VISION ✔️ || The Keepers of Astraela #1

47.0 || Of Ash and Dust

EVA

WHEN THE CELESTIAL AURA dimmed, sunlight bathed the world.

Eva stumbled in place, trying to catch her breath when solid ground materialized beneath her feet. Instead of stone, brownish-green grass rested beneath her boots. As she glanced up at the sky, she found not just any sun, but the very one she was most familiar with. Sleepy, morning light streamed through the wispy branches of Earth's Guardian.

For a moment, she wondered if her theory of it all being a dream had been correct.

"Where's Mystia?" Bobbi's wavering voice made Eva peer to the side. Her friend stood there, still shaken, holding Emrys upright at her side.

The illusion of a dream shattered before her eyes.

Glancing around, Eva found no sign of Mystia—or Amaya, for that matter. They stood alone in the silence of Havenwood Park. Not even the birds chirped at the early morning hour, nor did vehicles filter down the street for their morning commute.

Off in the distance, beyond the sun's gleam, a sickening sight spread over the horizon: Dark webs. They thread across the far-off sky in ominous clusters.

Eva forced herself to look away. "I have no idea. Maybe... maybe Amaya took her to the tavern after all?"

Bobbi's gaze was unsure, and Eva couldn't blame her. Between Kali's betrayal, Thana's revelation, and Amaya's "change of plans," she wasn't sure who to trust anymore.

The clearing of Emrys' throat drew her attention. Dread filled his gaze as his reddened eyes lingered on the Guardian.

"So," he said softly, "none of us are going to mention... that?"

Eva didn't want to turn around. But when curiosity prodded her to do so, she was brought face-to-face with a sight ripped straight from her dreams.

The Guardian loomed tall over the park, but where its trunk had been blackened from Emrys' numerous trips across the Barrier, bark peeled from the tree to reveal Corruption within. Bubbling goo seeped down the wood in thickening trails. The knots and crevasses that formed the Guardian's wrinkled face had distorted beyond recognition. No longer was its appearance kind; it had been replaced with an expression of twisted agony.

When she glanced back up, thin streaks of black spread closer to the Guardian's wispy limbs, waiting to drip onto the unsuspecting passerby.

Eva's mind flashed between reality and the vision she'd experienced so long before—a dream so horrific and lifelike that, when the Guardian had completely ruptured, she was surprised when she'd woken from it. Phantom pain spread in her abdomen, and she brought her hand to her stomach.

The memory was so vivid that she even felt the ground rumble underfoot... only to realize it wasn't from the memory at all. The earth quaked at such an alarming rate that Eva nearly fell to the ground, but a strong arm kept her upright.

"We should get out of here," muttered Bobbi, already pulling her away from the tree.

Eva nodded and turned to continue walking, but she noticed that Emrys had yet to move. His eyes were fixated on the tree, as if his mind had been lost elsewhere again. Finally, he pulled his gaze away, his hollow eyes dull even in the sunlight.

"I have to fix this." His words were hoarse. Unsure.

Eva's heart flipped in her chest. "Are you insane? It's beyond saving, Em. I don't care what Amaya said... we need to get you somewhere safe before it—"

She paused, her voice trailing off when determination overtook his empty expression. The resolve in his eyes told her one thing that words could not: no matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to stop him.