The wildlands did not greet Germaine with sunlight.
They greeted her with pressure.
Not from the Shard. Not from the world. But from something watching.
She felt it the moment the fortress disappeared behind her.
The air was too still. The ground too quiet. The wind too hesitant, brushing her cheek like it feared what traveled with her.
Solaryn perched on her right arm, wings half-open, feathers warming like lit coals.
Lumira hovered just above her left shoulder, violet pulses steady but uneasy, her entire body drifting closer to Germaine's cheek whenever shadows thickened.
They were close. Too close. Like they expected the ground to open and swallow her whole.
Germaine tugged at the new weapon strapped across her forearm.
The Catalyst Gauntlet.
Black steel and silver filigree wrapped her wrist and palm like armor, with a luminous, transparent core embedded in the back of the hand.
Elric had handed it to her before she left.
Not with ceremony.
Not with explanation.
Just a quiet, grave:
"You'll need this sooner than you think."
It pulsed now.
Faint.
But increasingly insistent.
Germaine exhaled slowly.
"Okay, guys… I'm pretty sure we're walking straight into something awful."
Solaryn chirped a low, brave sound, nuzzling her cheek with heated feathers.
Lumira pulsed sharply in indignation—Don't go.
Germaine smiled weakly.
"I have to. If I ignore it, the Shard's going to punch a hole in my ribs."
The Shard responded with one pulse.
A deep, heavy thud in her chest.
She winced.
"See? It's getting impatient."
Solaryn fluttered onto her shoulder, anchoring himself with his talons, his wings spread as if to protect her from the forest shadows.
Lumira drifted forward, scanning the path with violet arcs.
They walked.
The road narrowed. The trees thickened. The light dimmed into a suffocating grey.
Germaine's breath hitched.
The Shard's pull sharpened.
Left.
She changed direction.
Down the ravine.
She climbed carefully.
Toward the ruins.
Her heart stuttered when she saw them:
A collapsed stone temple buried under vines, cracked pillars jutting from the earth like broken ribs.
The air shimmered faintly around it—like a mirage.
Or a warning.
Germaine whispered, "This place… shouldn't exist on any map."
The Shard pulsed again.
Solaryn stiffened, feathers flaring bright gold.
Lumira darted to her side, pulses frantic.
Then—
Screaming.
Not human.
Not beast.
A sound like metal dragging across bone and air tearing itself apart.
Germaine's heart slammed into her throat. "Run!"
She sprinted toward the sound without hesitation.
Solaryn soared overhead, wings blazing to cast light.
Lumira streaked ahead like a violet comet.
Germaine burst into a clearing—
And froze.
A boy—maybe 15 or 16—lay on the ground, clutching his chest as unstable black energy tore through the air around him like spiraling shards.
His SoulPet—a tiny furred creature with crystalline antlers—was collapsed beside him, trembling violently.
The boy gasped, voice cracking, "It—hurts—! It's— awakened— I can't—stop—!"
A Shard resonance.
Uncontrolled.
Unstable.
Deadly.
Germaine felt her own Shard surge in response—like two magnets screaming across a distance.
She staggered.
Her lattice wrenched.
Her breath broke.
Solaryn shrieked in pain, almost falling out of the sky.
Lumira hammered pulses into Germaine's face—Stabilize! Stabilize now!
Germaine forced breath into her lungs, pressing her palm against her chest.
"Elric—why didn't you warn me this would feel like dying?!"
She stumbled forward anyway.
Every instinct told her to run—
But the boy's eyes locked onto hers.
Terrified.
Begging.
Breaking.
"Help… me… please—"
That was enough.
Germaine slammed her left foot into the ground and activated the Catalyst Gauntlet.
A silver circuit ignited across her arm—
The core humming to life.
The gauntlet tightened around her hand as if waking from sleep.
Solaryn screeched and flared golden light.
Lumira pulsed violently, scanning the incoming resonance waves.
Germaine braced herself.
"Okay. Okay—Shard? Gauntlet? SoulPets? We're doing something absolutely stupid. Work with me."
The Shard pulsed violently—YES.
Germaine threw her arm forward.
The Catalyst Gauntlet exploded with light.
A spherical barrier formed around her just in time—
as the boy's unstable Shard released a shockwave.
The forest tore open.
Earth cracked.
Stone shattered.
The blast slammed into her barrier like a giant fist.
Germaine skidded back—
Boots digging trenches in the dirt—
Her shoulders screamed—
But the barrier held.
Barely.
Solaryn darted inside the barrier and pressed his blazing wings against the Gauntlet's core—reinforcing the barrier with golden mana.
