Third Person's POV

"Arrhh!"

Delphine groaned with a painful expression as she slowly sat up, clenching her head.

"W-Where am I?" she muttered as she tried to see… but all her eyes found was an endless black, stretching outward like a dead horizon.

The last thing she remembered was…

"Wait! Aether?!"

She shouted his name with rising panic. Her hands thrashed in every direction, clawing at the darkness as if it could be pulled apart. She tried to grab Aether, to feel even a strand of his hair, his warmth, anything familiar.

But to her surprise… she couldn't feel him anywhere nearby.

Not even the faintest hint of another presence.

"Oh god…" Her face turned pale, drained of every colour except fear. Her heartbeat skipped, then raced, pounding against her ribs like it wanted to escape her chest.

They were dragged by the chains through a cracked reality, but where…?

Where are they now?

And what happened to Aether?

She couldn't see anything… everything in her vision was dark. A darkness so complete it felt alive, as if something hidden watched her from behind it.

"Aether?" she shouted again, her voice trembling as she slowly stood up.

Her legs shook beneath her, unsteady, unsure if the ground even existed beyond the thin pressure beneath her bare feet.

She didn't understand why that suddenly happened to them, why Aether trembled in horror as if he was possessed, and why it had to happen when she had finally decided to end this all.

She didn't understand… but for now… she needed to find Aether as soon as possible.

She touched her chest… she could feel her heartbeat and pulse. That meant she was still alive here, and that meant Aether… might be alive. A fragile hope sparked inside her, trembling like a candle in a storm.

Not sure if those metallic chains dragged him somewhere else…

She tried to use her magic too… but she couldn't.

That meant… she was still inside the barrier?

Whatever it may be… she needed to find him and find a way out.

She kept walking on the ground. Her eyes carefully looked around left and right while shouting,

"Aether?"

"Aether? Where are you?"

"Aether?!"

She shouted as she kept walking… but very soon her body started to feel hot and tremble as if her insides were struggling to move anymore.

As if she was feeling something strange here, as if something heavy pressed deep inside her stomach and lungs, she sat down and panted heavily before she started to walk again… but as she kept walking, her duration for rest grew shorter and shorter.

The pressure inside her body built like invisible hands squeezing her ribs.

Soon, she could not even move her legs for the next step.

"Arrh!" Delphine groaned as she coughed heavily, her throat turning dry as her thirst for water increased painfully through her body.

Every breath burned!

"Gulrrhp!"

Even gulping her own saliva felt painful. It slid down her throat like shards of glass.

"A-Aether? Where are you…" she muttered painfully, her voice cracking as she dragged her feet forward.

No matter where she moved, she couldn't find an endpoint… nor Aether.

Not even the echo of her own footsteps!

It was like she was trapped here forever… her eyes trembled in fear.

Darkness curled at the edges of her vision, whispering thoughts she didn't want to believe.

Did she just dream all of it?

Did they die for real?

Her eyes shook a little… she didn't even see Aether one last time and yet… yet…

"Del? Is that you?"

She flinched violently. That voice…Aether's voice?

She blinked furiously, "A-Aether? Is that really you?"

"Del? Is that you?"

The same tone again, trembling, familiar, desperate. Hearing it made her chest loosen for a moment. Her face turned relieved, brightening with desperate hope, and she shouted back,

"Aether?!"

She stood up immediately, ignoring the stabbing pain in her legs, and ran toward Aether's voice in the dark.

"Aether?!"

"Aether?! Answer me!"

"I am here… Del… I am here! Follow my voice!"

She ran toward the source of the sound, her heart pounding in frantic joy and fear.

"Yes, I am coming! Aether!" She shouted back with a bright, trembling smile, as if she had finally found him after wandering lost in a desert.

"Keep calling me! Don't stop!"

"Aether?!"

"Del? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me, your Del!" She shouted back with tearful eyes, her voice cracking with desperate hope.

"Del? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me, bastard!" she chuckled weakly while running, "Stop asking like that and answer me properly!"

"Del? Is that you?"

"… Yes?"

Her running suddenly slowed a bit as a cold weight settled in her stomach. She felt something strange in his voice now.

Something hollow... Aether never sounded like that.

Something didn't sit well with her.

"I am here… Del… I am here! Follow my voice!"

Delphine frowned, her breath cutting short. "Where are you exactly? Aether, please answer me properly. Tell me where you are."

"Del? Is that you?"

Delphine immediately halted her running as her face turned dreadful with horror…that was not Aether.

Fucking not!

"Aether doesn't talk like that…" she whispered, gulped her empty throat… and felt something in front of her.

She couldn't see anything in this darkness, but… she was fucking sure something stood right before her… breathing… watching… waiting?

