The darkness that had followed Flamen did not fully dissipate. It still wove its shadows around him, trying to hold him back. But with each step he took, it weakened, dissolving into the light of the Eternal Garden.
Emiren sensed the change immediately. The space was no longer stable. Something in the very fabric of reality had begun to ripple, like a wave preceding a storm.
— What have you brought with you? — he asked, watching Flamen closely.
The Empty One stood beside him, silent, but his eyes spoke louder than words. He, too, felt the balance had been disturbed.
Flamen raised his hand, and the black spark in his palm trembled as if it were alive.
— It’s not me, — his voice was quiet but tense. — It followed me.
And then, the wind changed.
The Storm Approaches
The sky above the Eternal Garden darkened, but not with clouds. This was a different kind of darkness—something deeper, something that did not belong here.
The wind played with the leaves of the silver trees, lifting them into the air like fragile fragments of time.
— It’s close, — the Empty One whispered.
Emiren closed his eyes, allowing his mind to touch the edges of reality. He felt something seeping in—not just a presence, but a consciousness.
And it had noticed them.
— Run! — Flamen shouted.
But it was too late.
The ground beneath them trembled.
The Rift
The space tore open, revealing an abyss with no bottom. It was dark but not empty—chaos swirled within it, devouring the very essence of time.
From the void, the first figure emerged.
Its body was composed of fragments of light and shadow, interwoven in an endless dance. It had no clear form, but its eyes burned with a cold blue glow.
Behind it came the second. And the third.
— Creators? — the Empty One asked, clenching his fists.
— No, this is something else… — Flamen replied, his black fire expanding.
The entities stepped forward, and the Eternal Garden shuddered.
Their presence was unraveling the stability of this place, and Emiren knew that if they stayed, the Garden would not survive.
— We must lure them into the Boundary! — he shouted.
The Empty One met his gaze and gave a barely perceptible nod.
— We split up, — Flamen added, already preparing to leap.
They had no choice.
The storm had already begun.