I woke up to the sensation of coarse sand beneath me and the oppressive heat of the desert sun.
My body ached, and my head throbbed as though I'd been struck by lightning.
I groaned, pushing myself up, the weight of the shard in my hand grounding me.
"Lira?" My voice was hoarse.
"I'm here," she replied weakly, a few feet away.
She was sprawled on the ground, her blade resting in the sand beside her.
We were alive.
Somehow.
The storm that erupted when Mylo tried to take the shard was gone, leaving the desert eerily quiet.
The golden sands no longer whispered; they were still, as if holding their breath.
"Do you think he made it?" I asked hesitantly.
Lira shook her head.
"He's gone." Her tone was flat, but her eyes betrayed a flicker of unease.
I looked at the shard in my hand.
Its once-brilliant glow was now dim, flickering faintly as though wounded.
When I held both shards together, an unfamiliar sensation washed over me, a pull, like threads connecting me to something far away.
Suddenly, the desert around me dissolved into darkness.
I was no longer in the desert.
Instead, I stood in a vast void filled with shifting colors and shapes.
Voices echoed in the distance, fragmented and distorted, as if speaking through a broken mirror.
"You hold the fragments of Elysia's essence," a voice whispered, deep and resonant.
I turned, but there was no one there.
Instead, the shards floated before me, spinning in the air.
Images flickered within their light.
Ruins crumbling, storms raging, and entire regions of Elysia collapsing into nothingness.
"The shards are power," the voice continued. "They can restore balance… or shatter it."
The vision ended abruptly, and I gasped, finding myself back in the desert.
Lira was shaking my shoulder.
"Kay! You were just… standing there," she said, her brow furrowed. "What happened?"
I hesitated, clutching the shards tightly.
"I… saw something. A warning, I think. These shards, they're more dangerous than we realized."
Lira's expression darkened, but she didn't press further.
We trudged onward, following the fragment's faint pull.
***
Hours, or maybe days, passed before we saw it, an oasis shimmering on the horizon, its crystal-clear waters and lush greenery a stark contrast to the barren desert.
"That can't be real," I said, narrowing my eyes.
"It's Elysia," Lira replied. "Real or not, it might be worth investigating."
As we approached, the air grew cooler, and the scent of blooming flowers replaced the dry, lifeless scent of sand.
The oasis seemed untouched, perfect. Too perfect.
At the water's edge, a group of people sat in quiet contentment.
Their clothes were clean, their faces serene.
One of them, a woman with golden hair, waved us over.
"Welcome," she said warmly. "You've come far. Rest here. The desert won't find you in the oasis."
I exchanged a wary glance with Lira, but exhaustion pushed me forward.
I knelt by the water, splashing it on my face.
It was cool and refreshing, soothing my parched skin.
"It's safe here," the woman assured us. "You can stay as long as you like."
"Why are you here?" Lira asked, her tone sharp.
The woman hesitated, her serene smile faltering.
"We came to the desert for the shards… but when we found the oasis, we realized we didn't need to leave. Everything we could want is here."
I looked around.
The people seemed happy, at peace.
But there was something off about them, something I couldn't quite place.
"Kay," Lira said quietly, her hand resting on my arm. "We shouldn't stay here."
I nodded, but my gaze drifted to the water.
For a moment, I saw something in its depths, a reflection of myself, not as I was but as I wanted to be.
Stronger.
Whole.
Free of the memories that weighed me down.
"Kay, get up," Lira said sharply.
"I'm fine," I murmured, unable to tear my eyes away.
The vision deepened, drawing me in.
I saw myself in a peaceful world, no trials, no shards, no pain.
The temptation was overwhelming, like a hand pulling me into the water.
"Kay!" Lira's voice cut through the haze, and she yanked me back.
The vision shattered, and the oasis changed.
The once-beautiful water turned murky, the greenery withered, and the people around us dissolved into mist.
"It's a trap," Lira said, her blade drawn. "We need to leave."
But the oasis wasn't letting us go that easily.
The ground trembled, and figures began to rise from the water, their forms twisted and monstrous.
I clutched the shards tightly, their light flaring as the creatures advanced.
"How do we stop this?"
Lira glanced at the shards, then at me.
"The shards are tied to this place. They're feeding it. We need to sever the connection."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you need to let one of them go," she said, her voice steady despite the chaos around us.
I hesitated, the weight of her words sinking in.
Giving up a shard felt like tearing away a part of myself, but there was no other choice.
With trembling hands, I raised one of the shards.
It pulsed violently as if resisting me, but I forced myself to let it go.
The moment the shard hit the ground, the oasis erupted into chaos.
The creatures dissolved into mist, and the water turned to sand.
The entire illusion collapsed, leaving us in the empty desert once more.
But the cost was clear.
The balance of Elysia had shifted, and the air felt heavier, darker.
"Kay," Lira said, pointing to the horizon.
The sky had darkened unnaturally, and a massive storm swirled in the distance.
The shards' energy had drawn something to us...
Something powerful.
"We need to move," she said, her voice tight.
As we started walking, the storm loomed closer, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being hunted.