When Kade's eyes opened, the world felt... wrong. The air was thick with the scent of ash and iron, and the ground beneath him was cold, harder than any street he'd ever known. He shot upright, his heart pounding, his breath shallow, but there was no sign of the woman—no sign of the creature. Just the empty, oppressive silence of the place he found himself in.
Where was he?
The landscape around him was barren. Stretching out for miles were jagged cliffs that seemed to tear through the very sky, casting long shadows over the desolate expanse. The sun was a blood-red orb on the horizon, casting the world in a sickly glow. The air shimmered, thick with something he couldn't name, like the edges of reality itself were wavering.
Kade pushed himself to his feet, his body aching. He glanced around for any sign of life, but there was nothing—just the barren landscape and the endless horizon. He was alone.
The last thing he remembered was running from that creature. And then... darkness.
But this place—it was like something out of a nightmare. Was this... the Veil?
A voice echoed in his mind, a soft whisper that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
The Veil is a mirror...
He whipped his head around, but there was no one. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, and the voice—no, the words—flooded his mind again.
The Veil is a mirror. You are the reflection, Kade. What you see is what you are.
Kade gritted his teeth, struggling to make sense of the cryptic words. Was this the same woman who had spoken to him earlier? Or was this something else entirely?
Before he could process the message, the ground trembled beneath him. The air grew cold, and a shadow passed over him—a massive, dark shape, too fast to track. Kade barely had time to react before the shadow descended, a winged silhouette with claws sharp enough to slice through metal. He dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike that would have cleaved him in two.
The creature—whatever it was—roared, its eyes glowing with the same fire he'd seen before, and it turned its attention to him.
"You're still here," a voice snarled, but this time, it was different. It wasn't the woman. It was a man, or something that used to be one. His form was shifting, like smoke caught in a storm, his features indistinct but for the two glowing, amber eyes that locked onto Kade's with a predatory hunger. "The forgotten one," the creature hissed. "You don't belong here."
Kade scrambled backward, his heart racing. He was out of his depth, completely. The ground under him cracked, and he found himself falling into a dark pit that opened beneath his feet.
For what felt like hours, he plummeted through an endless void, gravity and air warping around him. Then, just as suddenly as it began, the fall stopped.
Kade slammed into the ground, his body scraping against something rough and jagged. He groaned in pain, but when he tried to stand, he found himself in another strange, impossible place.
The air was colder now. The ground was covered in frost, and the skies above were swirling with dark clouds. Strange lights danced across the horizon—lights that didn't belong to any known constellation.
And then he saw it: the woman, standing a short distance away, her face hidden beneath the hood, the same presence that had pulled him into this nightmare. She was watching him intently, her expression unreadable.
"Where am I?" Kade demanded, his voice hoarse. "What the hell is this place?"
"This is the Verge," she said softly. "Where the Veil collapses into nothingness."
"The Verge...?" Kade repeated. The name sent a shiver down his spine. It sounded like something from ancient texts, something his grandmother used to whisper about—before she'd passed. "Why am I here? I—I don't even know what's going on anymore. I don't have the answers!"
"You do," the woman said, her voice firm, but not unkind. "You've just forgotten. The Veil is collapsing, Kade, and you are part of that collapse. Your bloodline was cursed long ago to stand between two worlds. The Forgotten Ones seek your death, for you are the key to everything—the end and the beginning. You have power you've never unlocked, but you must do so before the veil tears apart entirely."
"Power?" Kade scoffed. "I'm not special. I'm just a kid from the streets who's barely scraping by. What do I even have to fight with?"
The woman studied him for a long moment. Then, she lifted her hand, and the air shimmered before her. A blade of ethereal light appeared in her grasp, its form shifting and flowing like liquid silver. It was beautiful, deadly, and it burned with an energy Kade could barely comprehend.
"Do you see this?" she asked, holding it out toward him. "This is one of the weapons forged in the Forge of the Forgotten. It has no name, but it has power. Just like you."
Kade stepped back, his mind whirling. "You expect me to... fight with something like that? I don't even know how to use it!"
The woman's eyes softened. "You don't have to fight with it. You have to awaken it within you. The power lies dormant, buried beneath your fear and your doubt."
Kade shook his head. "How can I believe you? I'm just... ordinary."
"Nothing is ordinary, Kade. Not here. Not with you." The woman's voice held a strange mix of pity and understanding. "You are more than you know. But you must accept it. You must face the truth that you are a bridge between the worlds—the last of your bloodline. And the Veil is dying because of you."
The ground beneath them cracked, and the distant roars of the Forgotten echoed through the air.
Kade's heart raced. A new feeling began to stir within him—a flicker of something deep inside, a warmth that felt like power.
But it was quickly drowned by fear. "I can't do this. I'm not ready. I don't even know where to start!"
The woman stepped forward, her face now visible, and for the first time, Kade saw her clearly. She wasn't human—her eyes were too bright, her features too sharp, her skin pale with an almost ethereal glow.
"You will be," she said, "because you must be. The Veil will burn, Kade. Whether you like it or not."
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End of Chapter 2