SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES-Chapter 181: Therin: Enemy of The Bones

"Aramith, wait—!"

Mozrael's voice cracked through the heavy air, and for half a second, the shadow's grip loosened.

It was barely noticeable, but Mozrael caught sight of it.

Elira coughed, clinging to what little breath she had as her body sagged in the dark grasp.

"So..." Aramith said quietly. "A space user is the only way out."

"Yes..," Elira forced out. "Unless you enjoy rotting between dimensions, you'd let go of me."

A ripple flowed through the darkness, an irritated response to his mood.

"So you think I'm just going to sit here and wait?" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Serephene knows you can't escape," Elira smiled, even with blood on her teeth. "She knows locking you here would make you panic. You'd be desperate." Her gaze slid to Mozrael. "And you'll have to choose."

The words tugged at his bloodlust.

Aramith's eyes sharpened.

"Choosing is not something I struggle with."

He opened his hand, and the shadow dropped her.

Elira hit the ground with a sharp gasp, curling around her broken leg, shaking.

Mozrael instinctively took a step forward, but stopped when she saw the darkness still coiled around Aramith's arm like a living thing, waiting.

"You gave me an answer," he said. "That is the only reason you are breathing."

Elira laughed weakly. "How generous of you, Dark Gate."

Mozrael froze.

Dark Gate…?

Aramith didn't react.

Instead, he turned slowly, his back now to Elira.

Mozrael's heart slammed painfully in her chest.

For a moment, she thought he'd look at her the same way he had looked at Elira, but he didn't.

His eyes softened.

"Are you hurt?" he asked her quietly.

"N-no."

His hand stung with a strange coldness when it brushed against her arm, though with a lingering burn. "Did she hurt you?"

Mozrael shook her head again, almost in a daze. "Aramith, a—"

The words locked in her throat, refusing to come out.

"You're afraid of me?" He asked.

Mozrael quickly shook her head to reassure him...and herself.

"Your hand," he said as her gaze followed his to focus on her hand.

"It trembles," he added.

When did it... "I—"

"Nevermind that," he said. A ghost of a smile touched his lips, one that hurt more than it comforted.

"I'm the only reason we're leaving this place alive, so don't worry."

Behind them, Elira tried to drag herself away, panic creeping in now that she realized he wasn't planning on killing her.

The moment he turned to look at her again, she shook with fear but tried to mask it.

"I told you the truth," she said. "You can't leave. Not without tearing reality apart."

Aramith stopped.

For a moment, he looked thoughtful. Then he raised his head, eyes lifting toward the empty, false sky of the enclosed space.

"And why should I be worried?"

"What?" Elira didn't understand.

"You came here to trap Therin, not Aramith."

Elira paled instantly as the truth of the matter came to her.

The shadows around him began to change.

He controlled them to converge into a sphere the size of his head.

Mozrael felt space itself tighten. What is he doing?

"You weren't sent here to trap me," he said slowly, understanding settling in. "You were sent here to trap a weaker boy you knew nothing of."

Elira stared at him, terror completely replacing arrogance.

"What...are you—"

Aramith's voice lowered to a near whisper.

"I'll force you to act."

He shot the sphere into the far corner of the room. All was still for a moment, then suddenly, it exploded outward, sending a soft ripple through. The force from it didn't hurt them. It just passed right through them as if they were the air itself.

Suddenly, a soundless fracture ran through the air around the sphere. It started to tear small bits of its surroundings, sucking them in.

Cracks of darkness spread across the ground,

Mozrael clutched his sleeve, unable to hide her fear. "Aramith...what's happening?!"

"I'll get us out," he said calmly, as space folded around them.m

"You're either going to die here as you're torn into bits, or you leave this place," he said to Elira.

She'd lost. She knew that, but she still didn't want to give in so easily."

"Enough," he muttered, his voice low. "You have an exit."

"Yes...I have one."

"Then use it."

Her eyes flicked, just for a second, to the locked emptiness above them.

