Lyra's POV
Kael stood guard by the window, his posture sharp, his hand resting lightly over his chest—where his sword would've been if he were still in his world.
But here?
Here, all he had was instinct.
And her.
Lyra stood beside him, trembling with adrenaline. She'd seen those red eyes. Not imagined. Not some sleep-deprived trick of her mind. They had been watching. Waiting.
"What did you call it?" she whispered.
"Wraithborn," Kael said grimly. "Born from shadows between dimensions. They latch onto rips between realms… and devour what doesn't belong."
Her stomach turned.
"Devour…?"
"They feed on the unrooted," he explained. "Things displaced. Out of time. Out of world. They consume magic to survive."
"But… you're the only displaced one."
He looked at her with something unspoken in his eyes.
"No," he said quietly. "You touched the breach, Lyra. You stabilized it. That means you're marked too."
---
Professor Hale's Lab – Later That Morning
Professor Hale's hands moved fast — too fast — over the console as the new firewall codes loaded.
"You're telling me a creature came through the rift?" he asked Kael, eyes wide behind his thick glasses.
Kael nodded. "It's already near."
"And Lyra saw it," Hale said, pausing. "Which means it's anchored to this lab."
He turned to Lyra. "You didn't activate anything else after I left, right?"
"No," she said. "I was just adjusting the stabilizers. The reading spiked. And then he—" she nodded toward Kael "—appeared."
Professor Hale sighed deeply. "We're dealing with something far beyond theoretical physics now. This is... quantum mysticism. No rulebook. No roadmap."
"I don't need a roadmap," Lyra snapped. "I need to protect my lab. And my life."
Kael turned to her. "And I won't let anything touch you."
For a moment, the room fell quiet.
Even the machines paused.
---
Kael's POV
Back in his realm, magic flowed like breath.
Here, it pulsed in strange ways—tangled inside wires, humming through metal, locked in invisible paths.
But he could still feel it.
Especially now.
He crouched by the terminal, studying Lyra's holographic field generator.
"You made this?" he asked, awe flickering in his voice.
She rolled her eyes. "I just followed instructions."
He smiled faintly. "In my world, this would be considered high sorcery."
She snorted. "In mine, it's barely a college thesis."
Still... her cheeks flushed slightly.
Kael activated the field. A soft shimmer formed around the lab perimeter.
"It'll buy us time," he said. "But not forever."
"How long?"
He didn't answer. He didn't need to.
---
Nightfall
The barrier hummed softly.
Lyra sat curled in her desk chair, half-dozing. A folder of security logs lay open beside her. Kael stood by the window again, always watching.
Always alert.
She opened one eye. "Don't you ever sleep?"
He glanced back. "Not tonight."
She sighed, sitting up. "Kael…"
He turned.
And she finally asked the question that had been gnawing at her since he appeared.
"Why did the portal bring you here? Of all people, all worlds… why you?"
He hesitated.
Then walked toward her.
"I used to see you. Before all this."
"What?"
"In dreams," he said quietly. "Images. Shadows. A girl in a world of stars and wires. A voice I didn't know I'd remember."
She stared.
"I thought they were visions," he said. "Prophecies. I thought you were just fate's trick. But now I know…"
He reached out — slowly — and touched the edge of her sleeve.
"You were real all along."
Lyra's breath caught in her throat.
And for once — she didn't argue. Didn't run.
---
Meanwhile… In the Trees Outside
The Wraithborn moved.
Not with footsteps, but with shadows.
It slithered, not through branches — but between dimensions.
Watching.
Waiting.
Learning.
The lab pulsed with protection, yes.
But she was connected now.
And soon… when the seal began to fracture again…
It would come through.
Not just for Kael.
But for both of them.
---
End of Chapter 6