Chapter 14: The Shattered Front
The skies over the Dream Realm had lost their serenity. What was once a canvas of endless silver light now trembled beneath the weight of thunder and distant screams.
Columns of spectral banners rippled in the wind as the armies assembled — each representing a different world, a different people who once dreamed freely. Now, they all shared a single enemy.
Kael stood among them, hand resting on the hilt of his odachi, the weapon's blade faintly humming with restrained hunger. Beside him, Talia checked the calibrations of her light gauntlets, and Juno adjusted the crystalline scope attached to her bow. Their armor bore the insignia of the Militant Earth's Vanguard, the elite defense division entrusted with stabilizing the border between creation and corruption.
Rows upon rows of soldiers stood at attention — dreamers, guardians, astral-born entities — all waiting for orders.
Calyx and Leo approached, both wearing their usual grim expressions. Calyx's eyes were sharp, scanning every ripple of energy in the distance, while Leo cracked his neck with casual confidence.
"All units," a captain's voice boomed across the field, projected through telepathic comms. "Form ranks! The corruption mass is moving again. Defend the frontier at all costs!"
The captains of each army began dispatching their teams, the ground trembling under the synchronized march of millions. The air thickened with anticipation.
Then Leo squinted toward the horizon. "Uh, guys," he said, voice dry but tight with tension. "We might have a problem."
Kael followed his gaze — and his stomach dropped.
A colossal darkness was rolling toward them, swallowing the horizon like a living shadow. It wasn't smoke or mist. It was alive — twisting, pulsing, whispering in countless voices that clawed at the back of their minds.
"Damnation," Kael muttered. "Here we go again."
The corruption tide met the army in an explosion of chaos.
Talia was the first to move — a streak of white-gold light cleaving through the dark horde. Every motion was fluid, merciless, beautiful. Her blade carved arcs of pure energy that disintegrated corrupted beasts on contact.
Juno stayed at the rear, her hands dancing in precise rhythm. Frost gathered around her arms before she released a volley of ice arrows, each one glowing like a shard of moonlight. They struck true — freezing dozens of enemies in place before shattering them with sonic cracks.
Leo and Calyx fought in sync — Leo unleashing devastating bursts of kinetic energy, while Calyx's dark magic erased whatever it touched. No gore, no remains — just void.
And Kael…
Kael didn't stay put.
The ground beneath his boots vibrated as he dashed through the lines, his odachi cutting a clean path through the corruption. The weapon didn't reflect light — it devoured it. Every swing left streaks of darkness that pulsed faintly before vanishing, as though reality itself couldn't decide if his blade existed or not.
"Kael! Wait—!" Talia called, but he was already gone — plunging deeper into the writhing mass of corruption, drawn by a pulse, an instinct, something he didn't understand.
The screams of monsters turned to whispers as he moved through the fog. He could feel them watching him, thousands of unseen eyes hidden behind the shroud. His heartbeat was the only sound he trusted.
Then the whispers stilled.
Above the clouds of black mist, high in the air, a silhouette floated — a woman cloaked in shadow. Her hair shimmered like strands of night, and her presence bent the world around her. The Lady.
Her eyes, twin mirrors of emptiness, found him.
"The destined boy," she murmured, her voice echoing like wind through a graveyard.
Instantly, the corrupted army shifted.
The mindless chaos became organized. The creatures began to retreat — not from fear, but purpose. Their movement turned into a current, pulling away from the battlefield.
Kael frowned. "Wait—what the hell?"
The tide moved faster. He tried to pull back, but the force of retreating corruption was like a wave, dragging everything with it. His boots slid across the unstable ground as the world blurred around him.
"Kael!" Talia's voice cut through the comms. "Get out of there!"
"Working on it!" he shouted, gritting his teeth. "Crap—why does this always happen to me?"
He plunged his sword into the ground, trying to anchor himself — but the darkness surged again, swallowing the terrain whole.
The battlefield trembled. Then, in an instant, he was gone.
The corruption vanished with him.
What remained was silence.
For a long moment, no one moved. Then cheers erupted across the front lines — soldiers raising their weapons in victory, believing the battle was won.
But for the Vanguard, the triumph was hollow.
Talia stood motionless, her weapon dim in her hand. "Where's Kael?" she asked, scanning the ranks.
Leo frowned. "He probably got pulled back to the city's link-point, right?"
Calyx shook his head slowly. "No… I can't feel his astral flow. It's gone."
Juno's breath hitched. "Gone? What do you mean gone?!"
They searched. For hours, they combed the wilderness, tracing his last energy signature, calling his name through psychic relays. But all they found was silence.
Kael was nowhere. Not even the Beyond's sensors could locate him.
He had vanished beyond their reach.
—
When Kael finally opened his eyes, the sky was red.
The air was hot and dry, sand whipping across his face. He sat up slowly, groaning, and looked around.
Endless dunes stretched in every direction, the horizon a burning line of gold.
He blinked, squinting. "Oh, great. From cosmic war zone to a damn desert. Perfect."
A dry laugh escaped him as he stood, brushing sand off his jacket. "Where the hell am I this time?"
The wind didn't answer. It only carried a faint echo — like laughter, distant and hollow — across the empty expanse.
And somewhere, deep beneath the desert, something old… stirred.