The sky crackled with lightning, then suddenly, without warning, it fell. Lynnor froze in fear as she watched the endless eyes falling closer and closer to her.
She could see Mozrael standing there as calm as ever from the corner of her eyes.
Did she not see the sky falling?
Lightning danced across the sky more erratically now, but she still couldn’t move. She felt pressure as she watched the descending force of the endless darkness with scattered eyes, but that’s when she noticed the strangest part of it all.
They weren’t eyes, but reflective gems? They glowed and twinkled, both srizing and frightening at the sa ti. She couldn’t take her eyes from them, but they were drawing closer, and soon enough, she would be crushed. This was the first ti she’d felt such fear.
At about a hundred feet from her, the sky began to twist and turn. The gems folded in on themselves and shifted, then it all paused. Without warning, the sky rushed forward. It felt like she was flying while watching the sky swish past her. It lasted a few seconds, then there was silence.
The pressure she’d felt earlier increased a hundredfold. This ti, she couldn’t even turn her head to look at Mozrael.
A slice she hadn’t noticed before split the dark expanse. It widened slowly and light leaked from within.
It gaped like it was about to swallow her, folds at the edges of the opening, frightening her more than she could imagine.
The space closed in and opened just as quickly. The glow was less jarring this ti.
It closed and opened a second ti, the light reducing again.
A third ti, it repeated.
A fourth.
Then a fifth.
"Impossible," Lynnor fell to the ground, gripping her smoky chest.
The large opening she was staring at that looked like it was ready to swallow the whole place was an eye!. The glittering gems she’d noticed earlier were none other than mirrored scales set across sothing vast.
The large slit in the middle pulsed with intelligence, and it saw right through her.
For the first ti, the prideful Lynnor felt like screaming. She knew she was going to die.
She felt like a child being asured by soone far greater than she could ever imagine.
Aramith couldn’t understand what was happening, but he feared for the worst.
Lynnor explained everything to him after their first trip into her cultivation realm.
The body was always still when one went into the realm.
But what was going on in Mozrael’s realm for her to panic like that?
Her breathing was becoming more and more erratic, uncontrolled, and she even began to tremble and shake.
anwhile, Mozrael was still as a statue, her breathing controlled, and showing no signs of trouble.
He thought for a mont, then gently touched their foreheads.
Mozrael’s temperature had only dropped a little, but Lynnor’s had dropped like a boulder in an ocean.
Is she dying?
The thought frightened him, but he couldn’t imagine how he could help.
The voice exploded in her mind like the loudest thunder she’d ever felt. It was so powerful, her soul vibrated and beca dimr.
LYNNOR!
Lynnor didn’t move. Couldn’t move.
Mozrael approached her and helped her up.
But Lynnor just stared at the girl like she was a witch.
Couldn’t she see the monstrousity?
Lynnor took a mont to find her voice.
"Can you see that, or am I dreaming?" She asked.
Mozrael looked up at the eye. It blinked, looked at her, then back at Lynnor.
"I know him," Mozrael said, like she was just talking about a snack.
Know him? What is this?
The voice bood in Lynnor’s being again.
NEVER HAS A MUNDANE GAZE FALLEN UPON WITHIN THIS FRAGNTED REALM. YOU ARE THE FIRST... AND PERHAPS THE LAST.
Lynnor froze again. She could feel herself slipping out of consciousness.
BY WHOSE LEAVE DO YOU WALK MY DOMINION? WHO DARED UNBAR THE GATE FOR DUST SUCH AS YOU?
Permitted? Isn’t this Mozrael’s cultivation realm?
THIS PLACE BELONGS TO HER, YET I DWELL IN IT AS WELL.
Lynnor didn’t understand. She didn’t ask the question out loud.
The eye blinked again.
YOUR THOUGHTS ARE BORN IN MY SILENCE, CHILD. THEY ARE MINE BEFORE THEY ARE YOURS.
It can read my mind?
NONSENSE, CHILD!
Lynnor was thrown several feet away. Pain exploded all over her body.
The soul shouldn’t feel pain.
She heard Mozrael’s voice. She was talking to soone, but Lynnor couldn’t see anyone else.
RISE. TREMBLING DOES NOT BECO YOU IN MY PRESENCE. KNOW MY NA, FOR IT HAS BURNED THROUGH AGES UNCOUNTED—AGABOZ... THE EVERLASTING, THE CHAINLESS, THE ETERNAL.
She felt sothing electric lace through her body, and she was on her feet, staring at the eye again. It hadn’t moved. The several feet she was thrown was still under its gaze.
Mozrael was standing further away now with her back turned to her. She hugged herself and seed angry, but Lynnor couldn’t know why.
FOR MOZRAEL’S PETITION, I STAY MY HAND. HER VOICE SHELTERS YOU. WITHOUT IT, YOU WOULD BE LESS THAN ASH.
Lynnor didn’t know whether to thank the eye or Mozrael.
