CHAPTER 47 – THE AWAKENING OF THE FRACTURE (
The air inside the sealed chamber still hadn't settled from the previous shock. The bruise the grey-flow had left in my chest wasn't fading—each breath seemed to turn that bruise into a sharp stone grinding against me.
And then the second blast came.
The floor trembled beneath us again, faster and more unstable this time.
Kai shouted,
"Don't move!"
But I wasn't in any state to obey. As the vibration in my chest grew, the pressure beneath my feet began behaving differently—reacting to my inner rhythm.
Rien stared at the pillar on the right. "This isn't the normal cycle. The pressure isn't repeating its pattern!"
Lyra clenched her jaw. "They're switching frequencies too fast. Valeria must be adjusting things from outside."
Right then, Valeria's voice echoed from beyond the door:
"The test continues. The pressures are adapting to your internal rhythms."
Kai slammed his fist against the wall. "She's watching us!"
But Valeria wasn't just watching.
She was studying us.
Studying me.
The fracture in my chest pulsed harder. My vision dimmed; my knees buckled, and I barely stayed upright. The grey-flow whipped out of my control, forming a brief, erratic loop inside me.
Kai grabbed my arm. "Seryn! Your eyes—something flickered. Is your mana slipping?"
I couldn't answer. My tongue felt glued in place.
Lyra stepped closer but stumbled as a beam erupted from the right pillar, slicing the ground. The pillar's pale-blue light suddenly flared into white—an overheating sign.
"They're trying to shut down," Lyra said. "The system is protecting itself. This is bad!"
Rien looked up. "If they shut down with us inside, the whole pressure cycle collapses!"
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was when the system began targeting me.
---
The first beam grazed my left shoulder—close enough to tear my sleeve and scorch the air beside my face.
Kai yelled,
"Move! It's locked onto you!"
But every step I took only caused the pressure to follow me more precisely. The mechanism was matching my rhythm—my internal pulse.
Lyra raised a charm to warp the air, but the pressure was so chaotic that the spell-form bent and snapped.
"The mana lines are twisting!" Lyra cried. "It's reading Seryn's inner vibration and breaking the spell!"
Rien's eyes fixed on me. "Seryn, did you do something in your inner practice? Your chest has been—"
"DON'T—!" I finally forced out, breath ragged.
Because at that exact moment, the fracture widened.
Not just mana—my thoughts split as well.
For a heartbeat, the room doubled: Lyra's voice from one side, Rien's movement from the other… but the grey-flow inside me wasn't connected to either of them. It was moving with its own instinct.
Its own purpose.
My eyes locked onto the central mist of the chamber—drawn there without my control. The haze quivered, stretching toward me like a silent thread. Just like the shard inside my chest.
Kai gripped my shoulder harder.
"Stay conscious! Don't let the grey-flow move on instinct!"
Easy to say.
Impossible to do.
The fracture was swelling.
It didn't feel like damage—it felt like something inside me was waking up.
And then—
The third pressure wave went off.
This time it didn't focus on a single point.
All six pillars activated at once, forming a spiraling vortex toward the center.
Toward me.
Lyra's face turned pale. "They're dragging him in!"
Kai cursed and pulled me back, but the pressure field was a giant invisible hand shoving me forward.
Rien drew his bow but the arrow dissolved mid-flight—matter itself broke apart under the force.
Valeria's voice returned:
"The final threshold has begun. Internal orientations are now being read."
Kai roared,
"THIS ISN'T A NORMAL TEST! YOU LIED TO US!"
No answer.
Only stronger pressure.
And I was now suffocating.
---
The fracture pulsed again. Deeper. Sharper.
The stone-like shard inside me was splitting—like something beneath its surface wanted out.
My grey-flow divided:
— one strand instinctive, raw, uncontrollable
— the other thin, conscious, clinging to control
When the two strands collided, sparks went through my vision. My pupils widened on their own.
Lyra stumbled back. "Your eyes—there's grey light flickering!"
Kai didn't let go. "Stay with me! SERYN, LISTEN TO MY VOICE!"
I could hear him.
But the grey-flow couldn't.
The vortex intensified, lifting my feet off the ground. Something squeezed my ribs; breath escaped my throat.
Rien rushed forward but was thrown back into the wall. The impact knocked the air out of him.
Lyra tried a barrier—barely formed before it shattered.
Kai still held on.
But the fracture was growing faster than he could pull.
And then something happened.
The grey mist in the chamber expanded like a living thing, rushing toward my chest. When it struck, the fracture split—cleanly, unnaturally.
My grey-flow snapped.
Half my awareness went dark.
---
The first thing I heard was my heartbeat.
But doubled—like two hearts pounding in the same chest.
The first thing I saw was a faint grey glow.
Nothing like the lights of the pillars.
And the first thing I felt was…
an intention that wasn't mine.
The grey-flow whispered—not words, but a drive:
"More."
More what?
More mana?
More control?
More freedom?
I didn't know.
But I felt it pushing outward, trying to expand through the fracture.
If it grew any larger, either I would break…
or the chamber would.
Kai's voice reached me like from underwater:
"SERYN! FIGHT IT!"
Lyra's spellwork cracked around us.
Rien staggered upright.
Valeria was silent.
Maybe she was watching.
Maybe she was waiting.
Maybe she had been hoping this would happen.
The thought sent a violent surge through the fracture.
It swelled sharply.
And I made my decision.
I would pull the pressure inward.
Into myself.
Not push it out.
Not fight it head-on.
I would swallow it—drag it back into the fracture before it tore me apart.
Reckless.
Dangerous.
Maybe fatal.
But I had no other choice.
I closed my eyes, clenched my teeth, and forced the swelling grey-flow back through the fracture—dragging it inward like pulling poisoned smoke into my lungs.
The world fell silent.
---
Valeria's voice trembled for the first time:
"…What are you doing?"
Kai stared at me in shock.
Lyra's eyes opened wide.
Rien steadied himself against the wall.
They all saw it:
The grey-flow inside me stabilized for a brief moment.
The fracture didn't heal—but it stopped growing.
The lights of the pillars flickered, then dimmed.
The vortex dissipated.
My feet touched the floor again, though my knees shook violently.
And in that first breath of quiet, one realization hit me:
I can't survive another surge like that.
And Valeria knows it.
But Valeria's voice returned one last time:
"The test… is not over."
Kai cursed.
Lyra shouted, "She's insane!"
Rien slammed the wall in anger.
But all I felt was the unsealed, trembling line inside my chest.
Not healed.
Not dormant.
Just waiting.
And Valeria—