Beneath the Veil

Chapter One: Where the Veil Thins

The horses refused to cross the bridge.

Nyra could feel their fear long before the storm reached the forest. Beneath the cold rain, their bodies trembled against their harnesses. Their dark eyes remained focused on the trees lining the ravine ahead.

The bridge itself groaned under the weight of the carriage wheels, and the old wood shifted above the river below. But it was not the height or the storm that frightened them.

The air had changed significantly.

The rain still fell beyond the bridge, but it no longer sounded the same. Moments earlier, droplets had pattered aggressively against leaves and branches. Now, the sound vanished into the forest almost as soon as it formed. It was as though the trees themselves had swallowed every trace of it.

One of the horses snorted sharply and tried to pull away.

Nyra didn’t blame it. In a way she understood its anxiousness.

Beside her, the royal messenger tightened his grip on the reins and muttered another prayer under his breath. She had long since stopped listening to them. Men always prayed when the Veil weakened, as though fear alone might convince the gods to look kindly upon them.

The forest beyond the bridge stood still in the moonlight. Even the rain seemed quieter there, falling through the trees with a strange heaviness that pressed against Nyra’s skin like a warning.

Nyra lifted her gaze toward the darkness ahead. She could feel it again. That subtle shift in the energy.

The Veil had always announced itself before breaking.

The air grew dense in her lungs and the shadows deepened where they should not. Then, there was the silence that became almost unbearable. It seemed as though the forest itself had begun holding its breath in anticipation of something terrible.

The horses suddenly reared, catching everyone off guard.

The messenger cursed, nearly losing his hold on the reins as a sharp, unworldly sound tore through the trees ahead of them.

It was not human.

Nyra doubted any living thing possessed a voice capable of making the night itself tremble.

Then the shadows moved like parting waters.

Something emerged slowly from between the trees. It was tall enough that the lower branches bent around its frame as it stepped into the light. Its body seemed unfinished.

For a brief moment, Nyra couldn’t tell whether she was looking at flesh, smoke, or something caught uneasily between both.

The messenger stumbled backward. “Gods preserve us,” he whispered.

Nyra stepped forward instead.

Fear had abandoned her years ago, somewhere between surviving her first breach and burying the people who had not survived theirs. Either way, she was the only one equipped to face what lay ahead.

Darkness gathered at her fingertips, curling against her skin like living smoke. As the creature tilted its head toward her with unsettling recognition, the silver veins along its throat pulsed faintly.

And then, it smiled.

The messenger let out a panicked sound behind her, but Nyra barely heard him. Her awareness was dulled by her intense focus as she tried to make sense of the creature standing eerily still beyond the bridge.

She wasn’t afraid of its monstrous nature. Creatures far worse had crossed her path before. Yet something about this one felt wrong in a way the others never had.

The creature’s gaze never drifted toward the messenger. Not once toward the guards or even the terrified horses straining against their harnesses. It watched only her and it wasn’t with hunger but with recognition.

The realization settled cold in her stomach. It looked at her the same way someone looks at a face they have not seen in years.

Like a memory.

She took a mere step forward, her heels pressed deep into the wet soil, heartbeat settling into a stillness that felt far too familiar. She had been trained to trust her intuition with the same instinctive one relies upon breathing.

In the lands beyond the Veil, hesitation often arrived moments before death.

The creature held its ground, its silver-lit veins pulsing faintly within the darkness of its body. Nyra studied it carefully, allowing the silence between them to stretch as shadows slowly gathered at her fingertips. The magic came naturally to her, not with force, but with invitation. She felt it winding through her veins like smoke drifting through dark water.

Behind her, the messenger’s breathing had become shallow with panic.

“Do something,” he whispered hoarsely.

Nyra ignored him and returned her attention to the bridge.

Most creatures born from the Veil emerged wild with hunger, unstable in both form and thought. This one did neither. It watched her with an awareness that disturbed her more than violence ever could.

She raised her hand and darkness unfurled from her palm in delicate ribbons, twisting through the rain like living silk.

She commanded them well. There had only ever been one shadow witch she considered stronger. Fortunately for the rest of the kingdom, he rarely involved himself in matters that did not interest him.

The shadows moved fast toward the bridge, swallowing moonlight as they climbed the wooden beams in silent waves.