YOU CAN THANK HER LATER. BUT I WILL WARN YOU. BEFORE YOUR STARS WERE KINDLED, I ENDURED. BEFORE YOUR EARTH WAS LAID, I WAS. COUNT YOUR FRAIL BREATHS AS RCY, NOT RIGHT.
Lynnor swallowed, feeling herself shrink under the pressure.
I DON’T FORGIVE INSOLENCE AND WEAKNESS SO EASILY, BUT BECAUSE YOU ARE INTERESTING, I WILL LEAVE YOU TO EXIST.
Silence filled the space, and Lynnor didn’t know whether to speak or wait. She looked at Mozrael, who feared to turn, or was she angry?
The eye blinked, then glowed a little brighter.
AMONG THE MILLIONS WHO CRAWL UPON THIS EARTH, FEW GLIMR AGAINST MY SIGHT. THEY ARE FLA IN AN OCEAN OF DUST.
THIS GIRL, HER BROTHER, LIA, THE LONE WOLF, AND THE BLACK WOLF. FOR THEIR FATHER, I’M ONLY MILDLY CURIOUS AS TO WHAT HE WILL ACCOMPLISH. HE HAS GOALS.
Lynnor was startled. This girl was Mozrael. Her brother was Aramith, then Lia, Princess Kesha, and then the black wolf? Wasn’t that what Aramith absorbed?
The voice replied without her asking.
OF COURSE, MOZRAEL DOESN’T HAVE ANY MORY OF KESHA AND LIA. OR ANY OTHER PERSON IN THEIR FAMILY OR PALACE. THEIR FATHER DID A GOOD JOB WITH THAT.
But Lynnor had one other question. And the eye knew again.
YOU WONDER WHO THE WOLF IS? YOU HAVE T HER ALREADY.
Her? But which wolf, if not the one Aramith consud?
MUNDANE? DO YOU KNOW THAT THIS WORLD IS NOT SUPPOSED TO EXIST?
World? Is he talking about Mozrael’s realm?
YOUR WORLD IS NO TRUE BIRTH. IT IS A FRACTURE, CARVED BY A SELFISH HAND. I, TOO, WAS ENSNARED IN HIS DESIGN—A PRISONER CLOTHED IN ETERNITY.
Who was he talking about?
YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW HIM, BUT ONE DAY YOU WILL. I DISLIKE YOUR WEAKNESS, BUT I HAVE A REQUEST OF YOU. DO SO AND I SHALL HELP THE HEAVEN-SEVERING MONARCH.
Lynnor was in disbelief.
YES, I SHALL GRANT HIM THE HELP HE REQUIRES TO CROSS THAT WALL.
But how can I help you?
TAKE THIS CHARGE, MORTAL: GUARD HER, TEMPER HER, LEAD HER TO STRENGTH. THROUGH HER RISES THE THREAD OF WHAT MUST BE. THROUGH HER, MY DESIGN ENDURES.
Lynnor shook in fear and awe.
A greater being such as this is asking her for a favor. She knew so little and wanted to ask so much, but fear held her tongue. She could only accept with a nod.
I KNOW YOU ARE CONFUSED AND WANT TO UNDERSTAND. MOZRAEL ASKS THAT I EXPLAIN, AND SO I SHALL.
Aramith paced up and down. Lynnor’s breathing was becoming more forced with every passing second. He thought long and hard about how Lynnor explained things to them when it ca to entering realms. One could only co back if they were pulled out or left on their own. But even with that, the help could only co from within the realm.
He had to enter to help. Aramith cald his thoughts, sat down beside them. He relaxed his mind and placed his hand on Lynnor’s shoulder just like Lynnor did to them.
Nothing happened.
And for almost a minute, he just breathed and tried to think of the feeling he had when he was pulled into Lynnor’s realm.
Agaboz explained everything to Lynnor, and now she understood the relationship between him and Mozrael very well. Apart from Mozrael, she was the only person who knew of their relationship. This was a secret she had to take to the grave.
Just when Agaboz finished explaining, a loud explosion resounded in the space. Lynnor noticed a change in the eye. Mozrael also rushed to lynnor’s side.
HE FORCED HIMSELF IN.
Lynnor looked around, but all was still the sa.
Who forced himself in?
I SHALL SEND YOU ALL BACK, BUT HE HAS TAKEN ENOUGH FROM . IF HE IS LUCKY, HE WILL HAVE CONTROL.
Before Lynnor could ask what Agaboz ant, the space warped and folded in on itself. She felt herself being thrown out.
Aramith probed for a while, and finally, he felt himself being pulled into the realm. He felt ecstatic, rembering the sa sensation he’d felt when Lynnor took him to her cultivation realm. The feeling lasted for three seconds, and he was back in his body.
He opened his eyes, and a strange warmth settled in his core.
Lynnor and Mozrael opened their eyes to see Aramith sitting before them.
He frowned. "What is—"
BOOM!.
Darkness exploded from him, creating a do several feet wide and high.
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