Chapter 23 – The Ghost of the Past

Elara’s pulse pounded like war drums in her ears. It couldn’t be.

She took a slow step back, her eyes locked on the figure standing in the eerie blue glow. He was exactly as she remembered—and yet impossibly different.

Dark hair. Cold eyes. A presence that once made her feel safe… now laced with danger.

Kael.

Her breath caught. Kael, her childhood friend. Her first love. The boy who had vanished years ago—presumed dead.

Yet here he stood, smirking as if he had never been gone.

“Miss me?” His voice was rich with amusement, but there was an edge to it.

Elara clenched her fists. “You’re dead.”

His smirk deepened. “Clearly not.”

She fought against the whirlwind of emotions crashing into her—grief, shock, anger. “You disappeared. We thought—”

“You thought wrong,” Kael interrupted smoothly. He stepped closer, his gaze raking over her. “And you’ve changed, Princess. No longer the helpless girl who needed saving.”

Elara’s heart twisted. Kael had once been her protector, her closest confidant. And now, something in him had hardened—sharpened.

“What happened to you?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

He chuckled. “I could ask you the same thing. But I suppose it doesn’t matter, does it?” His eyes gleamed with something unreadable. “You’re here now. And whether you realize it or not, you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.”

A chill ran down her spine. “Where am I?”

Kael gestured to the glowing runes around them. “The Veil. A sanctuary… and a prison, depending on how you see it.”

The Veil.

Elara’s stomach dropped. A hidden realm, one of the oldest secrets of the kingdom. A place where time moved differently, where magic had no rules—and where only those who had been cast out could survive.

Her throat tightened. “You’re trapped here.”

Kael shrugged. “We all are. And now, so are you.”

Elara’s mind raced. This was a game—one she didn’t yet understand. But one thing was certain: Kael’s return was no coincidence. And if he was here, then that meant…

There were bigger forces at play than she had ever imagined.

And she was at the center of it all.

—

Meanwhile…

Vesper stood at the edge of the ruined chamber, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.

Elara was gone.

Ripped from his grasp. Swallowed by the Veil.

And he had been too weak to stop it.

The Harbinger’s laughter still echoed in his mind. “One must die for the other to thrive.”

Vesper’s vision blurred with rage. He would burn the entire world to get her back.

No prophecy would decide their fate.

He would.

Elara’s breath was shallow, her mind racing. Kael—her Kael—was standing before her, alive. But this wasn’t the boy she once knew.

He had changed.

His eyes, once filled with warmth, now held something else—a shadow of something broken, something dangerous.

She took another step back, her instincts screaming at her. “What do you mean, I’m where I’m meant to be?”

Kael studied her carefully, his expression unreadable. “The Veil only takes what it wants, Elara. It doesn’t make mistakes.”

The words sent a chill down her spine.

“I didn’t choose to be here,” she snapped. “I was taken.”

A flicker of something crossed his face. Amusement? Pity? She couldn’t tell.

“That’s what you think,” he murmured, stepping closer. “But the Veil doesn’t just take—it calls. And it called for you.”

Elara swallowed hard.

He’s playing a game.

She forced herself to stand tall. “Then tell me why. What does the Veil want with me?”

Kael tilted his head, his smirk deepening. “Maybe it’s not the Veil that wants you.”

The words sent a shiver through her.

She had spent years mourning Kael. Now he stood before her, acting as if he were a stranger.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice quieter now, almost afraid of the answer.

Kael’s smirk faded. “I was taken, just like you.” His jaw tightened, his hands clenching at his sides. “But unlike you, I learned the rules.”

Elara’s pulse pounded in her ears. Rules.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “You can’t leave the Veil unless it allows you to. And no one has ever left.”

She refused to believe it. “There’s always a way.”

Kael exhaled, his gaze locked onto hers. “I spent years trying to find it.” He paused. “And I did.”

Hope flickered in her chest. “Then why are you still here?”

His lips parted as if he were about to answer—but then, something shifted in his expression.

A shadow passed over his face.

He glanced over his shoulder.

Elara’s stomach clenched. We’re not alone.

A distant sound echoed through the ruins. Low. Hollow. Like the breath of something ancient stirring.

Kael grabbed her wrist. “We need to go. Now.”

Elara yanked her arm back. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Kael’s expression darkened. “I’ll explain later. But if you stay here, you’ll die.”

Before she could argue, the shadows around them moved.

Elara felt it—a shift in the air, the sudden chill of something watching.

A monstrous snarl rippled through the darkness.

Kael swore. “Run.”

And then the world exploded into chaos.

—

Meanwhile…

Vesper paced the ruined temple, his patience wearing thin. Where the hell was she?

His men had searched every corner of the kingdom, but there was no sign of Elara.

Then, the old priest’s words returned to him—words he hadn’t wanted to believe.

“The Veil has taken her.”

Vesper clenched his fists, his pulse pounding with fury.

No one returned from the Veil.

But he didn’t care.

If the Veil had taken Elara—then he would burn the world to get her back.

Even if it meant breaking the very fabric of fate itself.

