The shimmer wasn’t a doorway.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZBaKfUW8m
It was more like a breath the world held too long — a ripple in space that pulled rather than opened. Elowyn stepped through, and reality restitched itself behind her like water smoothing after a stone drops.
Then silence.
The place they entered didn’t follow any rules she knew. The floor echoed like it missed people. The ceiling swooped high but fractured in places, arches bending like frozen waves. Light flickered from cracked glass panels, casting soft blue glows over rusted machinery and floating dust.
Elowyn blinked slowly. “Where are we?”
Arden didn’t answer. His jaw tightened, like he’d just stepped into a memory he’d buried.
And then she saw them.
Two boys — not just boys, but presences — already standing in the impossible space.
One stood at a metal console, adjusting small flickering switches. His silver-blond hair caught the light like starlight on water. A scarf was wrapped carelessly around his collar, a single silver ring glinting on his wrist. He didn’t look up. He didn’t need to.
Above him, leaning over a fractured railing, was another. Dressed in black, hoodie slipping off one shoulder, dark hair falling into steel-gray eyes. He twirled a small screwdriver between his fingers like a cigarette. Something about the tilt of his head said: I’m bored, but I noticed you anyway.
Elowyn froze. So did time.
Arden muttered, “They weren’t supposed to be here.”
The console boy — Mikael — finally looked up.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH5Trch4vlQ
And the world seemed to inhale.
He didn’t smile. Just stared at her, his expression unreadable. But his eyes — pale and deep — held a weight she couldn’t explain. Like he knew her shadow before he saw her face.
“You’re her,” he said softly. Not a question.
Elowyn’s voice barely made it out. “Have we met?”
“Not here,” Mikael replied. “But maybe everywhere else.”
The dark-haired boy — Davian — dropped from the railing in a fluid motion. His boots landed with a quiet thud, sending dust into the air. He walked toward her with a slow, deliberate rhythm. Confident. Relaxed.
“You look different without the lightning,” he said, voice low.
“The… what?”
Davian’s eyes flicked gold in the broken light. “You’ll get there. Or maybe you won’t. Either way, you’re real this time.”
Elowyn felt her cheeks warm under his gaze. Not because it was flirty — not exactly. It was something else. Something like recognition and curiosity tangled into one.
He circled her once, gaze not lingering, just measuring. Like he was trying to memorize her.
Mikael stepped away from the console, moving with graceful stillness. “You don’t remember the static, do you? Or the versions of this place? The notes in the wall?”
“No,” Elowyn whispered.
Arden’s voice cut in, sharp. “We didn’t come for riddles.”
Davian shot him a glance. “Still allergic to mystery, Vale?”
Arden tensed at the old name. Elowyn felt the shift in the air — the weight of something unspoken between them.
Davian stepped closer — too close — the scent of cedar and rain in his wake. His silver rings shimmered faintly.
“You ever kiss someone in a collapsing timeline?” he asked, not smirking, but watching her like he could read the flutter in her throat.
Mikael moved to her other side, quiet, hands in his coat pockets. His gaze held less mischief — more awe. “We’ve seen you before,” he said. “Not in dreams. Through glitches. Through code. Like echoes trying to find their source.”
“You glitched,” Davian added. “Bled through our world.”
“And now you’re bleeding into us,” Mikael finished.
Elowyn’s heart stumbled. They weren’t just flirting. They were remembering her.
Arden stepped between them. “She’s not here for this.”
Davian didn’t back off. “She can speak for herself.”
Elowyn stayed quiet — but only because her mind was racing. They looked at her like she was the missing line in a prophecy. Like they’d known her already, and now they were seeing her for real.
Mikael’s voice came again, soft and final. “You don’t know what you are yet, Elowyn. But you will.”
And in her chest, something pulsed.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2FjaHXkTbt
Not just fear.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW42E6cE9mN
A pull.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvRpw916XI9
A question she hadn’t asked yet —18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbZqnANtWYT
and three answers standing right in front of her.
ns216.73.216.9da2“There was something in the way they looked at me — like they’d already lost me once.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ10jeTOIoxU
But with Mikael, it felt older. Quieter.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbY6amrasR6
Like a first friend. A first almost-love.18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAQDOmb4aR
Like the universe erased me, but he never forgot.”18Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOrJZocDHvZ
— E
and then Add to home screen.