The Rift wasn’t a place—it was more abstract, more terrifying.

  It stretched endlessly in every direction, a chaos of impossible colors and shapes, like reality had been shattered into shards of glass. Shadows loomed where no light should exist, and the air—if that’s what it was—buzzed with voices. Whispers, howls, laughter, and sobs, all tangled together in a cacophony that scraped at my mind.

  This wasn’t the first time I’d been here. It never got easier.

  “Sion Vale.”

  The voice cut through the chaos, low and deliberate. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once, threading through the noise like a blade.

  I turned—if turning even meant anything here—and saw it. A shadow shaped like a person, though it was neither. Its form rippled and shifted like smoke caught in a storm. No eyes, no mouth, no features, just a suggestion of limbs and a face.

  “Who are you?” I asked, my voice trembling despite my best effort to sound calm.

  “The better question,” it said, tilting what might have been its head, “is what are you?”

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  I clenched my fists, the blue veins of light under my skin flickering faintly. “I’m someone who doesn’t want to be here.”

  The shadow laughed, the sound like glass breaking underwater. “Yet here you are. Again. That must mean something.”

  A memory surfaced unbidden: sunlight over the fields outside, my sister laughing as we ran together. Then—pain. A scream that wasn’t mine. Blinding light, splitting the sky.

  “Stop it,” I said, shaking my head. “Stay out of my mind.”

  “You misunderstand,” the shadow said, stepping closer. “I’m not the one digging.”

  The air grew heavier, pressing against my chest. The voices around me shifted, resolving into a single, terrible chant.

  “Rewrite the world. Remake it anew.”

  “Shut up!” I shouted, but the sound did nothing to drown out the chant.

  The shadow leaned closer, its formless face inches from mine. “The Threads bind us all, but you, Sion Vale—you are the blade. A tool. A weapon. Do you think you can escape what you are?”

  I stumbled back, but the ground—or lack of it—gave way beneath me. I was falling, tumbling through the Rift as the shadow’s voice echoed around me.

  “You will come to understand.”

  I woke with a gasp.

  The Labyrinth Market loomed around me, its crooked alleys and makeshift stalls bathed in dim, flickering light. Smoke hung thick in the air, carrying the scent of burned metal and something sweet but rancid.

  My hand throbbed, glowing faintly with the same blue light I’d seen in the Rift. The shard pulsed in my palm, jagged and raw, its edges biting into my skin.

  “Found him!” a voice shouted.

  I looked up and saw a group of armed men closing in, their weapons gleaming in the dim light.

  Of course. I didn’t have time to ponder how I got into this mess, it was time to run, and fast.