Chapter 66: Unknown Realm
The shadows released Eren like reluctant lovers, their tendrils lingering before dissipating into the frigid air. He staggered forward, momentarily disoriented by the transition. Behind him, the portal collapsed with a sound like shattering glass, leaving only empty space where it had been.
A biting cold unlike anything he’d experienced in Moonlight or Thornvale struck him immediately. The air was thin and sharp, each breath painful in his lungs. Something small trembled against his chest—the humic that had hidden in his robes. Eren felt its tiny body shivering against his skin but made no outward indication of its presence.
’Stay hidden, little one,’ he thought coldly. ’This place is not safe for either of us.’
He blinked, allowing his vision to adjust to his new surroundings. They stood on what appeared to be a vast, snow-covered courtyard. Before them loomed the skeletal framework of a massive structure—a building that had either been abandoned mid-construction or had partially collapsed. Its exposed beams reached toward the colorless sky, and sheets of what might once have been decorative marble lay cracked and scattered across the ground. Snow drifted through the open spaces where walls and ceilings should have been.
’This place reeks of decay and forgotten power,’ Eren thought, his breath forming clouds before his face.
The six warriors who had accompanied them through the portal moved into formation around their small group, their expressions guarded and uncertain. They seemed as uncomfortable here as Eren felt. At a signal from Kiran—a subtle flick of her wrist—the warriors bowed deeply before melting away into the shadows of the ruins, their footsteps silent on the snow-covered ground.
Kiran, however, moved with the easy familiarity of someone returning home. She stretched her arms wide, tilting her face to the leaden sky, and laughed.
"Beautiful day, isn’t it?" she asked conversationally, as if they were taking a pleasant stroll through palace gardens. "The master keeps it cold—says it preserves the magic better." She skipped forward a few steps, then whirled around to face Eren, blood still drying on her palm. "Most newcomers find it unpleasant at first, but you’ll adjust. The body adapts to survive, doesn’t it? Just like my mind had to adapt when I first heard the whispers."
Eren kept his expression neutral, refusing to engage with her obvious madness. His eyes scanned their surroundings, assessing, calculating. The warriors had vanished completely, but he could still feel eyes watching from the shadows. This place—or perhaps Kiran herself—inspired a deep, instinctive dread.