CHAPTER 25: WHISPERS IN THE VEIL
The light faded. The Lock of Time pulsed once in my hand before vanishing, as though it had never existed.
I stood there trembling, Kyle's arms still wrapped around me, grounding me. My knees buckled from exhaustion, and he caught me before I hit the floor.
"It's okay," he whispered. "You're safe now."
Safe.
What a word.
I wanted to believe it. But even as the sky cleared and Velvet gave a small nod of satisfaction, a gnawing emptiness grew inside me. I had brought down Rafaal. I had sealed Chronozar. I had bent time and defied fate.
And yet… I didn't feel victorious.
"I need air," I muttered, pushing gently away from Kyle.
"Want me to come with you?"
I shook my head. "No. Just give me a moment."
I stepped out into the remnants of Rafaal's ruined fortress. Rubble crumbled beneath my feet. The wind blew softly, but it carried a strange stillness—as if the world was holding its breath.
Was it truly over?
No.
I knew that look in Velvet's eyes earlier. That wasn't relief. It was hesitation. Worry.
There was still more she wasn't telling me.
"Velvet?" I called.
She appeared instantly, emerging from a shimmer in the air like a ghost reborn.
"You're hiding something."
She didn't deny it.
"There's a cost to every miracle, Rockie."
"I already paid the price. I gave up memories, risked my soul, fought myself. I even bent time."
She stepped closer, her voice low. "And by doing that, you cracked the Veil."
"The Veil?"
"The fabric that separates the worlds—the realm of the living and the realm of spirits. Time magic is never clean. Your actions created a ripple. Something slipped through."
I clenched my fists. "What slipped through?"
She hesitated, eyes flickering gold.
"A soul that shouldn't exist anymore."
I froze.
"No."
Her silence was answer enough.
"Raiden?" I whispered.
"Yes."
My breath caught. "But I… I killed him."
"You didn't kill him," Velvet said slowly. "You broke him. You made him vulnerable. But now… he's no longer Raiden."
A sharp gust swept over us, and with it came a shiver that raced down my spine.
"What do you mean?"
Velvet's eyes hardened. "He's back. But corrupted. He's not the boy you once knew."
My heart cracked.
"I didn't mean to hurt him…"
"I know."
A sudden scream echoed through the sky. Not human. Not even demonic. It was… empty. Cold. Like a void made sound.
Velvet looked up sharply. "He knows you're alive. And he's coming."
---
A Week Later
We tried to settle into normal life, whatever that meant.
Kyle returned to school. I tried to pretend like I was just a regular girl again. I even helped Mom bake a cake.
But I was always on edge.
Every mirror. Every shadow. I saw glimpses. A figure watching. A smirk in the glass.
Raiden.
Not the sweet, awkward boy who once told me he'd catch stars for me. This version—this echo—was twisted.
He was haunting me.
And then, one evening, it happened.
I was walking home from school, alone. Kyle had gone to basketball practice. Velvet was oddly quiet that day.
The wind shifted.
The sky dimmed.
And in the middle of the road, he appeared.
Raiden.
His hair was longer now, tangled with strands of silver. His eyes were no longer blue—they were pitch black with glowing white irises. His body shimmered with unstable energy, like time warping around him.
"Hello, Rockie," he said, his voice like broken glass.
I didn't speak. I couldn't.
"Do you know what it feels like to be erased?" he continued, stepping closer. "To be unloved, unwanted, unwritten?"
I found my voice. "You tried to destroy me."
"I tried to love you!" he shouted. "But you chose him. Kyle."
I took a shaky breath. "I didn't choose. You played a game with my heart. You lied to me. You were working with Rafaal."
"Because I had no choice!" he hissed. "He owned me. But I broke free. And now… I own myself. No more love. No more weakness."
He raised a hand, and the air around me thickened, as if time was slowing. My feet couldn't move.
"I should destroy you," he said softly. "But I won't. Not yet."
"Why?" I managed to whisper.
"Because I want you to feel it. The way I felt it. Alone. Forgotten. Abandoned. I want you to watch the world turn on you. One piece at a time."
He stepped back into the shadows—and vanished.
I collapsed to my knees, the grip of his magic fading.
Velvet appeared instantly. "Are you okay?"
"No," I breathed. "He's back. And he's… worse."
Velvet nodded. "He's not here to destroy the world. He wants to destroy you. Piece by piece."
---
Later That Night
I stood before the mirror, staring at my reflection.
Kyle entered the room behind me.
"Are you okay?"
"I saw him."
He tensed. "Raiden?"
I nodded.
"He didn't attack?"
"No. But he will. He's just… waiting."
Kyle stepped closer. "Then we'll face him together."
I shook my head. "You don't get it. He doesn't want the world. He doesn't want power. He just wants me to hurt. He wants revenge."
Kyle gently pulled me into his arms. "Then let him come. Let him try. We'll be ready."
I stared at our reflection.
But something was wrong.
My reflection didn't move with me.
It stared… then smiled.
Not my smile.
Raiden's smile.
"GET BACK!" I screamed, shoving Kyle away.
The mirror shattered, sending glass flying. One shard sliced my cheek.
But when I looked again—the mirror was whole. My reflection normal.
Kyle rushed to me. "What happened?"
I was trembling. "He's in the mirrors now. Watching. Smiling."
Velvet appeared, her face pale.
"He's merged with the Veil. The broken magic you left behind gave him access. And he's growing."
I touched my cheek. Blood trickled down my face.
"This is just the beginning, isn't it?"
Velvet nodded.
---
The Dream Realm
That night, I dreamt again.
But this wasn't a memory.
I stood in a field of white flowers, endless and still.
And in the center—Raiden waited.
He wore a black cloak. Around his neck hung a chain of broken hearts—literal, magical heart fragments.
"I don't want to fight," I said.
"But you already are," he replied. "Every second you live, you're fighting me. Every breath you take is a reminder of what I lost."
"You lost yourself."
"No," he said, eyes flashing. "You took me from me."
He waved a hand, and memories swirled around us. Him laughing. Holding my hand. Saving me. Crying.
"I was everything to you."
"You were… and then you chose darkness."
"I still remember your birthday," he whispered. "I remember the first time I made you smile. I remember what it felt like to kiss you."
I turned away.
"I'll make you remember too," he promised. "I'll make you bleed the truth."
I woke up gasping, tears on my pillow.
Kyle sat beside me. "Another nightmare?"
I couldn't speak.
Because it wasn't just a dream.
It was a warning.
---
Preparing for War
The next day, Velvet gathered me, Kyle, and the others—Raya, Suzan, Amelia, and Heaven.
"We need to rebuild the Book of Time," she said. "It's the only way to trap Raiden in the Veil."
"But it was destroyed," Amelia said. "During the first war."
"Yes," Velvet replied. "But its pages were scattered across realms. We need to find them. Fast."
"Where do we start?" I asked.
Velvet handed me a compass—its needle spun in all directions.
"This will lead you… if your heart is steady."
I held it tightly.
Kyle stepped beside me.
"We go together."
And so began our next quest.
Not just to stop Raiden.
But to find the pages of the Book.
To fix what I had broken.
To protect the ones I loved.
---
TO BE CONTINUED...