The thing that rose from the ground did not resemble anything Kael had faced before not in size, not in presence, and definitely not in intent. It didn't lunge immediately, didn't rush him like the others. It simply stood, towering above the fractured landscape of Veyruun, its form shifting slowly as if it hadn't fully decided what it wanted to be. Its body was made of layers thick, moving masses that folded over each other like something alive trying to imitate structure. Eyes opened across its surface one after the other, blinking in no particular pattern, all of them settling on Kael at once.
And then the pressure hit.
Not physical, not entirely but something heavier, something that pressed against his mind instead of his body. Kael staggered half a step, his vision tightening at the edges as the sheer presence of the thing settled over him like weight.
"Yeah," he muttered, forcing his stance to steady. "You're definitely new."
Behind him, the smaller creature—the one that spoke, the one that knew had already moved back further, its posture relaxed in a way that told Kael everything he needed to understand.
This wasn't its fight.
This was something else.
"You wanted answers," it said calmly.
Kael didn't take his eyes off the massive entity in front of him. "I still do."
"Then survive."
That was all the warning he got.
The creature moved.
Not fast.
Not sudden.
But unavoidable.
One of its limbs if it could be called that shifted forward, stretching unnaturally as it came down toward him. The air warped around it, bending under the force of its movement.
Kael reacted instantly, pulling energy into both hands and forcing it outward in a sharp burst. The impact met the descending limb mid-motion, slowing it just enough for him to dive out of the way as it slammed into the ground with a force that shook the entire landscape.
The shockwave hit him a second later.
Kael rolled hard, the breath knocked from his lungs as the ground cracked beneath him, splitting open in jagged lines that stretched outward in every direction.
"Okay," he coughed, pushing himself up. "No holding back this time."
He didn't wait for the next attack.
If this thing relied on size, on pressure, on overwhelming force then he'd have to do the opposite.
Kael focused.
Not on the creature.
On the space around it.
He felt the veil again that thin, fragile layer that separated things, the same one he'd started noticing in the real world. But here, it was everywhere, stretched across every inch of Veyruun like a surface waiting to be broken.
He reached for it and tore.
The air split violently beside the creature, a jagged rupture forming just long enough for Kael to redirect the next incoming strike. The massive limb passed through the tear instead of hitting him, vanishing into the distortion before snapping back out, disoriented.
The creature let out a low, distorted sound.
Not pain.
Confusion.
Kael didn't hesitate. He pressed forward, using the instability against it, opening and closing small fractures in rapid succession, forcing its movements to misalign, to lose rhythm, to hesitate.
It worked.
Barely.
But not for long.
The thing adapted faster than it should have.
Its movements slowed down, not weaker, but more precise, more deliberate. Its eyes narrowed and focused tracking not just Kael, but the tears themselves.
"You've got to be kidding me," Kael muttered.
Then it changed.
The next strike didn't go for him.
It went for the space he was opening.
The limb slammed directly into the thin tear Kael had just created and forced it wider.
Kael froze for half a second.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
The rupture didn't close immediately this time. It stretched, distorted, resisting the way it hadn't before. For a brief, terrifying moment, Kael saw through it,
Not deeper into Veyruun.
But somewhere else.
Lights.
Movement.
The city.
His city.
"No"
The tear snapped shut violently, the force of it sending Kael backward. He hit the ground hard, his head ringing, his vision blurring for a second.
When it cleared,
The creature was already moving again.
Kael barely rolled out of the way in time, the ground exploding where he had just been. Pain shot through his side as he hit the ground again, his wound tearing slightly under the impact.
He gritted his teeth, forcing himself up despite it.
"Focus," he muttered. "Stay focused."
But his mind wasn't on the fight anymore.
It was on what he'd seen.
That wasn't just a glimpse.
That was a connection.
A direct one.
And if that thing had just forced it open,
Then the boundary wasn't just weakening.
It was being broken.
Kael woke with a violent jolt, his body snapping upright before his mind fully caught up. His chest rose sharply as he dragged in air, his heart pounding hard enough to make his vision pulse.
For a second, he didn't move.
Then
A sound.
Distant.
But real.
Screaming.
Kael froze.
That hadn't come from the dream.
It came from outside.
He was on his feet instantly, ignoring the sharp protest from his side as he moved toward the window. The city stretched out below him, alive as always but something was wrong.
People were running.
Not casually. Not in confusion.
Running.
A car had stopped in the middle of the street at an awkward angle, its driver halfway out, staring at something further down the road. A small crowd had already begun to form at a distance, hesitant, uncertain.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"What now…"
He didn't wait.
Grabbing his jacket, he moved quickly, heading out into the street without another thought.
The closer he got, the clearer it became.
Something had happened.
Not an accident.
Not anything normal.
The air itself felt… off. That same thinness again, but stronger here, concentrated. People stood at a distance, murmuring, pointing, but none of them getting too close.
Kael pushed through the edge of the crowd, ignoring the protests, the confused looks.
"What happened?" someone asked.
"I don't know, something just appeared"
"It was like the air broke"
Kael stopped.
Right in the middle of the street,
The ground was cracked.
Not broken like from impact.
Split.
Clean.
Like something had forced its way through space itself.
His chest tightened.
"No…"
A faint distortion lingered above the crack, barely visible, like heat rising from asphalt but wrong. Too precise. Too familiar.
Kael stepped closer.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The air shifted.
And for a fraction of a second,
He saw it.
Veyruun.
Clear as day.
The same broken landscape.
The same red sky.
Gone just as quickly as it appeared.
Kael stepped back immediately.
His pulse spiked.
"It's here," he said under his breath.
"Sir?"
He barely heard the voice behind him.
The connection he'd opened,
Or that had been forced open,
Hadn't stayed contained.
It had followed.
No.
It had been brought.
Kael turned slightly, scanning the area, his senses sharper now, searching for any sign of movement, any indication that something else had come through.
At first, there was nothing.
Then,
A flicker.
At the edge of his vision.
Kael's head snapped toward it.
Across the street, just beyond the crowd, something stood in the reflection of a shop window.
Not fully visible.
Not fully here.
But there.
Watching.
The same shape.
The same presence.
The same thing he'd seen through the tear.
Kael's expression hardened instantly.
"So that's how it is," he muttered.
It tilted its head slightly.
Even from a distance, he could feel it.
Recognition.
Not curiosity.
Not confusion.
It knew him.
And now,
It knew where he was.
Kael took a slow step forward.
The crowd shifted uneasily around him, people backing away without understanding why.
"Back up," someone said nervously.
Kael didn't stop.
His focus was locked.
"If you came through," he said quietly, his voice low enough that only he could hear it, "then you can go back."
The thing didn't move.
Didn't respond.
But the air around it tightened.
The distortion deepened.
Kael raised his hand slowly, feeling for the same thin edge he'd been using in Veyruun. It was weaker here, but not gone.
Not anymore.
He pushed.
The space in front of him resisted at first,
Then gave way.
A small tear formed.
Unstable.
Dangerous.
But real.
The creature reacted instantly.
Its form shifted,
And for the first time,
It stepped forward.
Out of the reflection.
Into the world.
The crowd screamed.
Kael didn't move.
Because now,
There was no doubt left.
The war had followed him home.