**Alya** Alya fell to the hospital floor.
The smell of antiseptic filled her nose at once. The monitor beeped rapidly. The white ceiling lights were blinding after the darkness of Elyndor.
Kael appeared a few seconds later, kneeling with one hand pressed to his chest.
“I hate that crossing,” Alya said as she tried to stand.
Kael looked at her, his breathing heavy.
“Humans usually throw up after passing through a gateway.”
“I almost threw up.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Just assume I was too busy hating you.”
Kael was about to answer, but a scream from inside Raka’s room made them both turn.
The room door flew open.
A doctor ran out, his face pale. Behind him, two nurses struggled to hold down Raka’s writhing body on the bed.
Raka no longer looked sick.
The bluish lines across his body were glowing brightly. The skin along his arms had turned translucent, revealing something moving beneath it—not blood vessels, but a light like white embers.
“What happened?” Alya ran toward the room.
The doctor stopped her.
“Don’t go in!”
“That’s my brother!”
“His blood pressure is rising too fast. His heartbeat is abnormal.”
Alya heard Raka’s voice from inside the room.
“Sis!”
She shoved the doctor aside and entered.
Raka’s body was floating several inches above the bed. The blanket and medical equipment spun around him, as if a powerful wind were centered on his body.
Raka opened his eyes.
One was brown.
The other was golden.
“Sis Alya,” he said. “They’re coming.”
The walls trembled.
The automatic door opened and closed out of control. The hospital lights flickered.
Kael entered after Alya.
The moment he saw Raka, his expression changed.
“No,” he whispered.
Alya turned. “What?”
“He awakened too soon.”
“Who awakened?”
Kael didn’t answer.
Raka’s body suddenly went rigid. White light exploded from his chest, slamming into the entire room.
Alya was thrown backward.
Kael raised his hand. Black shadows formed a shield in front of them.
The doctor and nurses fell to the floor. None of them were injured, but they all lost consciousness.
Raka slowly sat up on the bed.
The ice that had covered his body all this time began to crack and collapse. Clear shards fell to the floor without melting.
The light beneath his skin grew clearer.
“I’m hungry,” Raka said.
Alya stared at him.
“Raka?”
Her brother lifted his face.
“Sis, I’m hungry.”
His tone sounded ordinary.
But Kael didn’t move.
“Don’t go near him,” he said.
Alya turned. “He’s my brother.”
“For now.”
“What does that mean?”
“Raka, look at me.”
Raka turned to Kael.
For several seconds, they stared at each other.
Then Raka smiled.
It wasn’t Raka’s smile.
It was too calm. Too mature.
“Kael Arveth,” he said. “Still Seraphine’s dog?”
The shadows behind Kael writhed wildly.
Alya felt the air around them turn cold.
“Who are you?” Kael asked.
Raka tilted his head.
“You know who I am.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Weren’t you the one who brought a sword to our house?”
Alya turned to Kael.
“What sword?”
Kael didn’t answer.
Raka climbed down from the bed. His feet touched the floor, but left no footprints.
“I remember that night,” he said. “Mother tried to hide us. You came with the guardians. They burned the house down. You killed Mother.”
“Enough,” Kael said.
“Then you took Alya away.”
“I didn’t take her.”
“You left her in front of the neighbors’ house and waited until people found her.”
Alya looked at Kael.
“Is that true?”
Kael stared at the floor.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you take both of us?”
“Because Raka had already been found.”
“Found by whom?”
Kael finally looked at her.
“Seraphine.”
A chill crawled down Alya’s back.
“Was Raka under her influence?”
“Not completely. He was still a child. Seraphine couldn’t use his power until his blood awakened.”
“And now that blood has awakened?”
Kael looked at Raka’s body.
“Yes.”
Raka chuckled.
“I’m not under anyone’s influence.”
His golden eye fixed on Alya.
“I was only waiting for the right time.”
Alya approached Raka.
Kael blocked her path.
“Don’t.”
“Raka’s still conscious.”
“Partly.”
“Partly?”
“His body belongs to Raka. His blood belongs to someone much older.”
