Kael struggled through the forest, his breathing shallow, heart pounding against the walls of his chest cavity. His legs, after all that work, were screaming for reprieve, and with each crack of a twig and rustling of leaves behind him, he felt the river of terror run deeper inside his body. Of course, he dare not look back; with every passing moment, the raiders would be closer and closer. Their guttural shouts racketed through the trees, an occasional clang of metal weapons adding to the cacophony.
Keep going!" Rhea barked out short and commanding, a number of feet in front. She easily glided through the denseness of the forest. Her sword was still unsheathed, glinting faintly under the fractured light of the sky.
Kael struggled to keep up. "Easy for you to say! You're not the one they're after!
She flung a backward glance over her shoulder at him, dark eyes narrowing. "They're after the shard, not you. But if you slow us down, they'll kill you anyway!
Kael swallowed hard and pressed on, muscles screaming with each new step, his mind still in shock from the events of the last few hours: one minute he was just an archaeologist, digging up ancient ruins; the next, he found himself in some sort of bizarre world with a shattered sky, running for his life from bloodthirsty raiders.
The landscape broke abruptly, heavy underbrush giving over to a circle of rock. Rhea skidded to a stop, scanning in practiced precision around them.
"They're trying to cut us off," she muttered, whitening her knuckles on the grip of her sword. "Stay behind me and don't do anything stupid."
Kael's mouth went dry as he nodded, the shard clenching tight inside his fist. Its faint glow pulsed in a weird, rhythmic beat against his palm, like the pound of his own fear.
A moment later, the raiders emerged from the trees; the apparent leader stepped forward with a feral grin on his face-a tall, imposing man with a long scar running down his cheek to his chin. Over his shoulder he slung an enormous spiked mace.
Well, well, the leader jeered. His eyes went straight to Kael. Hand over the shard, and we might let you live.
Kael's stomach twisted. In the leader's tone, there was no doubt "maybe" was a lie.
Rhea stepped in front of Kael, her sword raised and stance firm. "You'll have to get through me first."
The leader's grin grew wider, and he gestured his men forward. "Fine by me.
The raiders charged, their weapons flashing in fractured light.
Rhea did not tarry. In one battle cry, she was flying as her sword sliced the air. The first raider had hardly the time to raise his shield up in defense when her blade cut him down and he sprawled on the ground. Another swung an axe at her, but easily she sidestepped and then plunged her sword into his side.
Kael stared, silent and still. Rhea was a force of nature: every strike placed with precision, every movement fluid. But they just kept on coming, sheer numbers threatening to overwhelm her.
"Do something!" Rhea shouted, her voice strained as she parried another attack.
"What do you want me to do?!" Kael yelled back, panic rising in his chest.
"Figure it out!" she snarled, never taking her eyes off her attackers.
Kael's eyes shot to the shard in his hand. It was glowing brighter with every rise in his fear. He had no idea how it worked or what it was capable of, but he knew he had to try. Desperation overtook him, and he raised the shard toward the nearest raider.
A beam of light exploded from it-bright enough to blind and sear. It struck the raider dead center in the chest, sending him flying backward into a tree. The impact had left the man unconscious, and the other raiders had hesitated, their confidence faltering.
Kael stared on in disbelief at the shard. "Did… Did I just do that?
"Less talking, more doing!" Rhea barked, using the distraction to disarm another raider.
Emboldened, Kael raised the shard once more. Another burst of light shot out, scattering two more of the attackers. The leader snarled in frustration, his mace swinging wildly as he retreated.
"This isn't over!" he yelled, disappearing into the forest with the remaining raiders.
The clearing was silent but for the sound of Kael's laboured breathing. His legs were quivering, the shard clasped so tightly in his fist that his knuckles throbbed.
Rhea cleaned her blade in the grass then sheathed it. She turned to Kael. Her face gave nothing away.
"How did you just do that?" she asked, suspicion thick in every word.
Kael held up the shard-the glow in it now dulled. "I-I don't know. It just happened."
Rhea studied him a long moment, her eyes razor-sharp. "You expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth!" Kael insisted. "I don't even know what this thing is! One minute I'm in an excavation site on Earth, the next I'm here being chased by lunatics!"
