All Chapters of Bound by Crystals and Shadows: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Varka continued, her voice steady, deliberate. “Opening that portal demanded everything. Even with your magic bound, it answered you. It tore a path between worlds and carried you through it.”Her gaze sharpened slightly.“That alone should have ended you.”The clearing felt colder.The memory of those first days in Lunara pressed in harder now—the weakness, the emptiness, the way it had felt like something inside me had been hollowed out completely. Not just exhaustion. Not just injury.“You were not meant to survive the crossing itself,” Varka said. “You were meant to be carried through it… and nothing more.”My breath caught at the way she said it, like survival had never been part of the outcome.“But I did survive,” I said, quieter now, because the certainty I had clung to before was slipping. “I healed. Elara helped me—”“You healed,” Varka interrupted gently, “because something within you  wanted you here.”T

Cold replaced it instantly, sharp and suffocating, wrapping around me in a way that made it hard to breathe. Darkness stretched in every direction, thick and endless, swallowing everything beyond what little I could see.But I wasn’t standing, I wasn’t even moving. I wasn’t even… myself. It felt like I was looking through someone else’s eyes.The shift was disorienting, the ground beneath me unfamiliar, uneven, as though I stood somewhere far from where I had been just moments ago. The air was colder here, heavier, carrying something dark that pressed against my senses in a way that made my chest tighten.This wasn’t the first time. The memory came back immediately. The healer’s camp. The night Corin had taken me from there, the crystal I had touched then, I had felt the same pull.The same feeling of being taken somewhere else. And this... This was the same place of endless darkness.A low, distant sound echoed somewhere ahead, too deep to understand, but enough to make something in

I looked at him again, really looked this time, and something in me settled just a little more. Not completely. Not enough to erase everything else.But enough.“Together,” I repeated softly.His thumb brushed lightly against my hand, a small movement, but yet reassuring. It sent a warmth through me that had nothing to do with magic.We kept walking, the quiet between us no longer heavy, no longer filled with unanswered questions, but something that felt steady despite everything else changing around us. Corin’s POVI waited until the door closed behind her.Only then did the calm expression slip.My jaw tightened, the tension I had been holding back finally breaking through as I turned slightly away, my hands curling into fists at my sides. The quiet of the hallway pressed in around me, but it didn’t settle anything. If anything, it made everything louder, the thoughts, the unease, the feeling that something had changed in a way I couldn’t explain.Something was differ

But he wasn’t moving at all. “Hey,” I called, lowering my sword just a little. “Are you...” He dropped, just like that. My breath caught as I stared at him, my chest tightening in confusion more than fear. It didn’t make sense. Nothing about it made sense. “Corin?” I said, glancing back at him. He didn’t answer. I turned fully this time, and the words caught in my throat. The courtyard was filled with guards, all of them standing still. Too still. “Corin,” I said again, quieter now, something colder creeping into my chest, but once again, no response. I took a step toward him, slowly, my heart started to beat faster as I closed the distance between us. “Corin?” Nothing. He didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Didn’t react at all. A strange feeling settled over me as I lifted my hand, hesitating for only a second before I touched his arm. His skin was cold beneath my fingers, not just cool, but wrong, like the warmth had been pulled out of him completely. My breat

“That is why we came.” My chest tightened slightly, but I didn’t move. His gaze held mine for a moment longer, then shifted, just slightly, like something had caught his attention beneath the surface. “And yet…” he said slowly, his voice lowering just a fraction, “there is something… unusual about it.” My breath caught. Only for a second. “What do you mean?” I asked. He didn’t answer right away. He watched me. Long enough that it felt like he was deciding something. “Nothing,” he said. But this time, It felt like a lie. Another member of the council stepped forward, breaking away from the others with a slow, deliberate movement that immediately drew attention without him needing to say a word. He was taller than the first, broader in the shoulders, his presence heavier, more commanding in a different way. His dark hair was pulled back neatly, not a strand out of place, and his jaw was sharp, set in a way that made it clear he was not someone used to being questi