Vol 02: The Hunt │ Part 04: In Between
1
The journey to the rift took two days.
Kaelen walked at the front, Fenris beside him, the guinunting at his hip. The Void's Heart Core pulsed against his leg, warm and alive. The twin suns of the Between climbed overhead, casting long shadows across the grass. Behind him, Lyra walked with her journal open, her Mind Kite pulsing faintly. Zora scouted ahead, her cat eyes scanning the horizon.
The land changed as they walked. The grass gave way to rocky terrain, then to cracked, blackened earth. The air grew colder, thinner. Kaelen could feel the rift before he saw it—a tear in the fabric of the Between, pulsing with an irregular rhythm.
"It is close," Lyra said on the evening of the second day. "I can feel it. Like a wound."
Kaelen nodded. "Solon's influence. He has been trying to force it open."
They made camp that night at the edge of the dead zone. The twin moons rose overhead, casting pale light across the cracked earth. Kaelen sat apart, the guinunting across his knees, the Core pulsing softly.
Lyra sat beside him. "Are you ready?"
Kaelen looked at the darkness ahead. The rift was close. He could feel its resonance, its hunger.
"I have to be," he said.
2
They reached the rift at dawn.
It was a shimmering tear in the air, a vertical slash of violet light that pulsed with an uneven, desperate rhythm. The ground around it was dead, cracked, blackened. The air was thick with charged energy.
Zora stopped at the edge. "It does not look stable."
Lyra stepped forward, her Mind Kite flaring. She reached out, touching the rift's resonance. Her face went pale.
"It is barely stable," she said. "Solon has been pushing against it. He has been using the Heart to try to force it open."
Kaelen drew the guinunting. The Core pulsed, violet light cascading down the blade.
"Then we go now," he said. "Before he breaks through."
3
Kaelen looked back at his friends. Lyra, her journal clutched to her chest. Zora, her claw covers gleaming. Fenris, his violet patterns blazing.
"You do not have to come," he said.
Lyra stepped forward. "I am not staying behind."
Zora nodded. "Neither am I."
Fenris pressed against his leg.
Together, the bond pulsed.
Kaelen smiled. "Together."
He stepped into the rift.
4
The void swallowed him.
He was in the space between spaces, where time had no meaning and the laws of reality were suggestions. The void was familiar now—he had mastered it. He could feel its currents, its rhythms, its hunger.
But he could also feel something else. Solon. His presence was everywhere, reaching through the rift, trying to close it, trying to trap them.
You cannot escape, Solon's voice echoed in his mind. I will find you. I will take everything from you.
Kaelen raised the guinunting. The Core blazed with violet light.
"Not today," he said.
He swung the blade—and the violet light exploded outward, severing Solon's connection to the rift.
The void shuddered. Kaelen was thrown forward.
5
He emerged on the other side, gasping for breath.
The air was thick with the smell of sulfur and smoke. The sky was familiar—the twin suns, the copper and gold light. He was back in the Rift.
Lyra emerged beside him, her face pale. Zora followed, stumbling. Fenris appeared last, his violet patterns blazing.
"We made it," Lyra whispered.
Kaelen looked around. They were standing on a rocky ridge, overlooking a valley of black stone and ash. In the distance, he could see the entrance to the Warrens—a dark wound in the mountain's side.
"The Warrens," he said. "That is where we left Solon. That is where the Heart is."
Lyra stepped beside him. "You think he is still there?"
Kaelen touched his chest. The three Kites pulsed beneath his tunic. The void in his chest hummed, reaching toward the Warrens' resonance.
"I can feel it," he said. "The Heart. It is still there. And Solon is connected to it. He has not left."
Zora climbed a nearby rock, her cat eyes scanning the valley.
"There are patrols," she said. "Grey Cabinet agents. They are watching the valley."
Kaelen's jaw tightened. "Then he has made it his base. He is using the Heart."
Lyra opened her journal. "What is the plan?"
Kaelen touched the guinunting. The Core pulsed against his palm.
"We go in," he said. "We find Solon. We sever his connection to the Heart. We end this."