Kai's heart lurched as he took a step back, his breath hitching at the sudden shift in the air. Zayne's body pulsed with dark violet energy, the once controlled arcs now fraying at the edges, unstable and unrestrained. Small particles of light broke off from his form, dissolving into the surrounding space like embers drifting from a dying fire. Kai's eyes widened. "What the hell is going on?" His voice came out sharper than intended, laced with an undercurrent of alarm. Zayne let out a slow, measured sigh, his sharp gaze momentarily flickering with something Kai couldn't quite place...annoyance? Fatigue? Resignation?
"Maintaining a physical form requires a constant supply of Temporal Energy," he said, his voice even but carrying the weight of a truth he had likely kept to himself until now. "I've been sustaining this projection for too long. My body is too weak to continue holding it." Kai's stomach clenched. "Wait.....so what happens now?" He didn't like the way Zayne was saying this: like it was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. "Calm down, kid" Zayne said, his tone as unshaken as ever. "I'll just enter a temporary dormant state to recover." Kai opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the ground beneath him shifted. A sharp tilt, almost imperceptible at first, but then, he felt it. The entire Nexora trembled, as if the very foundation of this realm was beginning to unravel. A sinking sensation clawed at his gut.
Kai's breath caught in his throat. "Woah!.....what the hell was that?" Zayne exhaled, the violet light surrounding him flickering, dimming with each second. His expression remained unreadable, but there was no mistaking the severity of his next words. "I can no longer maintain the Nexora. And since you lack the control to do it yourself..." His voice trailed off, the meaning sinking deep into Kai's bones. "It's going to dissolve away." Kai flailed his arms, trying to maintain his balance as his pulse spiked. "You could've told be earlier, old man!" But there was no time for a reply.
The world fractured. The sky cracked like shattered glass, pieces of the twilight realm breaking apart into the void beyond. The ground beneath Kai's feet vanished. For a split second, he was weightless. Then.....Kai plummeted. The wind howled in his ears, the remnants of the Nexora dissolving around him. Darkness swallowed his vision, a void stretching endlessly in every direction. His body twisted midair, a panicked yell tearing from his throat as he reached out, grasping at nothing. "ZAYNE, YOU STUPID OLD GEEZER! YOU SHOULD'VE SAID SOMETHING EARLIERRRRRRRR!" His voice echoed into the void...then, his vision began to blur as everything snapped out of existence.
Kai's body jolted. His vision slowly clearing up. The familiar weight of a bed pressed against his back. The soft glow of light painted the walls in a dim radiance. His breath was heavy, his mind scrambling to catch up with reality. He was no longer free-falling into oblivion. He was sitting on his bed. In his Solarium. Kai groaned, rubbing his temples as he muttered a curse under his breath. "God damn it...." He dragged a hand down his face, glaring up at the ceiling. "Stupid old geezer...." No response. No deep, knowing chuckle. No cryptic remarks. Just silence. Zayne was gone, at least for now.
Kai let out a long, slow exhale before flopping back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling with an exhausted scowl. "God.....I really hate training, I hate my life and I hate that old geezer." Kai lay sprawled across his bed, still glaring at the ceiling as his mind wrestled with everything that had just happened. His body felt like lead, weighed down by exhaustion, but his thoughts refused to quiet.
"Maintaining a physical form requires a constant supply of Temporal Energy."
"I can no longer maintain the Nexora."
"It's going to dissolve away."
Zayne's words echoed in his head, carrying a weight Kai hadn't fully processed in the moment. He dragged a hand through his hair, exhaling sharply. The old man had acted like it was nothing, just a mere side effect of using too much power. But something about it didn't sit right with Kai. Zayne had spoken as if this wasn't the first time it had happened. How long had he been pushing himself to maintain a form? And why hadn't he warned Kai sooner? Kai sighed, shaking his head. There was no point in overthinking it now. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to focus on the quiet hum of his Solarium. The space around him was calm, bathed in the gentle glow of ambient light that pulsed faintly with his own energy. The walls, shaped by his subconscious, held the deep blues and blacks he favored, giving the room a serene, almost dreamlike quality. It should have been comforting. And yet.....