For the first time, the creature reacted.

Its head tilted slightly, silver light flickering erratically through the cracks in its skin. It was as though something inside it recognized the magic reaching toward it.

And then the Veil answered.

The air split with a low and hollow sound that seemed to vibrate through her ribs. The shadows surrounding the forest deepened all at once, and Nyra felt a familiar pull against her magic.

Her expression hardened and she barely had time to react before the creature moved.

One moment, it stood motionless beyond the bridge, its veins flickering like dying starlight. Next, the darkness around it collapsed inward and she lost sight of it. In mere seconds the thing appeared directly beside the nearest guard.

The man did not even scream.

Its hand passed through the center of his chest with such ease it startled her. Almost as though flesh offered no more resistance than water. For one terrible moment, his expression remained frozen in confusion before the silver light within the creature’s skin flared.

Then his body split apart, blood scattering across the bridge in blackened streaks. The sharp metallic stench flooded the rain-soaked air.

Another guard lunged forward instinctively, sword raised with far more courage than sense. Nyra opened her mouth to stop him, but the creature turned toward the movement too quickly. Shadows twisted violently around its limbs as it caught the man by the throat and hurled him sideways into the wooden rail. The sound of impact echoed through the ravine.

The messenger backed away so quickly his heel caught between two bridge planks.

He nearly fell.

“What in the gods’ names is that thing?”

His voice cracked on the final word.

Nyra did not answer. She barely had time to draw breath before movement flashed through the darkness beside her.

The messenger’s scream tore sharply across the bridge.

Nyra turned just in time to see the creature seize him by the throat with enough force to lift him clear from the ground. Panic distorted his expression as his hands clawed desperately against the thing restraining him.

The creature regarded his struggle with the same unnerving attention it had given her, as though it were studying him rather than killing him.

With deliberate control, silver light flowed through its skin. Beginning deep within its abdomen, it traveled upward in a luminous current before gathering within the creature’s outstretched grasp.

The messenger convulsed. Blood spilled over the creature’s fingers as the man’s body twisted violently within its hold.

Then it was all over.

A sharp crack cut through the storm, loud enough to drown out the rain for a single terrible heartbeat.

Nyra couldn’t move. Unsure if it was fear, or disbelief rooting her in place.

The creature watched the messenger for a moment longer before hurling him across the bridge. His body struck the side rail with enough force to rip several boards free.

Nyra felt her stomach knot.

Drawing in a slow breath, she forced herself to focus. Shadows deepened around her feet, curling across the rain-soaked stone as her magic answered.

Panic clouded magic and hesitation killed.

She had learned both lessons young enough that they no longer required thought. House Noctis did not demand fearlessness. Only the discipline to act despite fear.

The creature stepped toward her with deliberate patience.

Rain slid through the thin cracks, illuminating its body as its head tilted once more with the same terrible curiosity. It was now studying her.

Then it smiled again, and the Veil responded.

A crushing pressure exploded outward through the forest, strong enough that the remaining horses collapsed onto their knees and the carriage jolted behind them.

Nyra raised her hand sharply.

Shadows surged from beneath the bridge, wrapping around the creature’s limbs before hardening into black restraints. The creature let out a low, distorted sound, like several voices speaking underwater.

For a moment, Nyra thought it had worked.

Then the restraints shattered and her shadows surged back toward her all at once, colliding with enough force to steal the breath from her lungs. Nyra staggered backward as something deep within her ribs twisted. Hot blood rose suddenly in her throat. She caught herself against the bridge railing just as the creature lunged toward her through the collapsing shadows.

Too fast.

Its hand closed around Nyra’s throat, forcing her backward against the shattered remains of the bridge railing. Pain shot through her body as cold spread rapidly from the creature’s touch.

She hadn’t felt a darkness like that before. It was sharp and invasive, like something ancient forcing its way through her veins.

Nyra clawed at its wrist desperately, shadows lashing wildly around them as the creature tightened its hold. The cold rain no longer registered against her skin as the immense pressure invading her mind grew steadily worse.

Nyra’s breath caught painfully in her throat.

Something unworldly moved through the creature’s touch. A dark and immense energy that pressed through her mind with a force too vast for her body to contain. Images flickered behind her eyes too quickly for her to fully understand them.

