The sky didn't just crack, it gave way.
The fracture above Kael stretched wider with a violent resistance, like something forcing itself through a barrier that refused to break cleanly. Light didn't spill from it. There was no glow, no fire, no energy in any form Kael recognized. Instead, there was absence. A deep, suffocating darkness that didn't belong to night or shadow.
It consumed.
Kael felt it immediately not as heat or force, but as pressure. The same kind he'd felt from the massive creature in Veyruun, but far worse. This wasn't something that relied on size or physical form.
This was something that existed above it.
"Well," Kael muttered under his breath, his stance shifting as energy gathered instinctively in his hands, "that doesn't look good."
Beside him, the other version of himself didn't move.
"You shouldn't be here for this," he said quietly.
Kael didn't take his eyes off the tear. "I'm starting to get that feeling."
The thing beyond the fracture shifted again.
Closer.
The space around the tear bent inward, like reality itself was trying to retreat from whatever was pushing through.
"What is it?" Kael asked.
This time, the other Kael answered without hesitation.
"A Hunter."
The word settled heavily.
Kael's expression tightened slightly. "That sounds like something I don't want after me."
"It already is."
That got his full attention.
Kael glanced at him briefly. "Explain."
"You created a connection between worlds," the other said. "Something that wasn't supposed to exist. That kind of imbalance doesn't go unnoticed."
"By what?"
The other Kael looked back at the tear.
"By what keeps things apart."
Kael followed his gaze.
The thing in the fracture shifted again closer now, more defined, though still not fully visible. Its form didn't hold shape the way the others did. It wasn't made of limbs or structure. It was more like a distortion given intent, a presence that bent everything around it simply by existing.
"You're telling me that thing" Kael gestured toward the tear slightly " is here to fix what I broke?"
"No," the other Kael said quietly.
A pause.
"It's here to remove you."
Silence fell, short and sharp.
Kael let out a slow breath, his focus sharpening instantly. "Of course it is."
The tear widened another fraction.
That was enough.
Kael didn't wait.
He moved first.
Energy surged forward as he reached for the thin space again, not to attack the thing but to close the fracture before it could fully form. The air resisted violently this time, pushing back harder than anything he'd felt before, like the tear itself didn't want to be undone.
"Help me," Kael said sharply.
The other version of him didn't move.
"I can't."
Kael's jaw tightened. "That's not helpful."
"This is your connection," he replied calmly. "Your consequences. I can only show you not act for you."
"Great," Kael muttered. "Perfect timing."
The tear pulsed.
Then,
Something pushed through.
Not fully.
Not physically.
But enough.
A shape pressed against the boundary, distorting it further, forcing its way into existence piece by piece. The pressure spiked instantly, slamming into Kael like a wave.
He staggered, his grip on the tear faltering for just a second and that was all it needed.
The fracture expanded.
Kael steadied himself quickly, forcing his focus back. "No," he said under his breath. "Not happening."
He changed approach.
If he couldn't close it from the outside he'd have to destabilize it from within.
Kael stepped forward, ignoring the instinct screaming at him to do the opposite. The closer he got to the tear, the heavier the air became, like he was walking into something that didn't want him there.
"Kael"
"I've got it," he cut in, though he wasn't entirely sure that was true.
The edge of the fracture flickered violently as he reached out not pushing this time, but pulling.
Not at the tear.
At the connection itself.
At the thing that tied it to him.
For a brief, terrifying moment he felt it.
Clear, Direct, A thread, Not physical.
But real.
Something linking him to Veyruun… and now to this.
Kael's breath caught.
"That's it," he said quietly. "That's what you're using."
The Hunter reacted instantly.
The pressure intensified, the distortion sharpening as if it had become aware of what he was doing.
Kael didn't stop.
He grabbed onto that connection whatever it was and pulled hard.
The effect was immediate.
The tear destabilized violently, its edges flickering, collapsing inward as the link weakened. The shape within it recoiled slightly, its form losing cohesion for the first time.
Kael pressed harder.
"You don't get to come through," he said through clenched teeth.
The air screamed.
The fracture shrank.
The Hunter pushed back.
The connection strained.
And then, It snapped.
The tear collapsed.
Not slowly.
Not cleanly.
It imploded, the space folding in on itself before vanishing completely, leaving behind nothing but a sharp ripple that faded almost instantly.
Silence followed.
Real silence.
Kael stood there, breathing hard, his hands still slightly raised, his body tense from the strain.
Slowly, he lowered them.
"It worked," he said.
But he didn't sound convinced.
Because something felt Wrong.
Different.
Incomplete.
The other Kael watched him carefully. "You didn't stop it."
Kael frowned. "I closed the tear."
"Yes," he said. "But you didn't remove the connection."
Kael's expression darkened slightly.
"Meaning?"
The answer came quietly.
"It can find you now."
That settled heavily.
Kael exhaled slowly, running a hand across his face. "So instead of coming through randomly…"
"It will come for you directly."
Kael let out a short breath that almost sounded like a laugh. "Yeah. That's definitely worse."
The space around them began to shift again not violently this time, but subtly, like the memory itself was breaking down.
"You need to leave," the other Kael said.
"I was already planning on it."
"This won't hold much longer."
Kael nodded once, then hesitated slightly. "One more thing."
The other version of him looked at him.
"If I'm the connection," Kael said, his voice steady despite everything, "then there has to be a way to close it."
A pause.
Then,
"There is."
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly. "And?"
The answer came without hesitation.
"You won't like it."
Kael exhaled. "I'm getting tired of hearing that."
"You'll have to choose," the other continued. "Between the worlds."
That hit harder than expected.
Kael's jaw tightened slightly. "Meaning?"
The other Kael held his gaze.
"You can't keep both."
Silence.
Then,
The world collapsed.
Kael woke with a sharp inhale, his body jerking upright as the weight of the memory or whatever it had been fell away all at once.
The room came back into focus slowly.
The mirror.
The table.
The notebook still open.
Everything exactly where he left it.
But something had changed.
Not outside.
Inside.
Kael sat there for a moment, breathing slowly, his mind replaying everything he'd just seen, everything he'd just learned.
"A Hunter," he murmured.
The word felt heavier now.
Real.
And worse,
Targeted.
He looked down at his hands.
Then toward the mirror.
"You can't keep both."
The words echoed again.
Kael's expression hardened slightly, something more focused settling behind his eyes.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
"We'll see about that."
But even as he said it, Deep down he knew.
That choice was coming.
Whether he wanted it or not.