Chapter 6: The Gateway That Shouldn’t Exist

The dying land stretched before them, a scar left in the wake of the entity’s passage.

Elara and Rhyke pushed their horses harder, the creatures whinnying in protest as they raced after the fading storm of darkness.

Elara’s heart pounded, her breath sharp. She had to see where it was going.

But then—

It stopped.

Or rather—it disappeared.

The massive, wailing entity that had just torn across the field vanished into thin air.

Rhyke yanked the reins, forcing his horse to an abrupt stop. His eyes narrowed, scanning the area. “Gone…? Just like that?”

Elara barely heard him.

Because something else had appeared.

She slid off her horse, her boots hitting the dry, cracked earth as she took a hesitant step forward.

An archway.

Massive. Ancient. Wrong.

It loomed before them, weathered yet untouched, its obsidian-like surface reflecting the dimming light of the setting sun.

But it wasn’t the size, nor the engravings of unknown symbols, that sent a shiver down Elara’s spine.

It was the veil hanging within it.

A curtain of fractured reality.

At first glance, it looked like shattered glass suspended in the air.

But then—it moved.

The broken shards of the veil shifted, like silk caught in a slow, unseen breeze.

And worse—it pulsed.

Like a living thing.

Like a beating heart.

Elara’s breath caught in her throat.

She stepped closer, the air thick with something—powerful. Foreign. Ancient.

Her fingers trembled as she reached out, brushing against the shattered veil.

It reacted.

A ripple spread from where she touched, the glass-like shards shifting, whispering like unseen...