"Earth?" Rhea's brow furrowed.
Kael nodded, relating how he had found the glowing shard in the ruins. "I touched it, there was this flash of light, and when I woke up, I was in that forest. Then you showed up."
Rhea listened closely, her skepticism replaced with deliberation. "So, you are not from Aetherion."
"No," Kael said categorically. "I'm just an archaeologist- well, I was. None of this makes any sense."
The edges around Rhea softened, but her guard still stood well in place. "If you are telling the truth, it is bigger than I thought."
"What do you mean?" Kael asked, his stomach in knots.
She nodded toward the shard. "That crystal is no artifact but a shard of the Aether Crystal, a relic which holds within it the power to stabilize our world. That it reacted to you means you are connected with it somehow."
Kael stared at her; the weight of what she had said oozed into him. "Stabilize your world? You mean the sky?
Rhea nodded, her gaze drifting up to the fractured expanse above them. "The sky is broken because the Aether Crystal was shattered centuries ago. Each shard holds a fraction of its power. If it's not restored, our world will collapse."
Kael ran a hand through his hair, his mind racing. "So, what am I supposed to do? Fix it?
"For now, you stay with me," Rhea said, allowing no room for argument. "If the raiders find out you have the shard, they'll come after you. And trust me, the ones we just fought will seem like children compared to the next ones."
His eyes wandered through greying woods, and his face spoke volumes about the uncertainty in Kael. He had no clue where he was, what kind of world this was, or just how his life seemed upside down.
The perils lurking across this place were those beyond what he had been set up for, and Rhea, all muscles, was an enigma to him. Was she to be trusted?
Was there really any choice here? he growled low at his chest.
Rhea's lips arced in a faint, knowing smile. "Not if you want to stay alive.
Kael exhaled heavily as it finally began to set in. His hand delved into his pocket, his fingers wrapping around the shard. The glow was soft against his skin, almost pulsing, and it was all he had left to hold onto-something which he didn't even really understand, yet it had saved him. Whatever came next, he knew that he couldn't do it alone.
"Good well," he said finally, his face set. "Lead the way."
Without another word, Rhea wheeled and plunged into thick underbrush. Her gait was purposeful, the sound of her boots sure against the forest floor. Kael followed, not at all certain he was doing the right thing, yet knowing he had little choice. His mind was racing, bombarded by a thousand questions he didn't even know how to ask.
Rhea plunged ahead with silent confidence, wrought from battles fought and survival honed into a fine art.
The ground she covered sure of each step taken, each sharp glance wasn't something one could help but watch. All the same, it didn't make the nagging certainty inside him cease.
Why didn't you just take the shard and leave me behind?" Kael asked quieter now, tinged with curiosity.
Rhea didn't respond for a moment, her gaze sweeping the forest around them. She didn't break stride when she answered, "I told you-if raiders are after the shard, it means things are about to get much worse, and you have no idea what's at stake here.
"And you do?" Kael pressed.
"I have a better idea than you do," she said without turning to him. "Aetherion isn't like your world. There are forces here that would tear this place apart to get their hands on that crystal."
The word "forces" sent a cold run down his back. Kael did not know what she meant, really, but something in his head told him that with each step forward, he had never been closer to danger in his life.
The closer they got, the more the trees leaned in, and their fractured sky above cast weird, shifting light across the landscape. It was unnerving how quiet the trees were, and the air seemed to shimmer just that bit that had the uneasy feeling which settled on Kael grow in intensity. The world felt. fragile.
He could not help but turn to the sky once more, broken, with breaches jagged, as if some gigantic something once broke through, so very long ago. The far clouds churned, as if whipped around-into impossible shapes, unbelievable at the same instant-terrible and beautiful.
"What is wrong with the sky?" he could not help asking.
Rhea didn't quicken her pace, but her jaw did set a fraction. "It is the result of the Aether Crystal breaking. It shattered centuries ago, and since then everything has just about managed to hold on but keeps crumbling piece by piece."
"So that shard.it's part of this crystal?" Kael asked, his heartbeat pounding in the wake of this revelation.
"Exactly," said Rhea, turning on him a brief, inscrutable glance. "It is one of the last fragments. If we don't restore the crystal, everything will fall into pieces.