Chapter 128: Between the Breach

Kai stood paralyzed as the swirling portal behind Evryn crackled with interdimensional static. Her presence was magnetic—terrifying, yet impossible to turn away from. The shimmering aura cloaking her pulsed like a living organism, rippling through the air with every word she uttered.

Behind him, Elara staggered to her feet, the side of her face bloodied, her weapon raised. “She’s opened a breach,” she whispered, her eyes wide. “This isn’t just another gate… she’s inviting something in.”

Aurex’s voice filtered through the comms, strained. “That frequency—it’s beyond the Mirror. It’s not meant to be opened. She’s tapping into the Source.”

Evryn’s lips curled faintly, as if amused by their panic. “The Source isn't what you think it is. You’ve spent your lives fearing the shadows, when you are the shadows.”

Her voice fractured the atmosphere—literal cracks formed along the walls and ceiling, shimmering like broken glass between realities. In the fragments, flashes of other versions of herself danced: one where she’d died, one where she ruled, one where she had never been born. The possibilities were infinite.

Kai stepped forward, desperation painting his every move. “Evryn, listen to me. I know you’re still in there. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Her eyes flickered, but only for a second. “I’ve never been alone, Kai. She’s always been with me. Elaia. The real one.”

Kai shook his head. “You’re not her. You’re more than her.”

“I’m not just her,” Evryn said, the wind howling around them. “I’m everyone—every version of myself that survived, that broke, that evolved. I remember everything now.”

She raised her hands, and the entire chamber trembled. Behind her, tendrils of energy extended from the portal like searching limbs, reaching toward Kai and the others. Aurex activated his shield, barely managing to contain the tendrils’ impact. Sparks flared.

“She’s destabilizing the veil,” Aurex growled. “If she breaks through completely, we’re done. This universe, the next, all of it—done.”

Evryn turned her gaze to Aurex. “You call it destabilizing. I call it awakening.”

Suddenly, a new force pushed against the portal—from the other side. The breach pulsed violently as a shape began forming within it. It wasn’t her reflection this time.

It was him.

The Shadow version of Kai.

Everyone froze.

His features were identical—yet wrong. His eyes glowed with an unearthly light, and a cruel smile curved his lips. This was Kai, twisted by timelines, born from betrayal and forged in a place where Evryn had never returned for him.

Evryn faltered. “No… not you.”

Shadow Kai stepped out of the breach, his voice deep and reverberating. “You brought me here, Evryn. Just like I brought you into this.”

Kai stared at his counterpart, rage and confusion battling inside him. “What the hell are you?”

Shadow Kai looked at him and grinned. “The version of you that never lost her. The one that kept her power for himself.”

Evryn's form flickered. The surge of energy within her was destabilizing.

“You’re not part of this,” she hissed.

But Shadow Kai took another step forward. “I am now. You tore the veil wide enough for me to enter. And now—now I’ll finish what you couldn’t.”

The portal widened again, and more shadowed figures moved in the background. Alternate versions. Twisted echoes.

Kai turned to Evryn. “You opened the breach, but we can still close it. You need to fight it, Evryn. Remember who you are.”

Evryn’s hands trembled. “I don’t know who that is anymore…”

“You’re mine,” Shadow Kai whispered as he reached toward her.

But before he could touch her, a blinding pulse shot out from Elara’s weapon. The blast hit Shadow Kai square in the chest, sending him reeling back toward the portal.

“Stay the hell away from her!” Elara shouted.

Evryn screamed—raw, broken. Her power exploded outward like a nova. Aurex activated a containment field, but it barely held.

“I can’t stop it,” Evryn whispered. “They’re all coming through.”

Behind her, the breach erupted.

Reality twisted.

And the last thing Kai saw before everything went white was the mirrored version of himself, grinning as the shadows poured into their world.