RHEIN'S POINT OF VIEW
This is the point of no return.
I turned to Dylan, my fingers already trembling, not from the cold, but from the weight of what I was about to do. The Juelaetornulus Ruihnas pulsed faintly against my chest, its presence sharper than ever, as if it knew what I intended before I fully admitted it to myself.
"Dylan," I said quietly.
He looked at me at once. There was no hesitation in his eyes. Only alertness, readiness, and something else I didn't want to name.
"We don't have much time," he said.
"I know," I interrupted gently. "That's why we're doing this now."
I stepped closer and took his hands.
For a brief moment, he stiffened, surprised by the sudden contact. His palms were cold like mine. I wrapped my hands around his, grounding myself in the reality of him being here with me.
"Concentrate your mnarill," I said. "Don't let it scatter. Just… push it into your hands."
Dylan frowned slightly. "You're asking me to funnel time-based mnarill into a fixed point."
"I know," I said again. "I wouldn't ask if there was another way."
He studied my face, searching for doubt.
I didn't give him any.
After a moment, he nodded. "Alright. But if this goes wrong—"
"It won't," I said, though I didn't know if that was true. "I'll handle the rest."
I closed my eyes.
The crystal responded instantly.
The Juelaetornulus Ruihnas awakened with a sharp surge, not violent but insistent, like a breath drawn too deeply. Light spilled through my veins, cold and burning at the same time, wrapping around my heart and my thoughts.
Time did not resist.
It listened.
Beneath our feet, the ground began to glow.
A magic circle formed slowly at first, intricate and vast, expanding outward in perfect symmetry. Ancient Mnarraic texts etched themselves into existence along its surface: runes I did not consciously recognize, yet somehow understood. They twisted and rearranged themselves, locking into patterns.
The air grew heavy with light.
Dylan's grip tightened as his mnarill responded, threads of silvery-blue energy flowing from his hands into the forming circle. I felt the resistance then... the strain on him, the way his power pushed against rules it was never meant to cross.
I held on tighter.
"Don't let go," I whispered.
The circle flared.
Light surged upward, engulfing us completely.
The sound disappeared first.
Absolute silence.
My thoughts fragmented.
Memories flickered in disjointed flashes: Rona's face, Forelody's wings, the academy halls, laughter, blood, fire. The crystal pulsed again, sharper this time, dragging something from deep within me—fear, resolve, guilt—all of it merging into a single, blinding intention.
The light grew unbearable.
Then it stopped.
I gasped, lungs burning as if I'd surfaced from deep water. My knees buckled slightly, and I would have fallen if Dylan hadn't steadied me immediately.
"Rhein," he said, breathless. "We're—"
I looked around.
The world was… quieter.
No storm. No lightning. No oppressive pressure crushing down from the sky. Above us stretched a dark but calm night, scattered with distant stars.
The cliffs were still there.
But they were different.
I swallowed hard.
"We're in the past," I said softly.
Dylan stared at his hands, flexing his fingers as if to reassure himself they still belonged to him. "Time's flowing," he uttered slowly. "Normally."
That alone was terrifying.
I took a step forward, heart pounding. Something felt… off. Not wrong, exactly but unfamiliar in a way that made my instincts itch. The pull I'd felt earlier was still there, faint but persistent.
"This is after…" I hesitated, searching my memory. "After my aunt died."
The words felt heavier spoken aloud.
Dylan followed my gaze. "So this is before everything collapsed."
"Yes," I agreed. "Before the war. Before the experiments were perfected."
A strange tightness formed in my chest.
We weren't heroes here.
We were intruders.
"Black cloaks," Dylan murmured, pulling one from beneath his coat and handing it to me. I wasn't able to notice before we came here, but he's already wearing one. "We shouldn't draw attention."
I accepted it and pulled it over my shoulders. The fabric was heavier than it looked, lined with faint enchantments meant to dull mnarill signatures.
As we moved closer to the palace, every step felt surreal. The path was familiar and unfamiliar at once; places I recognized from ruined memories now whole and untouched. I wondered how many people were inside, going about their lives, unaware of how close they were to becoming part of something monstrous.
My thoughts wouldn't quiet.
What if we failed?
What if we succeeded but made things worse?
The crystal did not answer.
It only pulsed faintly, patiently, as if reminding me that once time was disturbed, consequences were inevitable.
We reached the outer entrance without incident.
No alarms. No guards in sight.
Too easy.
That realization sent a chill down my spine.
"Be careful," Dylan whispered. "Places like this don't stay quiet without reason."
I nodded, pressing a hand briefly to my chest.
I could feel it now.
Something beneath the palace.
Something waiting.
The flow of time had already been broken. And we're standing at the fracture point.
It's too risky to just teleport inside. I chose not to.
Inside, the palace breathed.
That was the first thought that crossed my mind the moment we slipped past the entrance and into the shadowed corridors. Something slow and constant, like a presence expanding and contracting around us. The walls held the chill of stone, yet there was warmth beneath it, subtle and unsettling, as though the structure itself was alive and aware of being observed.
We moved quietly.
Our footsteps were careful, each sound deliberately softened. The black cloaks dulled more than our mnarill signatures. They made us feel like ghosts drifting through a place.
The palace interior was vast, but orderly. High ceilings arched overhead, supported by dark pillars etched with symbols I recognized only faintly from ancestral markings. Dim lights hovered along the corridors.
"This place is… clean," Dylan whispered beside me, his voice barely more than a breath.
I nodded. "Too clean."
We searched anyway.
Room after room. Hall after hall.
Storage chambers filled with neatly arranged artifacts. Empty rooms with polished tables and untouched chairs. Corridors that led nowhere important, staircases...
No screams.
No obvious machinery.
No sign of anything monstrous.
The longer we searched, the tighter my chest became.
Had we miscalculated?
Doubt crept in, quiet and corrosive.
We reached the first floor again after searching the upper floors, circling back toward a wide corridor that overlooked an inner courtyard. Moonlight spilled in through tall windows, painting pale reflections across the stone floor. I slowed without realizing it, my steps faltering.
Something tugged at me.
I stopped.
Dylan noticed immediately. "What is it?"
I didn't answer at first. I closed my eyes, focusing inward, letting the noise of my thoughts fade. Beneath the steady rhythm of my heartbeat, beneath the faint hum of my own mnarill, there it was again.
A presence.
Below us.
My breath hitched.
"It's here," I whispered. "Under the floor."
Dylan stiffened. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." I pressed my palm lightly against my chest, as if that would steady the sensation. "I felt it before. Faint. Like an echo. But now it's clearer."