Both from within their prison could perceive it—those two objects that had been created from their essences and now… their bearers.
Both Lyra and Zefaniel could feel every time the brooch or the hat were used, and they could also sense the lives that were now becoming linked to them. Zefaniel and Lyra witnessed every portal that Astrid and Elisa opened to travel across their universes; however, they could do nothing to interact with them.
The Guardians had not only sealed them away—they had sealed off any kind of connection with the First Existence. Not even the faintest thought could escape from there. However, that would change one day.
In one of their many attempts to escape, Lyra began to scream in a heart-rending way. She could feel that the hat was being used like never before. She could feel every attack the hat unleashed and every blow Elisa received as she battled the Guardians to reclaim her cosmic pieces. Lyra could sense the power her bearer was awakening—and for a brief moment, she managed to connect with her.
She saw the moment when Elisa launched her final attack, when the structure of the Second Existence shattered, and when Elisa succeeded in forging a bond with the hat, becoming its vessel. Lyra experienced it all as well. She stopped screaming, and a smile formed upon her face. Zefaniel asked what she had felt, and Lyra replied:
"I felt it, Zef… I felt how the structure of that place the Guardians created broke apart—how my bearer finally established a stable connection with my object… and how we now finally have a chance to escape. The final blow she struck… I could almost see the structure of that place cracking. That place is even weaker now."
Zefaniel smiled in disbelief. After so long, they would finally have an opportunity to leave that forgotten place and reach a different reality. But he still did not know what that opportunity was, and before he could ask his sister what path to escape she had in mind, the universe answered for her.
He felt a rift open in a region of their universe, and both of them rushed toward it at an incomprehensible speed. The moment they saw the opening, they tried to force it wider. They clawed and struck at it like beasts, yet they could not even affect it. Though it was weaker now, the seal placed by the Guardians still held, and unless the rift opened completely, they had no way to escape.
This discouraged them once again, but they did not lose faith. They knew it was only a matter of time before the rift fully opened. Yet that confidence collapsed in an instant when they watched with their own eyes as the rift was sealed and vanished.
Both screamed with such fury and desperation that the entire First Existence trembled as if ravaged by an earthquake.
Lyra could even sense that this was Elisa's doing—that she was using her powers to seal the rift—which only made her frustration and anger grow even stronger.
Seeing the rift sealed returned them, for a moment, to their usual sorrow and hopelessness. Their bodies and minds nearly began to distort once more, but they clung to each other and managed to calm themselves. They held hands and tried to steady their thoughts. They knew the structure of the Second Existence was already broken, and it was only a matter of time before another rift emerged—and they were not wrong. A few days later, they felt a new rift appear. But what surprised them was that, unlike the previous one, this rift was not sealed—at least not entirely. This time, the rift was suppressed. It disappeared, yet they could now feel its essence throughout an entire universe.
Lyra did not understand what had happened, but Zefaniel understood at once and told his sister:
"This is not your bearer's doing, Lyra. That rift was not sealed—it was suppressed… by my bearer. She used the brooch to unite two universes through that rift, and in doing so I felt her inner emotions. It was only for a second, but even so I could see her memories. The reason she is merging worlds is because she wants to create a single universe, and it seems she does so with the intention of preventing something like what happened to her own universe—its erasure—from ever happening again. The fear and sorrow she emanates are evident in every world she binds together."
Lyra looked surprised for a moment, then let out a soft laugh and said:
"I like your bearer more than mine. The fact that she wants to change the order of the Second Existence and has lost her world… it reminds me a little of us, in a way."
Zefaniel laughed softly as well and replied:
"Both seek to achieve good—but both can also serve as useful means to reach our goal. My bearer wants to unite everything into a single universe, and because the essence of the rifts will reside within it, if she is not careful, we may be able to escape. And yours, in any case, is far more fractured than mine. Even if we cannot interact with her, she is far more susceptible. No matter which of them prevails over the other, we could have a very good chance of getting out."
They looked at one another with eager smiles. They were about to become spectators of a story that would be truly interesting.