Lumira weaved between Germaine and Solaryn, pulsing stabilization patterns across the resonating threads.
Germaine gasped, "Good—good—keep that rhythm—!"
Her lattice realigned.
Barely.
And then she felt it.
Something ancient.
Something deep.
Something that recognized both Shards—
and answered.
Her chest burned.
Her vision flickered.
The Catalyst Gauntlet shifted colors.
Black.
Gold.
Then—
Both at once.
Her breath caught.
"What—what is this—?"
The gauntlet's core glowed with swirling dual tones:
Radiant white-gold…
and an abyssal violet-black.
Light and shadow spiraled around her arm— the two forces coiling without clashing.
Solaryn chirped loudly, startled.
Lumira pulsed in frantic awe.
Germaine whispered, "This is… my element?"
The world around her dimmed.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Her mana surged.
Her lattice widened—
not from strain…
but from choice.
Her awakening had begun.
The energy around her whispered a name—
Ancient.
Forbidden.
Impossible.
Germaine's breath trembled.
"…Lumenumbra."
The dual-element.
Light born in darkness.
Darkness shaped by light.
Her future ability.
Her power.
Lumenumbra.
The moment she spoke it, the resonance around her shifted—like the world took a step back.
Even her own Shard seemed to pause.
And for a brief second—
Germaine felt like she stood at the edge of the seven hells and something down there finally noticed her.
Solaryn screeched a warning.
Lumira darted around her, pulsing SOS patterns.
Germaine shook her head. "We're okay. We're okay. I can control it. I have to."
But the boy wasn't okay.
His Shard surged again.
His body writhed.
His SoulPet whimpered, crystalline antlers cracking.
Germaine ran to him.
Her Gauntlet flared Lumenumbra energy, swirling light and darkness around her fingers like living ink.
She dropped to her knees beside him.
"Hey—look at me. Look!"
The boy's eyes flickered open—bright with fear.
Germaine reached for his trembling SoulPet and pressed her palm to its tiny forehead.
Lumira immediately joined, pulses forming a stable lattice pattern.
Solaryn landed on Germaine's shoulder, funneling calm warmth down her spine.
Germaine pressed her Gauntlet against the boy's chest.
"Breathe with me. Just match my breath. In… out… hold… in…"
The boy tried.
Failed.
Tried again.
Finally—
A small inhale.
A desperate exhale.
The unstable resonance flickered.
Germaine's voice softened.
"You're okay. I'm here. We're going to shut this down together."
She let the gauntlet's core bloom fully.
Lumenumbra light poured from her palm—
holy gold spiraling with gentle shadow.
The boy arched—
Then stilled.
The resonance around him calmed.
The air grew quiet.
The trees stopped shaking.
The earth stopped trembling.
The Shard inside him dimmed to a soft, barely-there pulse.
His SoulPet collapsed on her lap, breathing faintly.
The boy whispered, "Wh… who are you?"
Germaine exhaled shakily.
"I'm Germaine Arcclair."
"Are you… a healer?"
She barked a breathless laugh. "Absolutely not."
Then she looked at her hands—at the Lumenumbra glow drifting off her skin.
"…Or maybe I'm becoming something else."
Solaryn nuzzled her cheek, chirping proudly.
Lumira pulsed with warm gratitude.
Germaine stroked both of them, voice trembling.
"You two… are everything."
She turned back to the boy.
"Can you stand?"
"I—I think so… thanks to you."
Germaine helped him up gently.
His SoulPet climbed weakly into his arms, eyes dazed.
Germaine looked toward the ruins.
Something there pulsed again.
Deep.
Impossible.
Threatening.
She swallowed hard.
"Your Shard awakening wasn't natural."
The boy shivered. "I felt it too. Something in the temple woke it. Something… horrible."
Germaine stiffened.
Solaryn's feathers flared.
Lumira pressed against her cheek.
The Shard inside her responded with a low, ominous thrum.
Germaine closed her eyes.
"Then we have to go in."
The boy recoiled. "You can't—you'll die."
Germaine smiled faintly.
"I'm an Adept with a temperamental Shard, a Catalyst Gauntlet I barely understand, a new dual-element that shouldn't exist, and two SoulPets who are definitely smarter than me."
Solaryn chirped.
Lumira slapped her forehead with a pulse.
Germaine stood.
"I'm already past the point of no return."
The ruins hummed.
The Shard inside her answered.
Lumenumbra flickered across her fingers.
Germaine whispered to her SoulPets—
"You ready?"
Solaryn flared his wings.
Lumira brightened.
Germaine stepped forward.
Toward the ruins.
Toward hell.
Toward destiny.
And the ruins whispered back.