Elara’s heart pounded as Kael’s grip tightened around her wrist. His eyes burned with urgency, his once-familiar features now shadowed by something colder, something inhuman.

“Run, Elara.” His voice was sharp, commanding—so different from the boy she remembered.

But she hesitated.

A part of her screamed to fight, to demand answers, to stand her ground. But the air around them thickened, a presence pressing in like unseen fingers coiling around her throat.

Then she heard it—a whisper.

Not words, not language, but something ancient and formless, seeping into her mind like smoke.

Kael cursed under his breath and yanked her forward just as the shadows behind them shifted.

A monstrous form materialized from the darkness.

It wasn’t a beast. It was something worse.

A towering figure wrapped in tattered black mist, its face obscured except for the eerie, hollow glow where eyes should be. A wraith—one of the Veil’s guardians.

Elara barely had time to react before Kael pulled her into a sprint, weaving between the broken ruins like he’d done this a hundred times before.

“Don’t look back,” he ordered.

But she did.

And the sight nearly stole the breath from her lungs.

The wraith didn’t chase them in the way something living would. It glided. Smooth. Silent. Faster than it should be.

The temple ruins blurred past them as Kael dragged her toward a jagged archway at the edge of a crumbling stone courtyard.

“Elara, listen to me,” he hissed, his grip tightening. “No matter what happens, don’t stop running. Don’t let it touch you.”

That was all the warning she got.

Because the next second, the wraith struck.

A coil of black mist lashed out—too fast, too precise—aiming directly for her throat.

Elara twisted, barely avoiding it, but the force of its presence alone sent ice down her spine.

A strangled gasp escaped her lips.

It wasn’t just mist—it was something worse. It was pulling at her.

Her breath hitched as cold fingers curled around the edges of her mind, whispering, pressing into her thoughts, her memories.

It was trying to take her.

“Elara, move!” Kael’s voice snapped her back to reality.

She tore herself away, her legs screaming in protest as she forced herself forward.

The archway was close now—so close—but the wraith was faster.

It reared back, its misty form expanding, its presence pressing down like a tidal wave of despair.

Kael did the only thing he could.

He shoved her through the archway.

Elara hit the ground hard, rolling onto the cold stone with a sharp gasp.

And then—the air around her shifted.

A deafening silence fell.

The wraith stopped at the threshold of the archway, its dark tendrils coiling, reaching—but unable to pass.

She scrambled to her feet, chest heaving. “What—”

But before she could finish, Kael collapsed to his knees.

Her heart clenched.

He clutched his chest, his body trembling, his breath ragged. “Damn it,” he rasped, his face pale with strain.

Elara rushed to his side. “Kael!”

She reached for him, but he jerked away.

“Don’t,” he choked out. His hand pressed against his ribs, dark liquid seeping between his fingers. Blood.

Elara’s breath caught in her throat.

“You’re hurt.”

Kael gave a strained laugh, his eyes flickering with something unreadable. “Takes more than a wraith to kill me.”

She wasn’t convinced. She knew what she saw.

She glanced back at the wraith, still lurking just beyond the archway. It watched them.

Waiting.

Testing the boundary between them.

“What is this place?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Kael exhaled sharply. “A sanctuary.” He forced himself to stand, leaning against the stone wall. “One of the last safe places in the Veil.”

Elara swallowed hard. “And that?” She motioned toward the wraith.

Kael’s expression darkened.

“That’s what happens to those who stay in the Veil too long.”

A shiver ran down her spine.

She looked at him then—really looked at him.

At the shadows beneath his eyes, at the exhaustion carved into his face.

How long had he been here?

Before she could ask, Kael straightened, his gaze locking onto hers.

“We don’t have much time,” he said, his tone quieter now. “If you want to survive here, you’ll need to learn the rules. Fast.”

Elara met his gaze, her hands curling into fists.

She didn’t trust him.

But right now, he was the only ally she had.

And if there was a way out of this place—she would find it.

No matter what it cost.

—

Meanwhile…

Vesper stood before the Grand Oracle, his patience razor-thin.

The temple smelled of incense and candle wax, a place of ritual and prophecy—things he had no faith in.

But Elara was gone.

And the Oracle was his last chance.

She sat before him, her face hidden behind a silver veil, her hands resting over the great scrying pool that shimmered with unseen visions.

“You have come for answers,” she murmured, her voice as ancient as the stones around them.

Vesper’s jaw tightened. “Tell me where she is.”

The Oracle tilted her head. “You already know.”

The words sent a jolt through his chest.

He clenched his fists. “The Veil.”

The Oracle nodded. “It has taken her.”

Vesper felt his blood run cold.

The Veil was not of this world. It was a place of the lost, the forgotten. A realm where no living soul had ever returned.

But he had never been one to obey the impossible.

His voice was steel when he spoke.

“Then tell me how to bring her back.”

The Oracle was silent for a long moment. Then, she finally whispered:

“To break the Veil, one must break fate itself.”

Vesper didn’t hesitate.

“Then I’ll tear fate apart.”