Arcane Dominion: The Rise of Shadows

"Fears"

Nerina's POV-

I stood in front of Lyriana's private chamber and took a deep breath before i knocked on the door and entered her chambers for the first time and there she was sitting in a chair with some old books on her desk she looked at me and said "for your today's lesson you're going to look into the abyss" i looked at her confused "what is the abyss" she stood up from her chair and came next to me and softly grabbed my arm and took me in front of a mirror.

"This Mirror is known as The Veil Glass it shows the person who touches it their biggest fear and if they succeed their connection with the lay lines become stronger and i want you to give it a go"

I was skeptical at first but its not like i could say no to it so i channeled my magic and took a deep breath before touching the mirror and as soon as i touched it the mirror started shaking and a darkness surrounded me and there i saw a copy of me staring at me as i instinctively took a step towards it and it did the same soon we both were face to face.

My copy looked at me and started circling me and said "you want to control the ley lines like every mage out there but not for a selfish reason but a nobel one but tell me little one can you do it, can you bend the ley lines who bow to no one "

That question made me think about everything but i wanted to achieve my goal at any cost so i said "i don't know if i have what it takes to control the ley lines but i at least want to give it a try so please do what you must" my copy looked at me for sometime before nodding and touched me which made everything go dark again.

Soon the visions started coming all at once and it was making my head spin but i concentrated and saw Solaria standing over me, her glowing golden eyes piercing through the haze. But they weren't the same eyes that had softened when she smiled at me, that had once carried a quiet warmth I found solace in. Now, they burned with an unnatural intensity, cold and unrelenting, like twin suns that sought to scorch everything in their path. Her lips, once a source of comfort, curled into a cruel, triumphant smile that twisted my stomach with dread.

I tried to speak, to call her name, to remind her of the moments we'd shared, but the words caught in my throat. My knees buckled, and before I could stop myself, I was kneeling at her feet, bound by invisible chains that tightened with every shallow breath.

She raised her hand, wreathed in dark, pulsating magic that hummed with a malevolence I couldn't understand. The energy crackled and twisted in the air, reflecting the cold fury in her expression. "Solaria," I whispered, my voice breaking as I fought against the weight pressing down on me. "Please... don't."

But she didn't stop. She didn't even flinch. Her gaze bore down on me with merciless precision, and the warmth I once saw in her was gone, replaced by something sharp and alien. My heart shattered under the weight of her indifference, the memory of her care now a cruel echo in my mind.

And then, I heard my own voice-a voice I didn't recognize, raw and desperate-begging her for mercy. For a fleeting moment, I thought I saw her hesitate, a flicker of something human in her expression. But it vanished as quickly as it came, swallowed by the dark power in her grasp. With that the vision end and soon the another one being.

In this fragment i saw a vision of Lyriana amidst roaring flames, her regal composure shattered into anguish. The Obsidian Tower crumbled around her, its ancient stone reduced to ash and ruin. Her hands stretched toward me, desperation etched into her every movement, but I couldn't move.

I stood paralyzed, my arms aglow with burning scars-intricate runes, carved by the ley lines themselves, pulsing with chaotic energy. The marks branded me, a cruel declaration that I was both the cause of Lyriana's suffering and the only answer to her despair. Her voice, filled with anguish, echoed through the inferno, but the distance between us was unbridgeable.