The Eternal Garden trembled. Its silver leaves crumbled, turning into shimmering dust that dissolved into the air. The wind grew stronger, carrying the whispers of vanished voices—echoes of those who had once been here but remained only as shadows of memory.
Emiren, the Hollow, and Flamen stood still, sensing how reality itself was shifting around them.
The dark entities that had emerged from the rift moved slowly but inevitably. Their bodies flickered in a chaotic rhythm—light and darkness blending into one, continuously reshaping their forms. These creatures didn’t just burn with light; their eyes devoured it, absorbing the very essence of the Eternal Garden.
Flamen took a step forward, his black fire flaring brighter, reflecting off the silver dust swirling around him.
— We cannot allow them to stay here, — he said, clenching his hand into a fist.
— That’s why we’ll lure them into the Boundary, — Emiren confirmed.
The Hollow said nothing, but his form was already fading into the shadows, preparing for a maneuver.
Fleeing to the Boundary
The first of the entities moved. Its motion was erratic—one moment a sudden lunge forward, the next a slow glide, as if it didn’t entirely belong to this dimension. The others followed suit.
Emiren felt a cold shiver run down his spine. The space around them no longer felt solid—trees shifted, as if their roots no longer clung to the earth, and the sky blurred, like spilled paint on water.
— Run! — Flamen shouted, leaping forward, carving a path with his fire.
Emiren and the Hollow rushed after him. Their bodies felt resistance, as though they were pushing through water that grew denser with every step.
Behind them, the dark entities pursued. Their movements were unclear yet swift—each time they changed position, their outlines dissolved into darkness, only to reform elsewhere.
Ahead, the edge of the Eternal Garden loomed—the place where reality touched something else, something incomprehensible. Beyond it lay the Boundary, the space between worlds, where time and existence fractured, creating unstable flows.
— Just a little further! — Emiren called out.
Flamen was the first to cross the threshold. For a moment, his silhouette dissolved into the air, as if space itself was trying to swallow him.
Emiren and the Hollow made the final leap—and reality shifted.
A World Without Time
The Boundary had no definite form. It resembled a labyrinth of fractured realities, suspended in the chaos of time. Floating in the air were remnants of shattered worlds: ruined towers, fragments of forests, roads that led nowhere.
There was no sky—only an infinite expanse, riddled with glowing cracks that opened into other realities.
— They’re coming, — the Hollow whispered.
The dark entities appeared at the edge of the Eternal Garden but did not move forward immediately. They hesitated, as if sensing the danger of this place.
— Why aren’t they following us? — Flamen asked, narrowing his eyes.
Emiren realized the answer before he could speak it aloud.
— They’re not afraid of us, — he said. — They fear this place.
The Boundary was not just a space between worlds. It was a trap. Here, time could loop endlessly or shatter entirely, leaving nothing behind.
— If they won’t enter on their own, — the Hollow said, — then we’ll have to force them in.
Flamen smirked.
— I can make that happen.
He raised his hands, and black flames erupted from his palms, spilling across the ground like a living river, flowing toward the Eternal Garden.
The entities reacted at once. They stepped back, but one of them made a mistake. It moved too close to the edge—and that was enough.
The Hollow leapt forward. His body vanished into shadow, and when he reappeared, he was behind the creature.
His strike was not physical. It was a wave of pure emptiness—a force that shattered stability.
The entity staggered. Its eyes flickered for a brief moment.
And then it fell into the Boundary.
The End of the Pursuit… or the Beginning of Something Worse?
As soon as the first entity crossed into the Boundary, something changed.
The space trembled, as if waking from slumber. Fragments of worlds began to shift, as if they were alive.
— We need to leave! — Emiren shouted.
But it was too late.
Something in the depths of the Boundary opened its eyes.