valmora The crimson twilight

Ethan's breath still came in ragged gasps as the pulse of energy faded into the night. His skin tingled where Selene's hand had touched his, the memory of that brief surge still etched into his nerves.

"You..." Selene took a step back, her crimson eyes flickering with something between shock and suspicion. "How did you—"

"I don't know!" Ethan cut her off, his voice rough with fear and frustration. "I told you—I don't know why I'm here, and I don't know what that was!"

Selene's gaze hardened, though a faint tremor lingered in her breath. The air between them seemed heavier now, charged with the remnants of whatever power had surged through the veil.

"Come with me." Her voice was colder than before, stripped of the fragile hesitation Ethan had glimpsed moments ago. "Now."

"I—"

"Now, Ethan."

There was no room for argument. The shadows at her fingertips shifted like living things, ready to bind him again if he resisted. Heart pounding, Ethan swallowed hard and nodded.

Without another word, Selene turned and strode down the walkway, her movements swift and silent as moonlight on glass. Ethan followed, his mind racing with questions that had no answers.

What just happened? What did she mean... connected to the veil?

Stone archways loomed above as they moved deeper into the palace's heart. The air grew colder, thick with the faint hum of unseen wards woven into the walls. Shadows flickered in the corners of Ethan's vision—half-formed shapes that vanished when he tried to focus on them.

At last, Selene stopped before a tall set of iron-bound doors carved with symbols that seemed to shimmer faintly in the torchlight. With a faint murmur of power, the doors swung open.

The chamber beyond was circular, with walls lined in obsidian and a ceiling carved to resemble a night sky scattered with silver constellations. At its center stood a raised platform of black stone, etched with the same symbols Ethan had seen on the table where Selene and Malphas had spoken. Faint silver light pulsed within the carvings as if echoing the beat of a distant heart.

Selene stepped aside and gestured toward the platform. "Step into the circle."

Ethan hesitated, dread curling cold in his chest. "What are you going to do?"

"We need answers," Selene replied. "This circle will reveal the truth of your connection to the veil."

Ethan's pulse hammered in his ears. "And if you don't like what it shows...?"

Selene's gaze didn't waver. "Then we will know what must be done."

For a moment, the world seemed to narrow to the space between them—the silent challenge in Selene's eyes, the weight of unseen power pressing against Ethan's skin. Every instinct screamed at him to run, to fight, to do something.

But there was nowhere left to run.

Slowly, Ethan stepped onto the platform. The air seemed to hum beneath his feet, faint currents of power brushing against his skin like unseen threads. His breath hitched as the symbols beneath him began to glow more brightly, their silver light swirling into faint patterns of motion that spiraled around the circle's edge.

Selene raised her hands, murmuring words in a language Ethan couldn't understand. Shadows coiled faintly at her fingertips as the air thickened with unseen pressure.

The silver light swirled faster, rising from the floor in faint tendrils that wrapped around Ethan like threads of liquid moonlight. His pulse pounded against his ribs as warmth spread beneath his skin—not painful, but strange, as though something inside him was being pulled toward the surface.

What is happening to me?

Selene's voice rose slightly, the cadence of her spell shifting as the circle's power deepened. Ethan squeezed his eyes shut against the dizzying pull beneath his skin, his breath ragged as the energy pressed harder against his chest.

And then—

A sudden flash of memory struck him without warning.

—Dark water stretching endlessly beneath a sky of silver fire—

—A vast gate carved from obsidian and bone, standing at the heart of the void—

—A pair of eyes watching from the darkness beyond the gate—golden, ancient, and endless—

Ethan gasped, stumbling as the visions burned through his mind. "Stop—please, stop!"

Selene's voice cut off immediately. The silver light vanished, and the pressure in Ethan's chest lifted as the air fell still. His knees buckled beneath him, and he collapsed to the floor, shaking and gasping for breath.

Selene knelt beside him, her hand gripping his shoulder. "What did you see?"

Ethan swallowed hard, struggling to steady his breath. "A... a gate. Black stone and... and bone. There was something behind it—something watching me—"

Selene's fingers tightened. "Did you see its eyes?"

"...Gold. They were gold."

Selene drew back sharply, her expression paling beneath the faint torchlight. "Impossible..."

Ethan wiped sweat from his brow with a trembling hand. "What... what does it mean? What was that?"

Selene's gaze fixed on him, her crimson eyes dark with something dangerously close to fear.

"The gate you saw stands at the heart of the veil," she said softly. "It is the boundary between our world and the void beyond—the place where all realms begin and end."

Ethan's breath caught in his throat. "And the thing behind it...?"

Selene's gaze flicked to the circle's symbols as though searching for answers in their silent patterns. "No one knows. Even the oldest of our kind dare not look beyond the gate. Whatever waits there... it is older than time itself."

Ethan's pulse pounded in his ears. "And now it's watching me."

Silence stretched between them, broken only by the faint crackle of distant torches.

Selene's voice dropped to a whisper. "If the gate has marked you... then the veil is weakening faster than we feared. And if it breaks—"

"What happens?"