Across the Boundary
Vera lived within a reality fractured twenty years prior, when “The Event” disrupted the dimensional fabric surrounding humanity. Entire neighborhoods were swallowed, twisted, and spat out into other realms—most harmless, some hostile. The Forgotten Vale, where Vera now found herself walking, was one of the more dangerous zones: a pocket dimension prone to disorienting time loops and inhabited by beings with a hunger for human consciousness.
She had a reputation as a Reclaimer, one of the few who dared to step into these aberrant realms to retrieve those who wandered in. Today, her target was an eight-year-old boy named Elias who had been missing for six days in Earth time. In the Vale, six days could stretch into six years—or compress into six hours. Vera’s heart quickened as she imagined what Elias might have endured, what he might have become, but she quickly quelled her thoughts. Emotion clouded judgment here.
The Silent Watchers
As Vera approached the intersection of two jagged streets—one cobblestone, the other scorched black—a sound broke through the desolation: the steady flapping of fabric. She froze. Around her, translucent ribbons hung from nowhere, twisting lazily in the sour wind. The Watchers—residents of the Vale—loved to announce their arrival theatrically. They weren’t physical, not exactly; their forms bent light, creating silhouettes of humanoid figures that seemed to hum with malice.
“Easy,” Vera whispered to herself, slipping her hand into her pocket and gripping the smooth casing of a heat-syringe. The device could incapacitate most Vale inhabitants, but only if her timing was right. The Watchers didn’t see with eyes; they felt intention. She calmed her breathing, her pulse slowing in perfect defiance of her racing nerves. A firm, calculated step forward eased her past the intersection. The Watchers’ shadows wavered, but none reached for her, not yet. She had timed it well enough.
The Boy and the Rift
Vera found Elias at the base of a building overrun with crystallized vines. He was sitting cross-legged beneath them, his hands cupped around a faintly pulsing orb of blue light. His face—shockingly clean and untouched—broke into a wary grin when he saw her.
“You’re late,” the boy said, his voice almost too calm for someone lost for days.
“And you’ve been busy,” Vera retorted, nodding toward the light in his hands. It wasn’t something he could’ve brought with him. “Where did you—?”
Before she could finish, the ground beneath them trembled. The vines writhed as if sensing her intrusion, and the blue light in Elias’ hands flickered, then began to pulse faster.
“We have to move,” Vera said sharply, holding out a hand. Elias hesitated, clutching the orb tighter, but when the building above them groaned like a wounded animal, he reached for her.
The Escape
With Elias in tow, Vera navigated the twisted streets of the Vale, the Watchers growing bolder in their pursuit. She fished her heat-syringe from her pocket and fired bursts of invisible energy at the more persistent shadows, each blast briefly illuminating the darkened surroundings. Elias clung to her side, the orb in his hands growing heavier with every step.
“Do you know what you’ve got there?” Vera demanded as they approached the dimensional rift that marked the Vale’s exit.
Elias shook his head. “It found me. It said to hold on.”
“It said?” Vera’s voice grew sharp, but she didn’t have time to pry further.
The Rift Confrontation
As they reached the rift, a towering Watcher manifested before them, its silhouette crackling with energy. It wasn’t like the others; it radiated intent—a refusal to let them leave. Vera raised the heat-syringe again but knew it wouldn’t be enough. The orb in Elias’ hands, however, began to glow brighter, its light piercing the Vale’s gloom.
The boy stepped forward, lifting the orb toward the Watcher. The creature paused, its form writhing uncertainly. “Go!” Elias shouted, and Vera felt herself being pushed toward the rift by an unseen force. “I’ll hold it off!”
“No!” Vera screamed, reaching for him, but the light from the orb erupted, blinding her. When she opened her eyes, she was back on the familiar streets of Earth. Elias was gone.
Aftermath
Days after her return, Vera sat in her dimly lit apartment, staring at the golden-green gloves folded neatly beside her shoulder bag. Reports from other Reclaimers said the Vale had shifted, its boundaries shrinking, its energy distorted. She knew why. Elias had become part of it now.
Her mission was technically a failure, but Vera didn’t see it that way. She could still hear Elias’ voice in her mind, calm and resolute: “I’ll hold it off.”
She stared at the glowing crystal shard—the only remnant of the orb—resting on her desk. One way or another, she vowed, she would find her way back to him.
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