The portal spits us out into a huge circular chamber, its ceiling vanishing into endless shadow. The air hums with so much raw power it’s almost nauseating, thick against my skin. Across the marble floor, glowing runes twist and shift, rearranging themselves into new patterns, like they’re alive. At the center stands a massive stone obelisk, pulsing faintly with pale blue light.
We don’t get a chance to think before the ground shakes beneath our boots. The runes flare brighter, and light explodes upward, shaping into two towering figures. Warriors.
They are beautiful in a terrible way—armor like molten steel, faces hidden behind smooth, expressionless helms. Twin blades of light form in their hands. They step forward in perfect unison.
The first blow comes so fast it nearly cleaves me in two. My shadows lash outward, fast and merciless, but one warrior pivots before my attack lands, the other already countering Koen’s blade. Every move we make is anticipated, as thoughthey know our intent before we do. Their synchronicity is flawless.
Koen grunts as his strike is deflected, sparks scattering across the marble. “They’re reading us.”
I roll beneath a blade that cuts the air where my head was a heartbeat ago. My chest heaves. He’s right. They’re not just fighting us. They’re studying us. Learning us.
And for every second that passes, we’re losing ground.
I send my shadows spearing toward their legs, sharp as obsidian, but one slams his blade down and severs them, light cutting through darkness. The recoil burns through me, forcing me to stumble. Before I can recover, the other warrior’s blade whips toward me.
“Serenya!”
Koen shoves me back, too late to fully clear the strike. The warrior’s blade tears across his side. He stumbles, blood already staining his leathers, his face twisted in pain.
Rage tears through me. I drive my shadows into both warriors at once, enough to make them stagger but not enough to hold. My breath comes ragged, panic clawing at my throat.
“Koen, together!” My voice is raw, nearly breaking.
He meets my gaze through the pain, sweat running down his temple, eyes blazing. He nods. Just once. Fierce. Certain.
I surge forward, shadows sweeping low at their legs just as Koen lunges in. One warrior stumbles; the other falters. Their rhythm breaks. My lips curl into a sharp grin.
We’ve found it.
We move again, but this time, together. My shadows close the gaps when his guard slips. He shields me when Ioverextend. It’s as though something invisible has aligned us. We are like two parts of the same whole, moving to a single heartbeat.
A blade whips toward my chest. Koen lunges in front of it the same instant my shadows wall it off. Both of us, trying to protect the other. Our gazes collide, the world slowing, breath catching in my throat. Just him. Just me.
The world slams back into motion. His light, my shadows, seamlessly weaving together. Every blow they land is answered. Every strike we make lands true.
With a final, searing strike of Koen’s light-forged blade, their bodies split apart, shattering into sparks. The fragments dissolve back into the runes beneath our feet, until nothing remains.
The chamber stills. Silent once more.
Koen lowers his sword, chest heaving, eyes fixed on me. My shadows withdraw, curling instinctively around him before I can stop them. The lines of light across his skin flare in answer, warm and steady, and heat pricks my cheeks. I look away too fast.
Ever since he told me I was his, I’ve been…nervous. I don’t get nervous. That isn’t who I am. It infuriates me. When the guard interrupted us before, I’d been relieved, because I had no idea what I would’ve said. But I know one thing…I wouldn’t have denied it. Honestly, I think I’ve been his for far longer than I ever wanted to admit.
The runes flare violet, and the chamber shifts again. A grinding roar echoes through the stone, and the marble floor cracks apart, trembling under our feet. Slabs of rock tearthemselves free and drift into the air, hovering and sliding in jagged patterns across a black abyss that seems to have no bottom. The sound of stone scraping against stone rattles in my bones.
I step closer to the edge. Platforms dart and collide, moving far too quickly for anyone to leap across without being crushed or thrown. My stomach sinks. That gate glowing violet on the far side feels impossibly far away.
Beside me, Koen exhales slowly. “There.” He nods toward a narrow stairwell spiraling down into the dark. At the base of it, a massive stone bridge rises out of the shadows, broad but treacherous. Even from here, I can see how it tilts with every shift of weight, groaning as though it resents whoever dares to walk it.
I swallow. “So we cross, balance the bridge, and…what? Hope it doesn’t dump us into nothingness?”
A corner of his mouth lifts. “Something like that.”
We descend together, each step echoing too loudly in the cavernous chamber. When we reach the base, the bridge looms before us, ancient stone slick with dust, stretching toward a pedestal on the far side. A lever juts out from the pedestal’s base, faintly glowing with runes. The answer is obvious. If we reach the lever, the platforms above will lock into place.
But the bridge tilts even when I just put a toe on it. A low rumble shudders through the stone. I retreat instinctively.
Koen tests it next, stepping on fully. The whole bridge groans and tips forward. He spreads his stance, arms out slightly, steady despite the shifting weight. “It’ll hold,” he says, though the strain in his voice betrays him. He glances back at me. “Butnot for long if we don’t move together.”
