Veilwalker: Shadows of the Hidden Realm

Chapter 24: The Ruptured Spires

The Ruptured Spires were wrong in every direction.

The cliffs jutted up like the ribs of a dead god, hundreds of jagged towers split by invisible pressure long ago. Some floated above the ground, others twisted inward on themselves. The air smelled like ozone and scorched stone. The sky here wasn't cracked—it was missing entirely, replaced by a swirling vortex of lightless clouds.

Noah, Lyra, and Riven stood at the edge of a broken bridge that used to lead into the core of the spires.

"What are we even looking for?" Noah asked.

"A Mirror Gate," Lyra said, peering into the fog. "The last stable one. It's supposed to lead to the place where the final shard fell. But if it's been corrupted—"

Riven finished the thought grimly. "Then we walk into the Hollow King's jaws."

Noah tightened his grip on the hilt of the staff he'd picked up in the last battle—an old Veilguard relic. The sixth shard pulsed inside his satchel, still whispering warnings in flashes of emotion and color.

They stepped onto the broken bridge, one at a time. Each stone floated barely above the chasm below, humming softly, as if deciding whether to hold or fall.

Noah made the mistake of looking down.

No bottom. Just swirling silver mist and flickering lights that might've been stars… or souls.

Lyra touched his arm. "Don't look too long. That's the Echofall. It reflects things back at you—things you're not ready to see."

"Great," Noah muttered. "Another magical death pit."

They crossed carefully, reaching the first spire—a tower of spiraling stone and floating crystals. The moment they stepped inside, the temperature dropped. Frost crept along the walls, and the air turned thin.

Then came the sound.

Not a voice.

A heartbeat.

Slow. Heavy. Rhythmic.

Noah staggered. "You hear that?"

Lyra nodded. "That's the Gate's guardian."

"What kind of guardian are we talking—?"

A roar shook the spire.

From the darkness, a creature stepped into view. Ten feet tall, hunched, its body built from shattered mirrors and fused armor. Its face was a blank pane of glass reflecting Noah's terrified expression.

"Mirrorborn," Lyra whispered. "Twisted guardians of forgotten places."

Riven unsheathed both blades. "Big and shiny. I call left leg."

The Mirrorborn lunged.

The fight was chaos.

Riven dashed forward, slicing at the creature's legs. Sparks flew, but the beast didn't falter. It swung one massive arm, shattering a section of the wall where Lyra had been standing a heartbeat earlier. She rolled and launched a blast of freezing mist, slowing the creature just long enough for Noah to act.

Noah raised his staff—and the sixth shard answered.

Runes lit up across his arm and the staff's length, forming a glyph in the air: Bind.

Chains of light wrapped around the Mirrorborn's limbs, freezing it in mid-swing.

Riven leapt and drove both blades into its neck. The creature let out a silent scream and collapsed into a pile of broken glass.

The runes on Noah's arm faded, and the shard in his pouch dimmed.

He panted. "That's new."

Lyra knelt by the shards. "The Gate won't be unguarded now. It knows we're coming."

They moved deeper.

The spire opened into a circular chamber. Floating in the center was a broken arch made of obsidian and glowing runes. A mirror rippled inside it like disturbed water—but it wasn't stable. Black cracks ran through its surface, and light bled through like an open wound.

Noah stepped closer.

The shard pulsed rapidly.

"The last one waits on the other side."

"But so does he."

A shadow moved in the reflection.

Not behind them.

Ahead.

Then a voice, deeper than the others Noah had heard before, echoed through the Gate:

"Come, Veilwalker. Step forward and end what began long before your birth."

Lyra stood beside him. "We don't have to go now. Not yet."

Riven scoffed. "We're not going to turn around now. We've come this far."

Noah stared into the cracked mirror.

He saw himself.

Older. Stronger. Wounded.

Standing at the center of a burning city.

Behind him, the Hollow King.

"He sees me," Noah whispered.

"He always has," the shard replied.

With one last breath, Noah stepped forward.

And the Gate swallowed them whole.