Raka raised his hand.
A circle of light appeared in his palm. Its pattern was the same as the mark on Alya’s wrist.
Alya stared at it.
“Why is the mark the same?”
“Because the two of you are bound.”
“As siblings?”
“No.”
Kael looked reluctant to say the next words.
“As key and guardian.”
Raka’s smile widened.
“She’s the door. I’m the key.”
Alya stepped back.
“Stop talking like that.”
“Sis, you need to listen to me.”
“I’m listening. But you’re not Raka.”
“I am Raka.”
“Raka never called me Sis in a voice like that.”
The smile vanished from his face.
For a moment, Raka’s expression returned to normal. He looked like a frightened seventeen-year-old boy.
“Sis…”
Alya wanted to hug him.
Kael pulled her back.
“Don’t touch him.”
Raka glared at Kael with hatred.
“You’re still hiding everything from her.”
“Because she isn’t ready.”
“No one is ever ready to face the truth.”
Raka raised both hands.
Every window in the room cracked at once.
Kael moved quickly. He pulled Alya behind him, then formed a shield from shadows.
Shards of glass hung suspended in the air.
Raka closed his eyes.
Then all the shards shot toward Kael.
Kael’s shadows stopped most of them, but several pierced his shoulder. Black blood dripped onto the floor.
Alya screamed.
“Kael!”
“Don’t come closer.”
“Your wound—”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t say that again!”
Kael pulled the shards from his shoulder. The wound closed almost immediately, but black blood still ran between his fingers.
Raka stared at the blood.
“Immortal blood,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I smelled it.”
“What do you want?” Kael asked.
“I want to go home.”
“Elyndor isn’t your home.”
“The human world isn’t either.”
Raka looked at Alya.
“But we can make a new home.”
“Raka…”
“The gateway will open tonight.”
Kael immediately turned to Alya.
“No,” he said.
Raka laughed.
“You’re too late.”
The hospital lights went out.
From the entire hallway came the sound of doors opening. Patients began waking up and speaking in the same voice.
*The gateway.*
*The gateway.*
*The gateway.*
Alya felt the contract mark on her hand burning.
She screamed and dropped to her knees.
Kael immediately knelt beside her.
“Alya, look at me.”
“I can’t!”
“Look at me!”
She lifted her face.
Kael’s eyes looked darker than usual. Black lines beneath his skin spread from his neck to his cheek.
“Don’t let Seraphine into your mind.”
“I hear a voice.”
“Whose voice?”
“Mother’s.”
The wall behind Raka began to change.
The hospital’s white surface cracked and turned into black stone. The emergency lights changed to blue. The hospital corridor stretched longer, as if the building were being pulled into another world.
Elyndor was breaking through into the human world.
Raka walked toward the door.
“We don’t have much time.”
Kael stood.
“If you leave this room, the guardians will find you.”
“Let them come.”
“They’ll kill you.”
“Not before I open the gateway.”
“Raka, listen to me. Seraphine doesn’t want to open the gateway to save the immortals. She wants to merge the two worlds. Humans will lose their free will.”
“Humans never had free will to begin with.”
Alya struggled to her feet.
“Raka, you’re not like this.”
Raka looked at her.
“I’ve always been like this.”
“No.”
“Ever since I was little, I’ve always heard them.”
“Who?”
“The people behind the walls.”
Alya remembered their childhood.
Raka often woke in the middle of the night and talked to the corners of the room. He said people were watching him. Alya had thought they were only nightmares.
She had been wrong.
“They called my name,” Raka continued. “They said that one day I would bring them home.”
Kael stood between them.
“I’ll stop you.”
Raka smiled.
“You can’t kill me.”
“I can.”
“No. Because Alya will die if you kill me.”
Alya looked at Kael.
“Is that true?”
Kael nodded.
“The contract connects your lives. If Raka dies, your heart will stop.”
Alya looked at Raka.
“If you open the gateway, what happens to me?”
“Your blood will open.”
“And after that?”
“Kael will die.”
Alya turned to Kael.
