Kael didn't leave the dressing room immediately.
For a long time, he just stood there, staring at the mirror, waiting for it to betray him again. His reflection remained still now—perfectly aligned, perfectly normal—but that didn't mean anything anymore. Normal had become the most unreliable thing in his life.
He exhaled slowly, dragging a hand across his face. The adrenaline was fading, leaving behind a heavier kind of exhaustion, the kind that settled deep in the bones and refused to move. His side throbbed again, sharper this time, like his body had decided it wasn't done reminding him of the night before.
Or the one to come.
"You opened the door."
The words echoed in his mind, unwanted but persistent.
"You just don't remember how."
Kael shook his head slightly, like the motion alone could push the thought out. "No," he muttered under his breath. "No, that's not how this works."
Except he didn't actually know how this worked.
That was the problem.
For years, he had treated Veyruun like a curse, something forced on him, something external, something he endured. Even when he learned to fight back, to survive, he never questioned the origin of it beyond a simple assumption: it wasn't his fault.
Now that assumption was cracking.
And he didn't like what might be underneath it.
A knock came at the door.
Sharp and Immediate.
Kael stiffened slightly, his senses snapping back to the present. "Yeah," he called, his voice steady again, controlled.
The door opened before he could say anything else.
Lena stepped in.
She didn't speak right away.
She just looked at him.
Really looked this time.
There was something different in her expression now not just concern, not even frustration.
Suspicion.
"You're going to tell me what's going on," she said finally.
Not asking, she said.
Kael turned away from the mirror, grabbing his jacket slowly, deliberately avoiding her gaze. "We already had this conversation."
"No," she replied, stepping further into the room and closing the door behind her. "We didn't. You avoided it. There's a difference."
Kael slipped his arm into the jacket, careful with his side. "I'm fine."
"Stop saying that."
There was a sharpness in her voice now, a kind of frustration that had been building for days, maybe longer.
"You think I don't see it?" she continued. "You're barely holding it together, Kael. You look like you haven't slept in weeks, you're injured, and just now—" She stopped herself, then shook her head. "Something happened in here."
Kael's hands paused briefly at the zipper.
Too brief for most people to notice.
Not for her.
"What happened?" she asked again, quieter this time.
Kael didn't answer immediately. He finished zipping the jacket, then leaned back against the table, arms crossing loosely. It was a defensive posture, even if he didn't mean it to be.
"Nothing you'd believe," he said.
"Try me."
"You say that," he replied, his tone calm but distant, "but there are limits."
"Not to the truth."
Kael let out a quiet breath, his gaze drifting back toward the mirror for just a second before returning to her. "This isn't something you can fix, Lena."
"That's not the point."
"Then what is?"
"The point is you don't get to decide for me what I can handle."
That hit differently.
Not because it changed anything but because it made things harder.
Kael studied her for a moment, weighing something internally, something he didn't quite let surface fully. There was trust there. Real trust. The kind he didn't give easily.
And that was exactly why it was dangerous.
"You ever had a dream," he said slowly, "that felt too real?"
Lena frowned slightly, caught off guard by the shift. "Everyone has."
"No," Kael said, shaking his head. "I mean real. Not vivid. Not intense. Real. Like… if you got hurt in it, you'd expect to wake up with the same pain."
Lena's expression shifted again, more cautious now. "What are you saying?"
Kael hesitated.
Then, carefully, he pulled the side of his jacket open just enough to reveal the bandage beneath.
Lena's eyes dropped to it immediately.
"That's not from here," he said quietly.
Silence filled the room.
She looked back up at him slowly, her mind trying to catch up with what she was seeing, what he was implying. "You're saying you got that… from a dream?"
Kael held her gaze.
"I'm saying," he replied, "that it wasn't a dream."
Lena didn't speak right away.
She stared at him, searching his face for any sign that this was a joke, a trick, some elaborate setup. But there was nothing there. No hint of humor. No misdirection.
Just exhaustion.
And something deeper.
Fear.
"That's not possible," she said finally, though her voice lacked conviction.
"I know."
"Then explain it."
"I can't."
"That's not good enough."
Kael's expression hardened slightly. "It's all I've got."
Another silence.
Longer this time.
Lena looked away first, pacing once across the room before stopping again, her thoughts clearly racing. "Okay," she said slowly. "Okay… let's say...just for a second, I believe you."
Kael didn't interrupt.
"What does that mean?" she continued. "What is this… place?"
Kael shook his head. "I don't know everything. I just know what happens when I go there."
"And that is?"
He exhaled quietly. "I fight. Every time. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing before I fall asleep, I wake up there, and something tries to kill me."
Lena stared at him. "Every night?"
"Every time."
