The air hummed with a quiet malice, as if the world itself was waiting to tear them apart.
As they began to walk, Kaelis's thoughts drifted back to the shard, its significance still gnawing at him. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to this more than just survival or stopping the Eclipse. The shard had spoken to him, not with words, but through the memories it carried. He had glimpsed something, something buried deep within the layers of time and reality.
The Forgotten Graveyard of Dreams.
It was a place that existed on the edge of memory, a space where the remnants of failed futures and abandoned realities gathered like broken stars. He had seen it in a flash a sprawling wasteland littered with the bones of forgotten worlds. It was calling to him, pulling at the shard, drawing him toward its heart.
"We need to head west," Kaelis said suddenly, the words spilling out before he could stop them.
Lyra stopped in her tracks, turning to face him. "West? We don't even know where we are, let alone where we're supposed to go. What makes you think"
"The shard," he interrupted, holding it up. "It's showing me something. There's a place we need to reach a graveyard. I don't know how I know, but it's important. It's where all of this started."
Lyra stared at him for a moment, her expression unreadable behind her mask. Then, with a sigh, she nodded. "Fine. We'll head west. But if you start hearing voices again, I'm knocking you out and dragging you back."
Kaelis managed a tired smile. "Deal."
They moved in silence for hours, the landscape shifting around them like a dying dream. The ground beneath their feet was cracked and barren, the sky a dull, blood-red expanse that offered no comfort, no light. Strange formations rose from the earth twisted pillars of stone and bone, reaching skyward like the fingers of the dead. The air grew colder with every step, the oppressive heat of the battlefield long behind them.
As they pressed on, Kaelis felt the shard tugging at him, guiding him through the desolate wasteland. It was a strange sensation, as though the shard was connected to something far beyond his understanding, something older than time itself. He could sense its purpose, its hunger. Whatever lay ahead, it was tied to the Eclipse, to the very nature of the chaos that had consumed their world.
Hours passed, and the landscape began to change again. The twisted stone formations gave way to something more sinister ancient ruins, half-buried in the earth. Crumbled walls and shattered towers jutted out from the ground like broken teeth, the remnants of a civilization long forgotten. The air was thick with a sense of decay, of something vast and terrible that had been lost to time.
"This is it," Kaelis whispered, his breath catching in his throat. "The Graveyard of Dreams."
Lyra looked around, her eyes scanning the ruins. "It doesn't look like much."
"It's not supposed to," Kaelis replied, his voice barely audible. "This place isn't just a ruin. It's where reality comes to die."
As they ventured deeper into the ruins, the air grew colder, more oppressive. The ground beneath their feet seemed to shift, as though they were walking on the bones of forgotten gods. Kaelis could feel the shard pulsing in his hand, growing stronger with every step. The voices were louder now, clearer, and for the first time, he understood what they were saying.
The sun is broken. The stars are lost. All that remains is the grave.
They reached the heart of the ruins, a vast open space surrounded by crumbling pillars and shattered monuments. At the center of it all stood a single, massive structure a monolith of black stone, its surface etched with symbols too ancient to decipher. The shard in Kaelis's hand flared to life, its light casting long, jagged shadows across the ground.
"This is it," he said, his voice trembling. "This is where the Eclipse began."
Lyra stepped forward, her eyes fixed on the monolith. "What now?"
Kaelis stared at the stone, the weight of the shard pressing down on him. He could feel the truth lurking just beyond his reach, buried deep within the layers of forgotten dreams and broken realities. The answers were here, in this place, but they came at a price.
"I don't know," he admitted, his voice barely a whisper. "But I think we're about to find out."
As the words left his lips, the ground beneath them began to shake, and the monolith's symbols blazed to life. A deafening roar echoed through the ruins as the forgotten dreams of a thousand worlds rose from their graves, ready to claim what had been lost.
The eclipse was only the beginning.