The crack was shrinking.
Not slowly. Not mercifully.
It was folding in on itself like a mouth closing around a scream.
Manraj could barely stand. The white-eyed Reflection circled him, feral now—moving with an animal twitch, head tilted at impossible angles, whispering a language older than fire.
"Return… return… return…"
Manraj backed away until his shoulders hit a wall of light that wasn't solid but burned like memory.
"Stop—" he choked. "I'm not—"
The Reflection lunged.
Manraj braced—
And the world outside exploded.
---
Outside the Crack
Zoya slammed both palms against the scarred stone.
A shockwave of SILENCE rippled outward—sound dying mid-air, dust freezing mid-fall.
Her breath came in ragged bursts.
"Open," she whispered. "Open—OPEN."
Silence obeyed… but barely.
The crack shuddered like something alive, resisting her.
Azhar appeared beside her, shadows roaring violently around him.
"I told you to STAY BACK—!" Zoya shouted.
Azhar ignored her.
Every shadow he commanded slammed against the fracture like black lightning.
"Manraj's flame is collapsing," Azhar said through clenched teeth.
"He doesn't have long."
Zoya swallowed terror.
"I know."
She pressed her fingers deeper into the stone until they bled.
The crack widened a fraction—
—and then snapped back like a wounded beast.
Zoya screamed as Silence recoiled into her chest, ripping the air from her lungs.
Azhar caught her before she fell.
"DON'T break yourself," he growled.
Zoya pushed him away.
"If I don't break myself, HE will break."
---
Inside the Crack
Light flickered like a dying pulse.
The Reflection lunged again, faster this time—smiling with Manraj's mouth but sharper, wrong.
When it struck him, memories detonated behind his eyes:
Fire.
White flame.
A hand dragging him backward.
A claw pulling him forward.
Something choosing him.
Something choosing AGAIN.
Manraj gasped, stumbling.
"Why are you doing this?" he rasped.
The Reflection's voice layered over itself, like two versions speaking at once.
"You were NOT finished."
It sprinted toward him—
And the crack suddenly trembled as Silence punched through.
---
Outside
Zoya screamed into the stone, her voice breaking:
"LET! HIM! GO!"
Silence erupted from her in a ring that shook the entire courtyard.
The air warped.
The crack split wider—enough to see flashes of white and red inside.
Azhar's eyes widened.
"Move!"
He hurled every shadow he had at the fracture—
the ground splintering, pillars collapsing, the temple shuddering around them.
Zoya's Silence and Azhar's Shadows clashed against the fracture in opposite rhythms—
one muting reality, one tearing it.
The crack tore open.
Zoya didn't hesitate.
She stepped halfway inside—
not fully, just barely—
letting her Silence slide between worlds like a blade.
She saw Manraj.
She saw the Reflection.
She saw the world trying to swallow them both.
"MANRAJ!" she shouted.
---
Inside
The Reflection whipped toward the sound—white eyes narrowing.
Manraj's fire surged in his chest, instinct recognizing Zoya even through the fracture's distortion.
"Zoya—!"
She reached out, palm trembling.
"Come to me!"
Manraj ran—
—but the Reflection grabbed his arm with inhuman strength.
"He is MINE."
Zoya's eyes widened.
Not in fear.
In fury.
She shoved her hand deeper into the crack—
and Silence erupted like a star imploding.
The Reflection staggered backward, its form flickering violently.
Manraj tore free.
The crack began collapsing inward.
"NOW!" Azhar roared from outside.
Zoya grabbed Manraj's wrist.
Manraj grabbed hers.
The Reflection leapt.
The crack snapped shut like a guillotine—
---
Outside the Temple
Manraj and Zoya fell out of the fracture together, hitting the courtyard floor.
Azhar caught them both, shadows softening the impact.
Behind them, the scar sealed into a thin line of silver.
Silent.
Still.
Sleeping.
Zoya lay gasping, her heartbeat hammering like it was trying to escape her chest.
Manraj was shaking, fire guttering violently under his skin.
Azhar stared at the sealed crack, jaw clenched.
"That thing," he whispered, voice low, "won't stay in there for long."
Zoya pushed herself up.
Her voice trembled—but was steady with resolve.
"Then we don't wait for it to come back."
Her eyes met Manraj's.
"We go to the only place that still remembers what he used to be."
Azhar inhaled sharply.
"You mean—"
Zoya nodded.
"The ruins under the old river."
Manraj swallowed.
"What's there?"
Zoya closed her eyes.
"A truth nobody survived the last time it woke."