Veilstrum

The path twisted unnaturally as Arkan and Kaelith ventured deeper into the Nexus, the very air around them charged with a spectral energy. Threads of light and shadow wove themselves into shifting patterns that both dazzled and disoriented. Every step felt like walking on the edge of a blade, with the faint hum of unseen forces gnawing at their senses.

Arkan tightened his grip on the shard, its faint glow barely illuminating their way. He could feel it pulsing, alive in his hand, like a heart beating out of rhythm with his own. The whispering voice in his mind—the shard's presence—had grown quieter, but it hadn't disappeared. Its silence felt more ominous than its words.

"Keep your focus," Kaelith said sharply, her voice cutting through the oppressive quiet. She moved ahead with precision, her every step calculated, her emerald eyes scanning for threats. Her weapon was unsheathed, its blade shimmering faintly in the strange light of the Nexus.

"I am," Arkan replied, though the lingering doubt in his voice betrayed him.

Kaelith glanced back, her expression unreadable. "The Nexus isn't just a place. It's alive. It reacts to us, feeds on our fears and uncertainties. If you lose yourself, it'll take more than just your mind."

Arkan swallowed hard and nodded. The weight of her warning settled heavily on him. He tried to push the thoughts away—the Arbiter's scorn, the shard's unstable power, the creeping sense that he was being watched. But no matter how hard he tried, the whispers in the back of his mind wouldn't relent.

They continued forward, the terrain around them becoming more fragmented. Cracks formed in the ground, spilling light into the air like spilled ink reversed. Floating shards of obsidian and crystal drifted aimlessly, reflecting distorted images of the pair. At one point, Arkan saw a reflection of himself in one of the shards—only it wasn't him. His reflection's eyes were black voids, and its face twisted into a silent scream.

"Did you see that?" he asked, his voice trembling. He stopped walking, turning to look at Kaelith.

Kaelith didn't stop. "See what?"

"In the shard," Arkan insisted, pointing at the fragment still drifting beside him. But when he looked again, it was just a shard of crystal, reflecting his exhausted, normal self.

Kaelith finally halted, turning to him. Her expression was hard, but there was a flicker of concern beneath her sharp exterior. "The Nexus is playing with your mind, Arkan. It's testing you. Don't let it win."

Arkan clenched his fists and nodded, forcing himself to keep moving. But as they pressed onward, the sense of being watched grew stronger. The threads around them shimmered and pulsed, almost as if they were alive, shifting with a malevolent intent.

And then they heard it: a low, guttural voice, reverberating through the air like the groan of a collapsing mountain.

"Intruders…" The word came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

Kaelith immediately dropped into a defensive stance, her blade raised. "Stay close," she hissed.

Arkan felt the shard's pulse intensify as if it were reacting to the voice. His breath quickened, his muscles tensing as the oppressive atmosphere around them thickened.

The ground began to warp and ripple beneath their feet, and from the shadows, figures emerged. They weren't Nullborn—not entirely. These were something else. Their forms were twisted and fragmented, like echoes of beings that had once existed but had been unraveled and reassembled incompletely. Their eyes glowed faintly, like dying embers, and their movements were jerky and unnatural.

"What are they?" Arkan whispered, his voice barely audible.

"Manifestations," Kaelith said grimly. "The Nexus is using them to test us—or destroy us."

One of the figures lunged forward, its fragmented limbs moving in impossible angles. Kaelith met its attack head-on, her blade slicing cleanly through the creature. But instead of falling, the fragments of its body reformed, twisting into a new shape that seemed even more menacing.

"These things don't stay down!" Kaelith shouted, slashing at another as it lunged at Arkan.

Arkan barely dodged, his movements sluggish from exhaustion. He raised the shard instinctively, and a burst of light shot out, striking the creature and momentarily stunning it. But the effort left him trembling, the shard's power draining him further.

"You can't just react," Kaelith snapped, fending off two more of the creatures. "Think! Use the shard, but don't let it use you!"

Her words struck something in Arkan. He gritted his teeth and focused on the threads around him. They were everywhere, intersecting and overlapping, connecting everything in the Nexus. He reached out with his mind, grasping at a cluster of threads near one of the creatures. The shard flared in his hand, and the threads twisted together, forming a spear of light that impaled the creature, unraveling it completely.

"Like that?" he asked, his voice strained.

Kaelith smirked despite the chaos around them. "Not bad. Now keep doing it."

The battle continued, the two of them working in tandem. Arkan wove threads into weapons and barriers, while Kaelith's blade danced through the air with deadly precision. Together, they managed to hold their ground, but the creatures kept coming, their numbers seemingly endless.

And then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the attack stopped. The creatures dissolved into nothingness, and the oppressive energy in the air lifted slightly.

Arkan staggered, his knees buckling. Kaelith caught him before he fell, her expression a mix of relief and frustration.

"You're pushing yourself too hard," she said, helping him to sit down. "We can't afford for you to burn out."

Arkan didn't respond immediately. He stared at the shard in his hand, its glow dim but steady. "They weren't real," he said finally. "None of this is real."

Kaelith crouched in front of him, her emerald eyes locking onto his. "It doesn't matter if it's real. It's dangerous. And if you lose focus, it will kill you."

Her words hung in the air as Arkan nodded slowly. He clenched the shard tightly, the pulse of its energy matching the steady beat of his heart.

"We keep moving," Kaelith said, standing and offering him her hand. "This place isn't done with us yet."

Arkan took her hand and pulled himself to his feet. As they continued deeper into the Nexus, the faint sound of whispering returned, growing louder with each step. It wasn't the shard this time. It was something else.

And it was waiting for them.

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