His brows furrowed. Something felt off. It was subtle at first: a barely perceptible shift in the air. The faintest ripple of energy brushed against his skin, sending a slow, creeping chill down his spine. Kai's eyes snapped open. His pulse quickened. This wasn't normal. Slowly, he sat up, scanning the room. The usual glow remained undisturbed, and nothing seemed out of place. But the sensation persisted, tugging at the edge of his awareness, almost as if...something was calling to him. Kai swung his legs over the edge of the bed, planting his feet on the floor. The moment he stood, a flicker of movement caught his eye: a thin, wavering strand of light, nearly translucent, drifting near the threshold of his Solarium. He stood still. A strand of Temporal Energy! It was faint, but unmistakable. It formed a trail.....
Kai hesitated for only a moment before stepping forward. His body still ached from training, but curiosity.....and something deeper, more instinctual, propelled him forward. He followed the glowing thread, his boots making no sound against the smooth floor as he stepped out of his Solarium and into the dimly lit corridors beyond. The castle's halls stretched around him, vast and endless, their intricate designs woven with the remnants of forgotten time. The air around Kai carried the same weight to it, the whispers of past and future brushed against the walls like ghostly echoes. But right now, there was something else. A disturbance.
Kai's eyes followed the faint strand of energy as it twisted and curled, guiding him deeper into the heart of the fortress. The silence was unnerving, amplifying the rhythmic sound of his own breathing. The trail pulsed intermittently, its light barely strong enough to remain visible. He had never seen anything like this before, from what he had gathered till now, Temporal Energy usually shouldn't behave this way, not without someone, or something actively manipulating it. His grip tightened on his jacket as he rounded another corner. The corridors grew darker as he moved, the usual ethereal glow of the castle fading into elongated shadows. The deeper he went, the more the air shifted, pressing in around him like unseen hands. His jaw clenched, but he kept walking, his heartbeat steady despite the unease settling in his bones.
Finally, the trail led him to an all-too-familiar set of doors: towering, metallic, and pulsing faintly with an energy significantly more dense than it's surroundings. The Vortex Chamber! Kai exhaled through his nose, resisting the urge to groan. He had hoped this wasn't where the trail would lead. The Vortex Chamber was where Time Keepers opened rifts into different realms, tracking down anomalies and preventing the collapse of reality. It wasn't exactly a place he wanted to walk into alone. For a brief moment, he considered turning back. Maybe he could just pretend he hadn't seen the energy at all. It wasn't his problem, right? But the pulse of the energy shifted again.....stronger this time, as it insisted him to step in.
Kai cursed under his breath. Of course, he thought. I just can't catch a break around here. With reluctant steps, he reached out towards the doors, which promptly slid open. Kai stepped through the threshold, and the doors of the Vortex Chamber slid shut behind him with a quiet hiss. A heavy silence settled over the vast space, broken only by the low hum of energy pulsing through the chamber's core. His gaze swept across the enormous dome above, where constellations of shifting lights glowed like distant stars, casting faint glimmers upon the polished dark marble beneath his feet. The spirals and glyphs etched into the floor pulsed faintly, like the steady rhythm of a heartbeat, as if the chamber itself was alive, waiting.
At the center of the room, the enormous circular platform loomed, its crystalline conduits pulsing in sync with the streams of energy they channeled. The core mechanism: an intricate elevated platform, stood like a silent sentinel, humming with restrained power. Kai's eyes narrowed as he followed the faint, wavering strand of Temporal Energy. It twisted and curled in the air, leading him straight toward one of the panels on the platform. And then...it stopped. The energy strand simply faded, dissolving into the surrounding air as if it had never been there. Kai hesitated, his gut twisting with unease. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Without thinking, his fingers curled inward, summoning Umbra into existence. His broadsword materialized in a swirl of deep black and glowing azure, its jet-black blade gleaming under the chamber's dim light. The moment the weight of the weapon settled in his grip, a strange feeling washed over him. Confusion. Why...did I just summon my weapon? Before he could dwell on the thought, Umbra's voice rang through his mind, carrying her usual playful but razor-sharp energy. "Alright, big bro, who do we gotta fight now?" Kai blinked. The question hung in the air, unanswered, as he stared down at his sword. He hadn't sensed a threat...so why had he instinctively drawn his blade?
Something wasn't right. He could feel it, lingering just beyond his grasp, like an answer on the tip of his tongue that refused to form. He stood there, blade in hand, caught in a daze of half-formed thoughts and gnawing unease...until the sharp sound of rushing footsteps shattered the silence.