Her entire body froze in fear. Her eyes shook violently. Her lips parted, but no sound left them. Every muscle strained, locked tight under its unseen stare as if the darkness itself was holding her hostage.

'I need to run. I need to run. Move, damn it, move…' Her mind screamed at her, clawing for control.

But her body didn't obey.

Her body just… stood there, frozen in horror.

"Del?…"

She flinched when she heard it… almost right behind her neck. So close she could feel the breath brushing her skin. Sweat formed on her forehead as she slowly, very slowly, turned her head, every inch of movement torturing her nerves.

But all she saw was… nothing but darkness.

She gulped her dry throat again. Her breath turned haggard and uneven when she felt strands of her hair lift gently…something brushing along her neck… a cold breeze that didn't belong there.

Her toes curled up, her fingers clenched tightly until they hurt as she slowly turned to the front again… only to see darkness.

However, the thing she felt — the presence, the weight, the stare — disappeared in an instant.

"Is that you?"

The voice came again, but this time it sounded closer than before.

She flinched back immediately and,

"KYAAAA!!"

She screamed in horror when she saw… a bright rainbow-coloured fluid dripping onto her shoulder in the utter darkness. It shimmered like liquid glass, glowing in swirling colours that didn't belong to anything natural.

She bolted!

She didn't turn back. She just ran, legs barely holding her weight, her breath tearing through her throat. Her face twisted with nothing but pure horror. For a second, she saw something there… something wicked… a twisted silhouette hidden beneath the rainbow-coloured fluid that dripped on her shoulder.

Something that moved… something that smiled-

Flapp~

Chuckkk!

Crack!

Her body ran for a few seconds before… falling down!

Headless!!

Blood burst upward from her neck like a violent fountain, painting the unseen floor beneath her. Her body twitched, fingers scraping desperately at nothing, legs jerking like they were still trying to run… and then turned silent in the darkness.

... The darkness swallowed her blood~

****

Meanwhile, back in the real world,

"Where is he?" Liora shouted furiously at Dora, her voice shaking the walls. Dora stood frozen, shocked to see… Delphine's room completely empty.

"They were here a few minutes ago… I even heard their voices here," Dora said, utterly flabbergasted, her eyes darting across the untouched room. "Maybe they went alone… You know? Maybe they teleported somewhere?"

Liora clenched her fist, her expression twisting into fury and dread. "Delphine called us through the connection… she said that Aether needed help and… the connection was cut off. Not just hers but also… with Aether!"

Dora's face turned dreadful.

Liora's face turned pale. "I came here as soon as I heard her urgency…" She stepped into the office... Everything looked normal.

No broken windows.

No scorch marks.

No blood.

Nothing!

Liora bit her lips. "Others were panicking too… something must have happened to them. Do you know what the fuck even happened?"

Dora shook her head, fear creeping into her voice. "I don't know… I really… I swear I don't know. I just heard them minutes ago."

Aether and Delphine disappeared?

Without a trace?

Meanwhile, in the Pyra Empire,

"What the fuck is happening to her?" Nightfire shouted in horror when she saw… Nyx's body was hovering in the air.

Her eyes rolled back until only white showed, her hair fluttering as if caught in a storm she alone could feel, her body twisting and jerking violently like her bones were being pulled by invisible wires.

Selene clenched her fist... The moment her aunt shouted for help, and their connection was cut off, Nyx's body suddenly rose into the air and started convulsing.

"We need to do something!" Thalia shouted as she reached for Nyx's hand, trying desperately to pull her down when,

Thud!

Nyx's body hit the ground hard. The swirling air stopped instantly… everything turned silent.

Almost unnaturally silent!

Raven slowly moved closer to reach Nyx's unmoving body. "N-Nyx? Are you alrigh—"

Suddenly, Nyx sat up, her spine bending unnaturally straight as she parted her mouth.

"Del?... Is… that… you?"

Everyone was shocked to hear… Aether's voice was coming from her mouth.

His exact tone... As if he were trapped inside her throat.

Emberlyn noticed… Nyx's palm, where a small flower-shaped mark glowed furiously, pulsing like a heartbeat. "What's going on here?" she whispered, biting her lips with a trembling, worried expression.

Thud!

Nyx fell unconscious again, collapsing like a puppet whose strings were cut.

"Raven, hold her before she flies again!" Thalia shouted, and Raven nodded, immediately catching her limp body.

"Nightfire, grab ropes!"

"O-Okay!"

Meanwhile, Selene stared at Nyx's palm… the tattoo of ownership flickering violently like it was warning them. Her face hardened, eyes narrowing, before she left the room with hurried steps, her mind racing.

____

[Author's Note: Just a heads up, the novel is currently on discount, if you guys are interested, please buy it before 5 of this month!]

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