Chapter 87: The Reckoning

Magnus staggered across the rubble, his heart thumping in his chest and his breath coming in short gasps. Everything had been engulfed by the rift, but something more—something deeper—still seemed to be trying to pull him under. He was having trouble understanding reality as his mind reeled from the pandemonium. Every step forward seemed like venturing into the unknown because the world had divided in two.

He raised his head, hoping to see Celeste, but all he could see was the eerie quiet of the rift's aftermath. His eyes turned to the broken sky, ripped apart like cloth, leaving nothing but a limitless emptiness. He needed to locate her. He needed to confirm that she was still present.

He heard it after that.

A high-pitched, frantic scream from a distance. Celeste was the one.

Magnus ran without thinking, dread and resolve driving him with every step toward the sound. But he started to wonder if this was an illusion or if the rift's edges were actually getting farther apart.

He fell into an abyss of blackness as the ground beneath him crumbled. Was there something far worse in store for him, or was this the end?

Celeste struggled to get her bearings, and her head whirled. She was imprisoned in a weird, unfamiliar space—a place between worlds—and the last thing she recalled was the rift devouring everything. She felt as though she were weightless and floating in space. The air was heavy with unsaid dangers, and every step felt like she was traveling through molasses.

"Magnus?" she said in a voice that was almost audible over the abyss.

She did not hear anything. Just the faint vibration of energy in the atmosphere.

As her mind raced back to Magnus, panic seized her chest, but it was obscured by an unidentified pull that she was unable to articulate. She was not the only thing the rift seemed to seek; it seemed to be alive and hungry.

Celeste felt her heartbeat quicken as a shadow moved in the distance. Is he the one?

She pushed toward the gloom, forcing her body to move with all the effort she could muster. However, it appeared to move away the closer she went. She felt a twinge of desperation. Was she really drifting farther away from him, or was this just a delusion?

The shadow took shape and loomed over her as an unnaturally tall figure. She stopped. What did they want, and who was this?

Magnus got up on his feet as the shadows started to form around him. He felt the weight of the air against his chest and a slight chill wind whispering across his skin. He was suspended, somewhere between worlds, neither here nor there. As he looked out over the wide expanse of emptiness that stretched into infinity, his heart raced.

His voice echoed back at him as he yelled, "Celeste!" into the void.

There was silence in response.

Every second that went by made the pit of dread in his gut grow and chew at him. Did she get lost? Will he be able to save her in time?

A dim glimmer of light suddenly emerged in the distance. A lighthouse. Magnus strode in its direction without hesitation, the thought of Celeste driving him on.

However, as he got closer to the light, the earth below him started to give way, with fragments of the emptiness crashing into emptiness.

He caught a jagged edge just in time as his foot slipped. However, he became aware that even the brightness was fading as the rift around him began to shatter.

The tall figure moved closer, presenting itself as little more than a dark shadow with red, glowing eyes, and Celeste's eyes widened. Its strength was weighing down on her and leaking like poison into her head. It was the rift, or maybe the energy that created it, manifesting itself in its most dreadful form.

The apparition said, "You will join me," in a voice that seemed to reverberate through her entire soul and was both ancient and familiar.

Celeste backed away and muttered, "No," but the creature's icy, relentless fingers reached out and grabbed her arm.

It growled, "You have no choice." "You now form a part of me. I own your will.

Her surroundings started to change, buckling as though reality itself were being twisted by it.

Celeste's mind was racing and her vision became blurry. Was she really lost? Had she unknowingly surrendered herself to the rift?

Magnus's vision cleared just in time to see the fully formed figure looming before him. It was enormous, a creature created from light and shadow, and its presence gave the empty space a sense of closure. It was the actual shape of the rift.

The beast bellowed, trembling the ground beneath Magnus's feet, "You think you can stop me?"

Magnus gathered the last of his strength and stood straight, knowing that this was the time when everything would be decided.

He clenched his fists and screamed, "I will not let you win." "Not while my lungs are still able to breathe."

As if taunting him, the creature's laughter reverberated.

Magnus was about to strike when the creature's hand extended out and enveloped him in darkness. Then a glimmer of brightness. What had just taken place?