The route Aeryn led me through Zephyris made no sense—sharp turns into dead ends, doubling back through alleys I could’ve sworn we’d already passed. It was like following the path of a drunk spider.

  “Is this your idea of a shortcut?” I asked, struggling to keep up.

  Aeryn glanced over her shoulder, her violet eyes glinting. “You seem different…so just how much did you forget?”

  “Clearly quite a bit,” I muttered, clutching the shard in my hand. Its faint blue light pulsed rhythmically, warm against my palm. “This thing’s a beacon, isn’t it?”

  She stopped abruptly, pulling me into a shadowed alcove beneath a crumbling archway. Her shadows rippled outward, testing the air, before curling back around her.

  “Smart observation,” she said, leaning casually against the wall. “Too bad you’re holding a broken Thread of Fate. A beacon’s the least of your problems.”

  “Broken Thread of Fate,” I repeated, shaking my head. “You say that like it’s supposed to mean something. Care to explain?”

  Aeryn raised an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed with my ignorance. “Fine. You’ve heard of the Threads, right? The fabric of reality, yadda yadda, everything connected?”

  “I’ve heard stories,” I said, leaning against the opposite wall. “My grandmother used to talk about it—how the Threads decide everything. What we do, who we are…” I hesitated. “Who we lose.”

  Aeryn’s smirk faded. “They’re not just stories. The Threads are real. They shape everything—time, space, memory, even you. And what you’re holding?” She pointed to the shard in my hand. “That’s a piece of one. Part of a Core Thread.”

  “Great,” I said dryly. “So I’m holding reality’s loose thread. What does it do?”

  Aeryn pushed off the wall, stepping closer. “It fractures. Breaks things down—objects, energy, maybe even fate itself. But it’s not a toy, Vale. Every time you use it, you’re tearing at the fabric of the world. And the world doesn’t like being torn.”

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  I frowned, turning the shard over in my hand. Its jagged edges caught the dim light, glowing faintly. “How do I control it?”

  Aeryn’s smirk returned, though it lacked her usual sharpness. “Control’s a strong word. But I can teach you to use it without blowing yourself up.”

  “How reassuring.”

  She stepped back, her shadows spreading across the ground like spilled ink. “Think of it like a knife. You don’t swing it wildly—you cut with precision. The shard responds to intention, but if you’re sloppy…”

  Her shadows surged upward, coiling into the shape of a jagged blade. With a flick of her wrist, she brought it down, slicing through a loose stone. “…you’ll end up breaking more than you mean to.”

  “Got it,” I said, gripping the shard tightly. “Precision. No wild swinging.”

  “Let’s see if you can manage the basics.”

  Aeryn guided me to a pile of rubble at the edge of the alley. “Start small,” she said, gesturing to a broken brick. “Focus on the shard. Picture the brick breaking—not shattering but fracturing into controlled pieces.”

  I closed my eyes, the shard’s warmth seeping into my skin. The whispers grew louder, threading through my thoughts. Break it.

  The brick cracked, a hairline fracture spreading across its surface.

  “Good,” Aeryn said, her voice soft but firm. “Now hold it there. Don’t let it fall apart.”

  Sweat beaded on my forehead as I struggled to maintain the fracture. The shard pulsed harder, and the brick split into three neat pieces.

  Aeryn clapped, slow and sarcastic. “Not bad for a first attempt.”

  “Thanks,” I said, wiping my brow. “Now what?”

  “Rebuild it.”

  “What?”

  She crouched beside me, her violet eyes glinting. “The shard isn’t just about breaking things. It can reconstitute fragments, if you have the focus. Picture the pieces coming back together.”

  I stared at the brick, my pulse quickening. The shard flared in my hand, and the broken pieces trembled. Slowly, they slid back into place, fusing together with a faint blue glow.

  “Impressive,” Aeryn said, standing. “But don’t get cocky. The shard takes more than it gives. Push it too far, and it’ll take everything from you.”

  Before I could respond, the sound of footsteps echoed down the alley. Aeryn tensed, her shadows rippling. “Looks like our time’s up.”

  A group of armed bounty hunters appeared, their weapons glinting in the dim light.

  “Well,” one of them said, his grin sharp. “This just got interesting.”

  Aeryn drew her shadow blade, stepping between me and the hunters. “Time to put your new tricks to the test, Vale.”

  I swallowed hard, the shard pulsing in my hand. “No wild swinging. Got it.”