[POV Liselotte]

The silence that followed the explorer’s disappearance was, if anything, more suffocating than the thunderous opening itself. We remained there, motionless, our gazes fixed on the violet wound pulsing at the center of the quarry. The mages of the Royal Tower held their positions, sustaining the flow of the magic circles with an effort that showed in sweat running down their foreheads and trembling hands. Time—usually a fluid concept—became viscous, each second stretching as if the rift were siphoning the chronology of our world along with everything else.

I stepped a few paces away from the outer circle, feeling that the proximity to the breach was beginning to numb my senses. Ronan approached me, one hand resting on the pommel of his sword, though his eyes never left Archmage Malakor.

“Ronan,” I whispered, searching for his gaze. “Do you think ten minutes are enough for something on the other side to notice the door is open? I don’t mean just shadows or energy. I mean… things with will.”

Ronan let out a heavy breath, and I could see worry etched deep into the lines of his face. “Lotte, that is precisely the greatest risk of this experiment. A breach of this size, artificially stabilized, is like a bonfire on a moonless night. It attracts things. The elementals we faced in the village were only the tip of the iceberg. If beings of that magnitude crossed through an accidental fissure, I don’t want to imagine what could come through this controlled portal.”

“I feel the air changing,” I continued, rubbing my arms. “It’s not just the cold from my magic. It’s like the quarry’s ecosystem is being displaced by something that doesn’t belong here. What if what comes back isn’t the man in the armor, but something using that armor as a disguise?”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Ronan replied in a low voice. “But you’re right about one thing. Elementals are projections of that dimension. If they manage to cross during this brief window, they could anchor themselves to our reality far more permanently than before. We’d be facing an infestation of beings composed of pure magic.”

As we spoke, a dull noise began to filter in from the upper tunnels of the quarry. At first it was a distant murmur, like an irritated crowd, but as the minutes passed, the sound intensified, turning into a cacophony of shouting, clashing metal, and confused orders.

Leah moved closer to us, her hand firmly gripping her sword. “Do you hear that? It’s coming from the main entrance. This place was supposed to be sealed by the Royal Guard.”

“Whatever it is, it doesn’t sound like a monster attack,” Chloé observed, her ears fully erect and twitching nervously. “I smell incense… and that rancid scent of sacred oil the purists use.”

The noise reached its peak right at the entrance to the chamber where the rift was located. The guards stationed at the door tried to hold their ground, but they were pushed back by a force that wasn’t physical, but moral and political. The doors burst open, and a group of men dressed in immaculate white robes stormed into the chamber with an arrogance that made me grit my teeth. They were members of the Church of Light—the high priests of the goddess Gaia.

“Stop this blasphemy at once!” shouted the one who seemed to lead them, a sharp-featured man with eyes dripping with dangerous fanaticism.

Several royal guards rushed in quickly, blocking their path and forming a wall of shields between the priests and the magic circles. Archmage Malakor didn’t even turn around, fully focused on keeping the rift open, but his voice rang out with absolute contempt.

“Priest Silas, you are interrupting an experiment sanctioned by the Crown. Remove your men from this place before I accuse you of high treason.”

“The Crown has no authority over the natural laws of the Goddess Gaia!” Silas roared, raising a silver staff. “What you are doing is an insult to creation. You are tearing apart the sacred veil that the Goddess wove to protect us. You are inviting demons to our table and calling it ‘science.’ Gaia teaches us that balance must not be disturbed by the ambition of men!”

“Your teachings won’t close the breaches that are appearing throughout the kingdom, Silas,” Leah intervened, stepping forward with a dignity that made the priests hesitate for a moment. “We are searching for a way to protect our people. Where was the Church when the elementals attacked the northern villages?”

Silas looked at the princess with a mixture of pity and reproach. “Faith is the shield, Princess. What you are doing is sabotage against the soul of the world. If you continue, the Goddess will withdraw her blessing from Whirikal.”

The priests tried to advance again, shouting sacred verses and attempting to reach the magic circles to disrupt the silver tracings. The royal guards were forced to use the full strength of their shields to push them back. Chaos reigned: mages shouting over the magical interference, priests calling for divine judgment, and the rift roaring at the center of it all.

Finally, seeing that they could not break through the soldiers’ physical barrier without starting a bloodshed they could not yet justify, Silas raised his hand and ordered his followers to retreat.

“So be it, then,” Silas said, his icy voice sweeping through the chamber. “Continue playing gods in your stone quarry. But remember this: the Goddess Gaia sees all. What is sown in arrogance is reaped in destruction. This will not go unpunished. Whirikal will pay for its hubris.”

With a final gesture of disdain, the group in white robes withdrew, leaving behind the lingering scent of incense and a tension sharp enough to cut.

I stared at the door they had exited through, feeling an unease I couldn’t quite explain. “Ronan, what did he mean by saying this goes against Gaia’s teachings? Is the Church always this… aggressive toward magical research?”

I turned toward Ronan, ready to ask him about the mythology of this world and the true influence of the Church—but before the first word could leave my lips, the world decided to lurch.

A sharp pain, like an ice needle being driven straight into my brain, tore through my skull. My knees buckled, and I had to brace myself against a rock wall to keep from collapsing.

“Lotte, what’s wrong? You’re pale,” Leah’s voice sounded distant, as if she were speaking from underwater.

I tried to answer, but my tongue felt heavy, as though it were made of lead. The air in the chamber began to vibrate in a way only I seemed to notice. It wasn’t the noise of the rift; it was an inner whisper, a frequency resonating with the core of my own magic. My vision filled with static—with colors that had no names and geometric shapes twisting through the air.

“Something… something’s wrong,” I managed to say, my voice barely more than a whimper.

The pain intensified. I felt my connection to reality unraveling, just like the rift at the center of the chamber. I began to see flashes of the Aether Armor—not the one standing there, but a version of it submerged in an ocean of pure white light.

“Liselotte!” I heard Ronan shout, and I felt his strong hands gripping my shoulders.

“Lotte! Look at me! Don’t close your eyes!” Leah was in front of me, her face blurred by a violet haze that was beginning to emanate from my own body.

Chloé let out a warning howl, a tearing sound that vibrated in my bones. I could feel her fear, her instinct screaming that something was reaching for me from the other side.

The ground seemed to vanish. I no longer felt the quarry stone beneath my feet. I was floating in a gray void, and the only constant was the stabbing pain in my head. The shouts of my friends turned into distorted echoes in an endless tunnel.

“Get a medic! The magic circles are resonating with her!” Archmage Malakor shouted, but his voice no longer reached me.

I felt myself losing consciousness, my awareness sinking into a bottomless pit. Just before darkness claimed me completely, I saw one clear image: the explorer in the golden armor, on the other side, reaching out a hand toward me—while something enormous and formless rose behind him.

And then, total silence took hold.

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