Raka continued, “Seraphine said that if Kael tries to fight back, his curse will destroy his body. Only guardian blood can break that curse. Your blood.”
“So I can save him?”
“You can.”
Kael clenched his fists.
“Don’t listen to him.”
“If I open the gateway, Kael dies?”
“Yes.”
“If I don’t open the gateway?”
“The immortal world will keep looking for a way in.”
“And Raka?”
“His body will be completely taken over.”
Alya looked at the two men.
There was no right choice.
Only two kinds of destruction.
Suddenly, the room door swung wide open.
A woman stood there.
Her nurse’s uniform was covered in blood. Her face was pale. Her eyes were completely black.
Behind her, dozens of figures filled the hallway.
Seraphine’s hunters.
The woman bowed.
“Her Highness has arrived.”
The room’s walls collapsed.
Black fog poured in like a massive wave.
Kael grabbed Alya’s hand.
“We have to go.”
“I can’t leave Raka.”
“I know.”
Raka raised his hand.
The floor beneath him transformed into a circle of light.
“I’m not going with you,” he said.
Alya let go of Kael’s hand.
“Raka.”
Her brother looked at her with his two different-colored eyes.
“If you want to save me, Sis,” he said, “take Kael to Aster Tower.”
“Why?”
“Because there’s a sword there that killed Mother.”
Kael went rigid.
“Don’t.”
Raka gave a faint smile.
“That sword still carries her blood.”
Alya looked at Kael.
“If I find that sword…”
“We don’t have time.”
“If I find that sword, can I learn what really happened that night?”
Kael didn’t answer.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
“And maybe that sword can kill you?”
“Yes.”
Alya felt the contract on her wrist pulsing.
She looked at Raka, then at Kael.
“I’m going with Kael.”
Raka looked satisfied.
“Good.”
“But I’m not going to open the gateway.”
Raka’s smile disappeared.
“I’m going to find the truth.”
Alya pulled Kael’s hand.
“Take me to Aster Tower.”
Kael didn’t move.
“Alya, that sword is cursed.”
“I don’t care.”
“That sword will try to kill you.”
“Then make sure I don’t die.”
The black fog had filled half the room.
The hunters moved closer.
Kael looked at Alya and realized there was no longer any way to control the path they had chosen.
He formed a circle of shadows beneath their feet.
“Whatever happens,” he said, “don’t let go of my hand.”
“Because of the contract?”
“Because if you let go, I won’t be able to find you.”
Alya looked at him.
“Didn’t you already find me twenty years ago?”
“Yes.”
“And you still left me to live alone.”
Kael held his breath.
“I know.”
“Don’t make the same mistake again.”
Kael looked into her eyes.
“I won’t.”
The circle of shadows opened.
Before they vanished, Alya saw Raka standing in the middle of the golden light. Behind him, a tall, faceless figure knelt like a servant.
Then Raka spoke in a voice that wasn’t his own:
“Take her to the tower, Kael.”
“Let her see how her mother died.”
The gateway closed.
In an instant, Alya and Kael were thrown onto the roof of a high-rise in central Arcapolis.
Rain poured down.
The city below still looked normal—car lights, billboards, glass buildings.
But among it all, Alya saw something that made her blood run cold.
A long crack had opened in the sky.
Through it, she could see the towers of Elyndor.
And from behind one of the tower’s windows, someone was waving.
A woman with long black hair.
Her face was difficult to make out.
But Alya recognized her silhouette.
Her mother.
Kael stood beside Alya, his body unsteady from the crossing.
“We have to go,” he said.
Alya didn’t turn.
“Kael.”
“Yes?”
“When you killed my mother…”
Kael was silent.
“Did she beg you to save us?”
Rain ran down Alya’s face, mixing with her tears.
Kael stared at the crack in the sky.
“No.”
Alya turned.
“Then what did she say?”
Kael closed his eyes.
“She said, ‘Don’t let my daughter fall in love with an immortal.’”
Alya felt something move inside her chest.
A fear that didn’t come from Seraphine’s threat.
Kael looked at her.
“Because if that happens,” he continued, “your contract will choose which of you has to die.”