The room was cold. Not from the weather, but from something else—like the air itself knew something terrible had passed through.
Elias stared at the frozen frame on the screen.
His house. His fucking house.
What was left of it, anyway.
The front yard scorched in a perfect circle, arcane symbols still faintly glowing like scars that refused to fade. In the center of the circle, a tear in reality—writhing like a wormhole made of screams—and then... nothing. The video cut off.
Arden stood behind him, quiet.
"You knew," Elias said without looking back.
Arden didn't answer.
"You fucking knew."
This time, Arden spoke. "I didn't know it was your home, Elias. I swear to God, I didn't. We only got the footage after it happened."
"You should've stopped it."
"We couldn't."
Elias turned, his voice a low growl. "Then why the fuck am I here? Why bring me into this now?"
"Because you're the only one who's been beyond the veil and come back with your mind intact. You're not human anymore, Elias. Not really. And whatever opened that rift—whatever called those things into your world—it's still out there."
Elias stepped forward. "Then point me at it."
"You're not ready."
"Bullshit."
Arden sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "There's a site. Old cathedral, abandoned. East coast. It's marked with the same symbols from your house. We think they're forming something bigger. A ritual. A map."
"Then I'll go," Elias said.
"Not alone. We're sending someone with you."
Elias raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
---
Enter: Ren
She stepped out of the shadows like she owned them. Short black hair, combat boots, scars across her neck, and eyes that screamed I've killed more than you've dreamed about.
"This is Ren," Arden said. "Ex-special forces. Touched by the veil, like you."
Ren gave Elias a once-over and snorted. "You're the guy who killed a crawler with a sword?"
Elias shrugged. "Sword. Fire. Rage. It all works."
She grinned. "Alright. I can work with that."
---
The Cathedral
They arrived under cover of night. No stars. No moon. Just clouds thick like wet cement.
The cathedral loomed like a corpse, gothic spires clawing at the sky. The air was thick—wet with rot and static. Magic hung in it. Wrong magic.
Inside, candles still burned. Someone had been here. Recently.
Elias's pulse spiked. His fingers twitched with arcane memory.
Ren scanned the room with her rifle. "You feel that?"
"Yeah," Elias muttered. "Something's watching."
They moved through the pews like ghosts, silent and focused. At the altar, they found it:
Another circle.
Fresh blood.
Symbols carved into the stone—matching the ones from his lawn. Matching the ones from Elyndros, where the high priests of agony summoned gods that devoured minds.
"Someone's recreating the summoning," Elias said.
Ren crouched. "More like layering them. One site at a time."
"Why?"
And then, a voice:
"To bring Him through."
Elias spun, blade already in hand.
The man behind them wore a crimson robe, his face masked in bone and gold. He wasn't armed. He didn't need to be.
"You shouldn't have come here, Elias."
Ren pulled her gun.
"Don't," Elias said.
The man smiled. "Smart. Guns won't help you in what's coming."
Elias stepped forward, magic crackling up his arms like lightning veins. "You know me."
"Oh yes. You were never supposed to return. But since you did... we'll use you."
Elias didn't wait.
He moved faster than the eye, blade slicing through the air.
But it hit nothing.
The man vanished in a wisp of smoke and sulfur.
Behind them, the blood on the altar ignited—flames leapt high, and from them stepped something. Tall. Horned. Skin like polished bone.
Ren fired. Useless.
Elias raised his hand. "Ash to ash."
Fire erupted from his palm, slamming into the creature's chest, but it didn't even flinch.
It lunged.
They split, dodging left and right. Elias summoned a shield mid-air, catching the beast's claws. The impact drove him back, feet sliding across stone.
Ren tossed him a vial. "Veilglass grenade!"
He caught it, yanked the pin with his teeth, and shoved it into the creature's mouth.
Boom.
It exploded in a flash of violet fire and black shards.
The creature screamed—then disintegrated into ash.
Silence.
Breathing heavy, blood dripping from his nose, Elias stood over the remains.
"That wasn't a summoning," he said. "That was a fucking test."
Ren nodded. "And we passed."
Elias looked at the altar. The flames were gone—but the feeling wasn't. The chill. The eyes watching from behind the walls of reality.
"They're not summoning something," Elias muttered. "They're summoning him. The thing behind the veil."
He touched the edge of the stone, whispering something in the old language of Elyndros.
The symbols flared. Briefly. And a word appeared—burned into the stone like a warning.
"Circle One: Initiation."
Elias clenched his jaw.
There would be more.