Kael fell through the rift, reality dissolving into a void of swirling violet and black. Threads hung like broken spiderwebs, pulsing with the shard's energy. The air—or whatever this was—felt alive, pressing against him, whispering in a thousand voices: *"Kael… you wake us…"*
He landed hard on a surface that wasn't there, a glassy expanse reflecting endless stars. The shard in his pocket burned, its violet light illuminating a towering figure—an entity, its form shifting between humanoid and something other, threads weaving its body. The Voidborn. Its eye, the same from the rifts, locked onto him, swirling with hunger.
"Kael," it said, its voice a chorus of echoes, "you bear the key."
Kael scrambled to his feet, the shard's crack leaking energy. "What are you? What do you want?"
The Voidborn drifted closer, threads coiling around Kael. "We are the unwoven, the first. The creators bound us, fearing our chaos. Your shard—our prison, our freedom. Break it, and we rise."
Kael's stomach dropped. The Weaver's warning—*"You'll free it and doom us all."* "And if I don't?"
The Voidborn's eye pulsed. "The Looms will choke your world. The Weavers will burn all you love. You've seen it—the slums blaze because of you."
Kael's mind flashed to the burning slums, the boy he'd saved, Ryn's desperate grip. "I won't free you to destroy everything."
The Voidborn laughed, a sound like breaking glass. "Destruction is freedom. The creators knew this—they birthed you to choose." It extended a hand, threads forming a vision: Kael's parents, hiding him, a Weaver's thread striking them down. "They died to give you this choice. Your bloodline—our bloodline—demands it."
Kael's chest ached, the shard's energy syncing with his heartbeat. The vision shifted—his parents weaving threads, hiding the shard, whispering of a legacy. They'd known what he was.
Outside the rift, Ryn and Mira fought off drones in the scavenger den. Ryn's knife slashed a drone's core, her goggles scanning the rift. "We're losing him!" she shouted, dodging a laser.
Mira fired her rifle, her cybernetic arm sparking. "He's already gone, scav! We need to move!"
"No!" Ryn snapped, tying a rope around her waist, the other end to a pipe. "I'm going in." She dove into the rift, the rope taut, her knife ready.
Inside, Ryn landed beside Kael, her goggles wide. "Kael, don't listen to it!"
The Voidborn turned, threads lashing at Ryn. Kael wove, redirecting them, but the shard's crack widened, energy surging. "It's telling the truth," he said, voice strained. "The shard—it's a prison. But if I break it…"
"Then don't!" Ryn grabbed his arm, her touch grounding him. "We'll find another way. Together."
The Voidborn roared, threads unraveling the void. "Choose, child of creators!"
Kael clutched the shard, its crack splitting further. He couldn't free the Voidborn—but he couldn't let the Weavers win. He wove, threads pulling him and Ryn back to the rift's edge, reality snapping into focus.
They tumbled out, the rift sealing behind them. But the shard shattered in Kael's hand, a wave of chaotic energy exploding outward. The den quaked, threads of reality glitching—walls twisted, drones froze, and a violet pulse shot into the sky, a beacon for the Weaver's storm.
Mira stared, her rifle lowering. "What the hell did you do?"
Kael, panting, looked at the shard's fragments. "I… I don't know."
To be continued…