Her expression tightened. "And you've been dealing with this alone?"
Kael didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Lena let out a breath, running a hand through her hair. "That's insane."
"Yeah."
"But you're serious."
"Yes."
She looked at him again, really looked, and whatever doubt had been there before started to fade not completely, but enough to shift her perspective.
"Okay," she said after a moment. "Then we figure it out."
Kael blinked slightly. "We?"
"Yes, we."
"NO!!!"
The answer came immediately.
Firm.
Lena frowned. "Excuse me?"
"You're not getting involved in this," Kael said, pushing off the table and standing straighter despite the discomfort. "You heard what I said. Whatever this is, it's dangerous."
"I figured that out when you showed me a wound you got from sleeping."
"That's exactly why you stay out of it."
Lena stepped closer, her voice lowering but not losing its edge. "You don't get to make that call."
"I do when it puts you at risk."
"And what about you?" she shot back. "You just keep going until it kills you?"
Kael didn't respond immediately.
Because that wasn't a question he had a good answer for.
"I've managed so far," he said finally.
"Barely."
"Still here."
"For now."
The same words as before.
But they carried more weight now.
Kael looked away slightly, his jaw tightening again. "I'll handle it."
"You don't even understand it."
"Then I'll figure it out."
"And if you don't?"
Kael met her gaze again.
"Then it won't matter."
That ended the argument.
Not because it was convincing.
But because it was final.
The walk home felt longer than usual.
The city hadn't changed, not really, but Kael saw it differently now. Every reflection, every shadow, every flicker of movement carried a second layer of meaning. It wasn't just background anymore, it was a warning.
The boundary was weakening.
And he was at the center of it.
He stopped at a crosswalk, his eyes drifting to the glass windows of a nearby building. For a moment, everything looked normal, cars passing, people moving, the reflection of the street stretching cleanly across the surface.
Then,
A figure appeared behind him.
Not in reality.
In the reflection.
Kael didn't turn.
Didn't react.
He just watched it.
Tall. Still. Familiar.
The same shape he'd seen in Veyruun.
It stood there for a second.
Then it leaned slightly closer.
Kael turned sharply.
Nothing.
Just the street.
He looked back at the glass.
The reflection was gone.
But the feeling remained.
That he wasn't alone anymore.
That night, Kael didn't try to stay awake.
There was no point.
Avoiding it wasn't a solution anymore.
Understanding it was.
He lay down slowly, his body already heavy with exhaustion, his mind quieter than it had been in days, not because things were better, but because they were clearer.
"You opened the door."
The words came back again.
This time, he didn't push them away.
He held onto them.
Because if they were true,
Then there was an answer.
Somewhere.
His eyes closed.
Veyruun came faster this time.
No transition.
No drift.
Just immediate presence.
But it wasn't the same.
Kael stood in a different place now. The wasteland stretched around him as always, but something about it had changed. The air felt heavier, the sky darker, and in the distance there were structures,ruins, not natural.
Kael frowned slightly, taking a step forward.
"That's new."
"You're seeing more now."
The voice came from behind him.
Kael didn't turn right away.
He recognized it.
"You again," he said.
"Of course."
Kael turned slowly.
The creature stood there, unchanged in form, but not in presence. It felt stronger now, more anchored, like it belonged here in a way Kael didn't.
"You're not attacking," Kael noted.
"Not yet."
Kael exhaled lightly. "You keep saying that."
"And you keep surviving."
A brief pause.
Then Kael's expression shifted slightly, more focused now. "You said you remember me."
The creature's eyes narrowed slightly, as if pleased by the question. "I did."
"From before all this."
"Yes."
Kael stepped closer, ignoring the subtle tension building in the air. "Then start talking."
The creature watched him for a long moment.
Then it smiled.
"Not yet."
Kael's patience snapped just slightly. "You don't get to keep doing that."
"I do," it replied calmly. "Because you're not ready to understand."
"Try me."
The creature tilted its head.
"You weren't always trapped here," it said slowly. "There was a time when you walked between both worlds without being pulled."
Kael's brow furrowed. "That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
Before he could press further, the ground beneath them shifted violently.
Kael's stance adjusted instantly, his focus snapping outward as the familiar tension returned but stronger this time. The air twisted, the horizon warping as something massive moved beneath the surface.
The creature stepped back slightly.
"This conversation is over," it said.
Kael frowned. "What?"
The ground exploded upward.
Something enormous tore its way into the open, larger than anything Kael had faced before, its form barely contained, its presence overwhelming.
Kael's body reacted immediately, energy surging through him as he prepared for the fight,
But his mind caught on one thing.
One single, dangerous implication.
You weren't always trapped here.
And for the first time,
Kael wondered if the truth might be worse than the nightmare.