"You don't command me, Aramith."

Mozrael felt his mood shift a little. Her voice echoed, faint but trembling."Aramith…"

He heard the strain in her voice, feeling the fear she was trying to conceal. The image of her panic flashed across his mind.

His jaw clenched. You're distracting me.

The air pulsed outward, throwing Mozrael off balance. A dome of absolute darkness burst into being around her once again, cutting her off from view, cutting her off from sound, from scent, and from the metallic tang of what was to come.

Inside the dome, the world went quiet for her.

And for Elira, things were about to get worse.

He gave her one last chance.

"Activate it," he said without raising his voice.

Her pupils trembled, but still she shook her head, looking weak, stubborn, and humiliated.

"Based on what you said, Serephene will come here sooner or later. I just have things to do. Don't waste any more of my time."

"I will not—"

The realm suddenly cracked.

It just split without warning, and a thin fracture carved itself through the false sky above them, glowing white, expanding like a wound torn through fabric.

It slit down till it slashed into the ground.

Beyond it was Yumaris, the same street and world they had been torn from.

Elira's composure shattered instantly.

"Serephene—no." Her voice finally broke. "You don't understand, this isn't—"

Aramith leaned closer, darkness sliding from his knuckles and vanishing before it touched the ground.

"Seems she decided to come here instead of waiting." He crushed her windpipe first to keep her mute.

What happened next did not belong to the world of the living.

Even the darkness seemed to recoil from it.

When silence finally returned, the crack widened, peeling the false space apart like a discarded skin.

Fresh air rushed in, and reality reasserted its authority.

Aramith lowered his hand.

Then, slowly, he released the dome.

Light returned to Mozrael.

She saw him standing there, intact, though breathing a little heavy. Shadows clung to his back like a second skin, and the ground before him was stained, though the body itself had already begun dissolving into nothing, claimed by the sphere that was collapsing the realm.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly.

She nodded quickly.

The crack yawned wider, and a figure stepped through.

Serephene.

Her gaze locked on what remained of Elira, and the air became still, waiting for grief or rage.

Maybe even mourning, for it looked like Elira was a close aide of Serephene.

But Serephene only looked contemplative, then she sighed faintly.

"So she failed."

Mozrael stiffened. She almost couldn't control the bile that crawled up her throat when she saw Elira's bloodied form, so how was Elira so calm about it? Especially when they were supposed to be partners.

Aramith didn't leave immediately.

Serephene. Elira had called her guardian, her leader, her anchor.

Serephene didn't shed any tears or utter any words of affection.

All she said was the cold, hard truth she seemed to have known already.

"She miscalculated her opponent's strength. That is not your sin." Her eyes rose to Aramith now, razor-sharp. "It was hers."

The realm finished tearing itself open around them until the false space unraveled entirely, leaving only the stretch of Yumaris around them, with small bits of the space floating around them.

They had been gone for hours, but just like his realm, it didn't feel as long.

"How did you kill her?" Serephene asked.

Aramith looked at her with eyes that looked more dead than Elira's.

"The same way I'll kill you if you try anything again," he said.

"Very well," She said. "You are my enemy now," Serephene added, stepping fully into reality.

Aramith didn't care about her threat. "Court your own death,"

His voice was steady.

"But I have no interest in you. I'll only end you if you're foolish enough to attack me."

They both remained silent for a moment, tension drawn tight. Any of them could move, and chaos would descend.

They just measured each other without acting, then, slowly, she stepped aside.

"I'll let that slide, Therin," she said. "And pray the day you do grow interested, you are still strong enough to speak those words to me again."

Mozrael stayed close as they passed her, their shoulders almost brushing.

"Tell Aramith I'll be coming for him when you go back to your wretched Academy."

Serephene did not move as she spoke, but her eyes followed them until the very last moment.

And for the first time since this conflict had begun, even she looked uncertain. She turned to Elira's remains. "You'll make a good pet."