Ren woke to a world spinning.
Not immediately.First came a sound—a thin, fragile, almost imperceptible noise.A distant chiming, like thousands of tiny glass shards tapping softly against one another.
He opened his eyes.
And realized the sound wasn't coming from outside.
It was coming from him.
Lyra was kneeling beside him, her face so close he could feel the warmth of her breath touching his skin.Her eyes were red, her expression tense, steady, afraid—like someone who didn't know whether Ren was returning to her, or to the shadow that called him.
"Ren…" her voice trembled softly, "can you hear me?"
He tried to answer.
But no sound came out.
The chiming grew louder inside his head—not just in his mind,but in his spiritual path.
A cracked echo.
Borin stood behind Lyra with arms crossed, trying to look composed—but his axe shook in his hand.
Draven…Draven was hugging a tree, crying and trying not to throw up.
"Is he alive?" Draven shouted without looking."He didn't turn into smoke? Or ash? Or shadow?""DRAVEN," Borin growled,"If you don't shut up, I'll bury you upside down."
Ren tried to lift his arm—and that's when he felt it.
The pain.
A pain that didn't come from flesh or bone.
It came from his Path.
As if something had torn.As if part of him were trying to rebuild itself while another part tried to split away.
Lyra grabbed his fingers with both hands—as if trying to hold him together physically.
"Stay with me. Please… stay with me."
Ren blinked slowly.
The voice returned.
Not the voice of the Rift.
The voice of the fragment.
Weak.Shaking.Desperate.
"…echo…broken echo…do not hold…do not let it open…"
Ren clenched his jaw.
Lyra noticed immediately.
"What is it? Are you hearing something again?"
He forced himself to speak.
It took time.His throat felt locked.
Finally, in a strained whisper:
"The… echo…"
Lyra leaned closer, hope and fear battling in her eyes.
"What echo?"
Ren touched his chest.
"Mine."
Borin stepped forward.
"What does THAT mean?"
Ren closed his eyes—and saw.
Not with sight.Not with physical senses.
But through the Path.
And what he saw made his heart skip:
The gray glow the Rift had placed inside him had not faded.It had not dissolved.It had not returned to the shadow.
It was inside him.Fixed.Embedded in his core.
Like a broken mirror.
A mirror reflecting his own aura—but fractured.
Lyra touched his face gently.
"Ren… what are you seeing now?"
He opened his eyes.
And she saw the faint reflection of the Rift in them—dim, but alive.
"My aura…" he whispered,"…is cracking."
Draven slipped and fell onto his back.
"CRACKING?! HE'S GONNA EXPLODE!"
Borin slapped a hand over the boy's face.
"Shut it."Then, quieter:"But… Ren… is this real?"
Ren nodded.
Not with fear.
With clarity.
"The Rift… put something inside me."
Lyra's body trembled.
"Something… bad?"
Ren hesitated.
And that hurt her more than any direct answer would have.
"I don't know."
Borin rubbed his face.
"How can you NOT KNOW?!"
Ren breathed deeply.
Then spoke the truth:
"The Rift doesn't only try to break."He looked at the staff."It tries to… open."
Silence fell.
A silence so complete even Draven stopped breathing for a moment.
Lyra pushed his hair aside with trembling fingers.
"Open… what?"
Ren pressed his hand to his chest.
And for the first time that day, his voice came out firm—even trembling.
"My soul."
Lyra stepped back in shock.
Draven fainted backward completely.
Borin cursed under his breath.
Ren clenched his fists.
And the pain returned—a deep, resonant crack,as if part of his essence were trying to rearrange itself—and failing.
Lyra moved close again.
"You're not going to break."
Ren looked into her eyes.
And saw it:
Her fear.Her determination.Her light.
A light that anchored him to the world.
"I'll hold it," he whispered."But this… this has a price."
Borin shrugged.
"Everything does."
Draven shot his hand up weakly.
"I have a question: does the price involve DEATH, HAUNTING, LOSING YOUR SOUL, FORGETTING US, OR THAT THING THAT'S TRYING TO SPLIT YOU IN HALF?!"
Ren exhaled.
And answered:
"It involves pain."He stared at his own hand."It involves risk."And then:"It involves… change."
Lyra leaned forward and pressed her forehead to his.
"Then we face it together."
Ren gripped her wrist—tightly, desperately,as if her touch were the only thing keeping him anchored in the living world.
The echo pulsed in his chest—broken, uneven, but alive.
He didn't know if this was the beginning of a fall or the beginning of an ascension.
But he knew one thing:
"The Rift called me…"His fingers tightened on the staff."And now she won't leave me alone."
And for the first time since they returned—
The shadow that watched answered.
From the deep forest.From the deep world.From the deep inside his aura.
"I am waiting."
Ren lifted his head.
And smiled.
A serious smile.A young smile.A terrifying smile.
"I know."