The Shadows Of The Higher Realms

The world was a blur of sensations, a haze of muffled voices and shifting shadows. Ragnar's breath came in shallow gasps, his chest aching with the effort to breathe. His throat burned, his skin tingling as if every nerve in his body was on high alert. The weight of the shadow's hand still pressed against his throat, even though his body hung in mid-air like a ragdoll. But then, as quickly as the pressure had come, it vanished.

He collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud, gasping for air, his lungs burning with the need for oxygen. His fingers clutched at the earth beneath him, grounding himself in the solid world around him as his vision slowly cleared. He could hear the faintest echo of a laugh, distant and hollow, but it wasn't Riona's voice. It was something else—something deeper, older.

Riona.

The name echoed in his mind like a distant memory, but it felt wrong. Her voice, her touch—had it all been a lie? Everything she had told him, everything she had done to him, had it all been leading to this?

His eyes darted around the clearing, looking for any sign of the creature, the shadow that had nearly killed him. But there was nothing. The portal was gone, the rift in the earth closed as if it had never been. The stone structure that had loomed so ominously before him now stood silent, its runes dull and lifeless. And yet, something was wrong.

Ragnar's heart raced as he pulled himself to his feet, his body trembling with a mixture of fear and confusion. He could feel it deep within him—something had changed. The world around him was the same, but it was as if the rules had shifted, as if the very fabric of reality had been altered.

Had he really survived? Or had something else happened?

Before he could gather his thoughts, a voice broke the silence.

"You're still alive."

Riona's voice was soft, almost amused, and it sent a chill down Ragnar's spine. He turned to face her, but this time, something in her gaze made him pause. She wasn't looking at him the way she had before—not with the warmth and concern he had come to expect. There was something colder now, something unreadable in her eyes.

"You—" Ragnar's voice was raw, still struggling to regain its normal cadence. "What did you do?"

Riona stepped closer, her movements slow and deliberate. The faint glow of the moonlight seemed to make her presence even more unsettling, as though she were a shadow herself. "What I did?" she repeated, tilting her head slightly. "I did nothing that wasn't meant to happen."

"What do you mean?" Ragnar demanded, his voice trembling with a mixture of fury and fear. "What was that thing? What was it trying to do to me?"

Riona's lips curved into a faint smile, but it wasn't a friendly one. "That was the first test, Ragnar. You're not like the others. You were never meant to be."

Ragnar's mind spun. Test? He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "What do you mean, 'not like the others'? What the hell is going on here?"

She stepped forward, her eyes narrowing. "You've been living in the dark, Ragnar. And I've been here to guide you. Or at least, that was my purpose."

"Guide me?" Ragnar repeated, his voice raw. "You nearly killed me! You brought me here to some ancient place, and now—" His voice faltered, as if he couldn't put the pieces together. "I thought you were helping me!"

Riona's smile deepened. "Helping you? No. I never said I would help you. I said I would show you. I'm here to teach you why you're here."

The words hit him like a physical blow. Ragnar staggered back, his mind racing to make sense of what she had just said. Show him? Teach him?

"What… what is this place?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Why am I here?"

Riona's eyes darkened, a flicker of something far more ancient flickering in them. She stepped closer, her voice low, almost conspiratorial. "This is the edge of the known universe, Ragnar. This is where the boundaries between worlds begin to break down, where the very fabric of reality itself starts to unravel. This is where you'll learn who you truly are."

Ragnar's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean?" He wasn't sure if he even wanted to know the answer, but he couldn't stop himself from asking. "Who am I?"

For a long moment, Riona didn't speak. She simply watched him, her gaze piercing, as if weighing the very heart of his being. Then, finally, she answered.

"You are a bridge."

Ragnar blinked, not understanding. "A bridge?"

Riona nodded. "Yes. You are the key. The one who can open the path between this dimension and the higher realms. The place where time, space, and existence itself converge."

"Higher realms?" Ragnar repeated, his voice faltering. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"It means," Riona said, her voice calm but filled with an unsettling finality, "that you are not from here. You are from a place beyond this world, beyond everything you can comprehend. And you were chosen for this task long before you ever woke up in this place."

Ragnar's mind reeled as the implications of her words sank in. He wasn't just some random soul stuck in a strange dimension—he was something… something special. But why? Why him?

Riona stepped back, her gaze becoming distant. "You've been given a second chance, Ragnar. A chance to fulfill your purpose. A chance to break the chains that have bound you for so long."

"Chains?" Ragnar's voice was low, his fists clenching at his sides. "What chains?"

Riona's gaze flickered toward the stone structure behind them, and for the first time, Ragnar saw a flicker of something like regret in her eyes. "You've been trapped in a cycle, Ragnar. A cycle of death and rebirth. Forced to fight for something you don't even understand. But this—this is the beginning of your freedom."

Ragnar stepped forward, his heart pounding in his chest. "I don't care about freedom! I want answers! What's going on? What did you do to me?"

Riona turned to face him fully, her expression unreadable. "I didn't do anything to you, Ragnar. I merely opened your eyes to the truth."

And with that, she turned and walked toward the stone structure, her footsteps silent against the earth. Ragnar stood there, frozen, as the weight of her words pressed down on him. His mind screamed for answers, but every time he thought he had grasped something, it slipped away, like sand through his fingers.

He wanted to scream, to demand that she tell him everything—why he was here, how he was different, what this "purpose" was that she kept mentioning. But as he stood there, the night air thick with unanswered questions, a feeling gnawed at him. Something he hadn't quite noticed before, but now it was undeniable.

The world was watching him.

Ragnar's gaze flicked over the stone structure again, and this time, something caught his eye. The runes that had been dull moments ago now seemed to glow faintly, their patterns shifting, rippling like water disturbed by an unseen force. The air around them hummed, as if the very fabric of the universe was resonating with some hidden melody.

He stepped forward, his heart pounding in his chest as he reached out toward the stone. The moment his fingers brushed against it, the hum grew louder, and something inside him clicked. A vision flickered in his mind—another world, a place far beyond this one, a place of light and shadows, of contradictions and chaos. He saw faces—some familiar, some unknown. A vast and endless landscape stretched out before him, filled with swirling patterns of color and light. And then, just as quickly as it had come, the vision vanished, leaving him gasping for breath.

"What is this?" Ragnar whispered, his voice shaking.

Riona's voice came from behind him, soft and steady, as if she had been waiting for this moment. "The first step, Ragnar. You're beginning to see."

The stone beneath his fingers pulsed, and for a brief moment, he felt a deep connection to something—someone—on the other side. A presence that felt ancient and vast, yet somehow familiar.

"What is this place?" Ragnar asked again, his mind racing. "Where does this lead?"

Riona stood behind him, her gaze distant, as if she were watching something beyond the veil of reality. "It leads to your destiny, Ragnar. It leads to the beginning of everything."

Ragnar pulled his hand away from the stone, his head spinning with the weight of her words. The air around him seemed to shift again, the edges of the world blurring as if it were no longer solid. He could feel the pull—the attraction to whatever lay beyond the stone, beyond this world. But was he ready? Could he face whatever truth awaited him?

Riona didn't wait for his answer. She simply stepped forward, her voice barely a whisper in the growing darkness. "Come with me, Ragnar.