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Chapter 21: Into the Rift
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1. The Threshold
Kaito stood before the Rift Gate, the swirling vortex of energy no longer just a wall of light—it was a living thing. Tendrils of Riftlight curled and shimmered like ocean waves, brushing the edges of the chamber as if tasting the air. Behind him, the command team watched in silence.
"You don't have to do this alone," Mira said, voice trembling slightly.
"I do," Kaito replied. "This started with her. I have to finish it."
Aya stepped forward, holding out a transceiver node. "This will keep you tethered. As long as you hold onto yourself."
Kaito smirked. "And if I don't?"
She hesitated. "Then… don't let go."
With one final breath, Kaito stepped into the Rift.
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2. Collapse
Time did not slow.
It stopped.
Kaito felt his thoughts fracture. Memories twisted into visions. His body dissolved into starlight, stretched across dimensions. Each heartbeat echoed like a cannon blast across infinite space.
Eris's laughter.
His father's dying words.
Lior's scream.
The Rift was not a tunnel. It was a mirror.
And it showed him everything.
He relived his first encounter with Eris—the way her eyes had flared with recognition when they touched the Seed. He saw the day his mother vanished, swallowed by a Riftflare in Sector Nine. He even glimpsed futures that never happened—him standing beside a city in ruin, or falling into darkness with a crown of light upon his head.
Kaito… Kaito…
Her voice again.
Calling.
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3. The Shattered Plain
He landed—hard.
It wasn't physical, not in any traditional sense, but he felt it. The sensation of weight. The cold. He stood upon a cracked obsidian plain under a sky made of shifting glyphs. Shapes moved in the distance—shadows walking backwards through time.
The Rift had created this realm—a composite of thought, memory, and probability. It was neither past nor future, but something in between.
A figure stood on the horizon.
Silver hair.
Bare feet.
Eris.
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4. The Reunion
"Eris?"
She turned slowly. Her eyes glowed with Riftlight, but her expression was soft—human. For a moment, the years between them disappeared.
"You came," she said.
"You called," he replied.
They stood for a long time, saying nothing. Words were useless in this place.
Kaito stepped forward. "I saw everything. What they did to you. To Lior."
Eris nodded, her face darkening. "And now you understand. Why I ran. Why I disappeared into this place."
He clenched his fists. "We can still fix it. Together."
Her expression faltered. "You don't know what they're planning. Lior is just one part of it. There are more… prototypes. More bridges."
Kaito's blood ran cold.
"What?"
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5. The Children of the Rift
She led him deeper into the mindscape. The plain gave way to a labyrinth of light and glass, each shard reflecting a different memory. Some were hers. Some were his. Others—neither.
He saw children screaming in test chambers. Machines harvesting fragments of reality. And in the center of it all: a symbol.
A tree of fire.
"The Rift Engine," Eris whispered. "AegisCorp is building a permanent gate. Not like the Seed. Not a breach. A source. They want to control the Rift, mine it, weaponize it."
Kaito staggered.
"How close are they?"
"They already opened it. That's what Lior was for. But they couldn't contain it."
"And now?"
She looked at him.
"They want you."
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6. Riftborn Ascendant
The Rift was listening.
As Eris spoke, the sky above them pulsed, cracking open with raw light. Figures descended—echoes of AegisCorp's future soldiers. Riftborn, perfected. Not human. Not machine.
"They found us," Eris said, her voice steady. "We have to run."
But Kaito didn't move.
He raised his hand—and the Seed fragment embedded in his arm pulsed.
The Rift responded.
One of the soldiers hesitated, turning away from Eris and toward Kaito.
"Stand down," Kaito commanded.
And the figure obeyed.
Eris stared in shock. "How did you—?"
"I'm not just a key," Kaito whispered. "I'm a lock."
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7. Lior Returns
Far beyond the shattered plain, Lior stirred.
He felt Kaito's presence ripple through the Rift. The pain returned—fresh, searing.
"You took her," he whispered. "And now you take the Rift."
His body shifted, transforming. The Wraith was no longer a shell—it was a weapon of vengeance.
He stepped through the dimensional breach, closing in on the Rift Plain.
"I will end this. I will end him."
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8. Truth of the Seed
As Kaito and Eris fled through the mindscape, they came to a monument: a spire of pure energy, pulsing with life.
"This is the Seed's heart," Eris explained. "It was never meant to be used. It was meant to choose."
"Choose what?"
She looked at him with sorrow. "A carrier. A wielder. A sacrifice."
Kaito froze. "You're saying one of us—?"
Eris nodded.
"The Seed must be sealed. And to do that… one of us has to stay inside the Rift."
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9. The Rift Devours
A tremor shattered the ground. The sky above split.
Lior emerged, his form now fully merged with Wraithlight, his silhouette monstrous.
"Give her back!" he screamed, launching toward Kaito.
Kaito raised his hands, but the blast hit him square in the chest. He flew back, crashing into a memory shard—a replay of Eris's first experiment.
Pain flared through his body.
Eris moved to block Lior's path.
"Lior—"
He stopped, shaking, his voice warping. "You left me."
Tears filled her eyes. "They made me leave. I never stopped looking."
Lior hesitated.
And then… collapsed.
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10. Calm Before the Storm
Time slowed again.
Lior knelt, hands shaking.
Kaito crawled toward him.
"There's still a way," he said. "We can stop them. Together."
The Rift began to dim, the storm fading.
But it wasn't over.
Eris looked up—her face pale.
"They're opening the gate," she whispered. "Back in the real world."
Kaito turned to her. "Then we need to get out."
She shook her head. "Only one of us can. One to seal the Rift. One to return."
Kaito's voice broke.
"Then let it be me."
Eris reached out, touching his hand.
"No. You still have time."
And she smiled—just once.
"Tell the world what they did."
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[End of Chapter 21]