Secrets of the Stormlight

Chapter 1: The Storm Beyond

Dark clouds covered the sky with a thick veil, and the air was filled with an eerie heaviness. The storm was slowly approaching, and with each rumble of thunder, Kris felt the world around her come to a standstill. Her fingers instinctively tightened around the wooden porch railing, as if trying to keep herself grounded in this reality. A flash of lightning lit up the horizon, momentarily revealing the silhouettes of trees, and in that instant, she sensed there was something more behind the flash—something unseen.

Kris always felt strange on nights like this. The storm didn't just arrive—it seemed to change the very space around her, making the air thicken and vibrate. It wasn't the usual sense of foreboding that people who fear lightning feel. No, this was something else. Deeper. As if, at the threshold of this house, time itself stopped flowing the way it usually did.

She bit her lower lip, feeling a strange tingling sensation on her skin. Her mind kept circling back to the same thought—something was off. Her heart was sounding an alarm, even though, on the surface, nothing seemed dangerous. Just a storm. A regular storm, right?But ever since Gleb had entered her life, nothing felt ordinary anymore. He always appeared out of nowhere, like today—his footsteps were never heard, as if he simply melted into the air. She sensed his approach before she heard it.

Kris didn't turn around immediately, but she knew he was standing behind her. His presence was palpable, like an invisible weight pressing down on her shoulders. He rarely spoke much, but even his silence had a way of unsettling her. It was a contradiction—she didn't fully trust him, yet his presence always gave her the feeling that something was about to happen.

— Have you been here long?— Kris asked, her voice quieter than she intended. She didn't turn around, but she knew Gleb was standing behind her, like a shadow—always close, yet never too close.

— Long enough — he replied, his answer short but filled with an unsettling calm confidence.Kris finally looked up at the sky, her breath uneven. There was something ominous about the storm, as if it was a signal of something more than just heavy rain. She felt goosebumps rise on her skin, though it wasn't from the cold—something around her seemed off.

Gleb's footsteps became more audible as he moved closer. His presence always stirred a strange feeling in her—a mix of unease and invisible power. He appeared calm, but beneath that calmness there was always an underlying threat, something she had sensed from the moment they first met.

He stopped next to her, standing a little closer than usual, and Kris instinctively tensed. There was strength in his movements, hidden beneath a layer of restraint. As Gleb stood beside her, the lightning briefly illuminated him, and Kris took in all the details of his appearance. His short, neatly styled hair accentuated the sharp lines of his face. High cheekbones and a defined jawline gave him a look of firmness, while his thin lips, pressed into a serious line, added an air of cold determination. His broad shoulders, emphasized by his perfectly fitting clothes, gave him an imposing presence, but it wasn't just physical strength—it was the quiet confidence in every movement. His muscular and toned body held a power he didn't flaunt, but one that couldn't go unnoticed.

— Something's wrong with this storm, — Kris said, not turning to face him. Her voice was barely audible, but she knew Gleb heard her. He always heard more than he said.

The silence hung between them, and Kris felt it pressing down on her, like an invisible wall. She tried to hold on to reality, which seemed to be slipping away, but she couldn't ignore the strange sensation.

— You feel it, don't you? — His voice was low, almost a whisper, but there was a hidden strength in it, like the storm that grew closer with every clap of thunder.

Kris took a step forward, as if trying to escape the question, but her legs felt as though they were sinking into the ground. She couldn't explain exactly what she was feeling, but everything inside her hinted that this night would be a turning point.

— This isn't just a storm, — Gleb continued, his voice now softer, but each word seemed to cut deeper. "You know that."

She wanted to argue, but the words stuck in her throat. He was right. She felt it, but she couldn't grasp what was happening. It was as if the world around her was slowly changing, but she couldn't see it. She could only feel it.

— Gleb, — her voice was barely a whisper as she finally turned around, her eyes meeting his cold gaze.

— Lightning lit up the sky again, and for a moment, she thought his face had changed — as if a shadow had fallen over him, distorting his features for a brief second. But the feeling vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

— Sometimes things aren't what they seem, — he said calmly, his eyes focused on something far beyond the visible.

Kris tensed, her breathing quickened. In that moment, she realized that what was happening was beyond what she could comprehend. Something was in the air, something unseen, slowly but surely approaching.
Gleb continued to stare into the distance, his face unreadable. It was then that Kris understood that his calm demeanor hid much more than his usual restraint. He saw something that was beyond her understanding, and that thought unsettled her even more.

She turned her gaze back to the sky. Lightning sliced through it with an unsettling regularity, but now, in their light, Kris began to notice something strange. On the horizon, where the trees blurred the skyline, there was a flicker of something that hadn't been there before. A faint pulse of light, as if reality itself was beginning to vibrate.

— Do you see that? — Kris whispered, her voice barely audible, as though the silence itself was swallowing her words.

Gleb didn't respond immediately, but his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked in the same direction. He stood beside her, yet felt so distant, as if his thoughts were somewhere else, perhaps in another time.

— Yes, — he finally said. His voice was quieter than usual, but there was a tension in it that Kris couldn't help but notice.

The world around her seemed to grow denser. The air was thick with something invisible, yet palpable. Kris took a slow step forward, feeling her heart tighten with an inexplicable fear.

— What is this? — she asked, though she didn't expect an answer. Her breathing became shallow, and her legs barely moved, as if they were shackled by an unseen fear.

Gleb stayed behind, his figure barely visible in the dim light, and now Kris sensed that this was her journey. Her steps slowed, but she kept moving forward, drawn to that strange light, which seemed both distant and impossibly close at the same time.

As she approached, reality in front of her began to waver, like a mirage on a hot day. The space seemed to melt before her eyes, as if its boundaries were dissolving. Her hand reached out, but at that moment, the world around her shifted abruptly.

Everything fell silent. The storm had vanished, the lightning no longer flashed, and an unnatural stillness settled over the land. Kris felt her heart stop, and the air froze in her lungs. She looked back, but Gleb was gone. She was surrounded only by the forest, but now it felt different—dark, threatening, and alien.

— Gleb? — she called softly, but no answer came.

Kris could feel the world trembling around her. This was more than fear. It was change. Something unseen had shifted in the very fabric of reality, and she stood at the threshold of the unknown.

Her gaze returned to the spot where the light had flickered. Now it was right in front of her—faint, almost beckoning her forward. She reached out, her fingers brushing against the strange glow, and in that instant, a wave of cold shot through her body. Everything spun, and the world disappeared.

She was somewhere else.