Veilwalker: Shadows of the Hidden Realm

Chapter 22: The Shard That Runs

The sky fractured above them like a broken mind—shards of mirror-glass drifted down like snow, each one catching flickers of faces that weren't their own. Noah shielded his eyes as the rain shimmered and passed harmlessly through them, weightless but cold, like the ghosts of reflections.

They stood where the house had once been. Now, there was only a crater—wide, smoldering, and eerily quiet.

"Fifth shard," Noah said, tucking it into the pouch around his belt. "That makes five."

Lyra stood beside him, arms crossed. "And the sixth is running."

"How does a shard run?" Riven asked, annoyed.

Lyra stared into the distance. "They aren't just pieces of magic anymore. The more we gather, the more they… become. Memories. Feelings. Pieces of something ancient. Something alive."

Riven rolled his eyes. "Great. Magic puzzles with emotions."

Noah turned slowly in a circle, trying to feel for the sixth shard. The others had pulsed with direction—soft tugging in his chest like a compass needle. This one?

Nothing.

Only dread.

He frowned. "It's hiding."

"No," Lyra corrected. "It's scared. Something's hunting it too."

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet shifted—not in a quake, but like a massive breath beneath the earth had just exhaled. Noah lost his footing, and Riven caught his arm just before he fell into the crater.

Then they saw it.

A flicker—far off in the broken hills beyond the crater's edge.

A spark of violet-blue light darting between the stones like a firefly on a mission.

"There," Noah said. "That's it."

Before they could move, something howled. Not like an animal.

Like metal being torn in half.

From the sky above the hills descended a shape. Massive. Winged. Metallic.

A hunter.

It looked like a dragon built from gears and bone, with glowing crimson eyes and claws longer than swords. It let out another shriek, and the shard flicker below began to flee.

"Move!" Noah shouted.

They sprinted toward the fleeing light, feet pounding across cracked stone and shattered roots. Lyra cast speed runes beneath them, glowing trails that pushed them forward like wind.

The shard darted through the air like a wounded bird.

The mechanical beast dove after it.

Noah focused. He didn't try to call the shard—he reached with the ones he already carried. Sent a signal. A feeling.

You're not alone.

The sixth shard paused mid-flight. Just for a second.

That was enough.

The hunter overshot, crashing into the earth with a thunderous roar. It dug its claws into the rock and flung itself upward again, spinning midair with unnatural precision.

Lyra raised her staff. "I've got a distraction."

"Not alone," Riven said, unsheathing his blades. "Let's dance with the junk bird."

They split.

Lyra fired a blast of blue fire to the left.

Riven threw one of his charged blades to the right.

The beast roared and turned—momentarily confused.

Noah leapt, reaching upward.

The shard flew straight into his palm.

And for a moment—everything froze.

He wasn't on the battlefield anymore.

He stood in a black room filled with mirrors. Infinite. Reflecting thousands of versions of himself—some older, some younger, some wearing crowns, some covered in ash and blood.

One version stepped forward.

Wearing armor. His face harder. His eyes glowing faintly.

"Too late," the reflection said. "The storm's already coming."

Noah blinked—and he was back in the real world.

The sixth shard burned with a hot, living energy in his hand.

He turned.

The mechanical dragon rose above them, wings wide, eyes burning.

But this time—Noah raised the shard, and its light cut through the storm like a blade.

A beam shot forward, striking the creature square in the chest.

It didn't explode.

It unraveled.

The metal pieces scattered into sand, and the wind carried it away like dust returning to the void.

Riven whistled. "Nice."

Lyra approached cautiously. "The shard chose you."

Noah nodded, breath catching.

And for the first time, he felt it.

Not just a shard.

A voice.

A presence in the back of his mind.

"I ran because I remembered death. But I won't run again."

He looked at Lyra.

"We need to talk," he said. "This shard… it knows what's coming."

She blinked. "Coming?"

Noah turned to the horizon.

The sky beyond the cracked mountains was… moving.

Not clouds.

Something enormous. A shape shifting behind the light.

And from the newly awakened shard's voice came one word:

"The Hollow King."