She saw silver skies split apart above burning cities, shadows stretching endlessly across ruined landscapes, and figures kneeling before something concealed deep within the darkness beyond the Veil.

Then another image surfaced with startling clarity.

A woman stood alone beneath an endless white sky, celestial light pouring around her in brilliant waves that illuminated the darkness. Nyra couldn’t see her face clearly. Instead, she felt the overwhelming sense of power radiating from her presence and the strange, unbearable familiarity that accompanied it.

The vision vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Pain continued to surge through Nyra’s body as the creature’s grip tightened. Her vision blurred as the pressure crushed her throat. Shadows flickered wildly around them as instinct struggled against panic.

She could feel the creature forcing its way deeper into her mind still searching. Something beyond the Veil had reached through it in search of her specifically.

Nyra’s fingers tightened sharply around the creature’s wrist. She knew she had to do something and fast. The shadows beneath the bridge answered to her command.

Darkness surged upward in merciless force, twisting itself around the creature’s arm before driving jagged tendrils through its thick skin. The creature jerked backwards with a distorted sound that barely resembled pain, though its grip did not loosen entirely.

Silver light surged through the cracks, spreading across its body as Nyra forced more power into the spell, even while the effort threatened to tear her apart from within. Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.

The creature suddenly hurled her backward.

Nyra’s body struck the bridge hard enough to tear apart the soaked wood under her shoulder. Pain erupted through her ribs as she struggled for air.

Across from her, the creature held its ground, though the silver cracks spreading under its skin had begun pulsing erratically through the darkness.

It was wounded, but not enough.

Nyra forced herself upright against the remains of the railing, though every breath now burned painfully in her lungs. The shadows surrounding the bridge had begun responding protectively to her distress. They writhed unnaturally across the broken wood as the Veil pulsed somewhere beyond the forest like a living thing awakening.

The creature moved again.

Faster this time.

Nyra barely raised her hand before it reached her. Agony tore through her body as claws of silver light drove through the shadows protecting her. It sliced across her side abdomen with enough force to send her collapsing onto one knee. A sharp gasp escaped her throat as warmth spread rapidly across her side.

For the first time, genuine fear settled heavily inside her chest.

She was losing.

The realization struck harder than the pain itself. Any other breach she could have survived. Even several. But this thing standing before her did not move like the others. It watched her too carefully. Learned too quickly. And somewhere underneath the violence radiating from it, Nyra could still feel that terrible sense of recognition lingering between them.

The creature stepped toward her slowly.

Rain poured steadily between them as silver light flickered through the cracks spreading across its body. The forest around the bridge had gone completely silent now, as though the world itself had begun retreating from whatever stood before her.

Nyra lowered her gaze briefly toward the shadows trembling around her hands. She had sworn never to use that magic again. Not after the last time. But as the creature approached her through the rain, she realized with growing horror that survival no longer belonged among the choices left to her.

Nyra pressed her bloodied hand against the broken wood. The shadows answered instantly like a primal scream and this time, they did not rise like smoke.

They erupted.

Darkness split ferociously across the bridge, a serrated rift ripping through the stone as shadows spilled from its depths. Beyond it, the forest swallowed moonlight, rain, and sound. It was too ancient to resemble magic anymore.

The creature finally reacted with something close to fear as the shadows wrapped around its body in massive twisting tendrils that cracked violently through the silver light coursing through its skin.

Nyra screamed, forcing the remaining energy into the spell. The shadows tightened.

The creature’s body convulsed grotesquely as darkness forced itself through every crevice, spreading across its form. Silver light erupted from within it, illuminating the entire bridge against the storm as the creature let out a sound so inhuman it seemed to shake the forest itself.

Then its body split apart.

Not cleanly.

The shadows tore through it piece by piece unraveling flesh, silver light, and bone-like fractures into blackened fragments that dissolved into ash.

All that followed was silence.

Real silence.

Nyra remained frozen against the shattered bridge, trembling uncontrollably as darkness slowly faded back into her fingertips. Blood dripped from her nose and the corner of her mouth, tracing thin crimson paths down her throat before disappearing beneath her collar. Exhaustion had settled into her bones.

She had survived, but at what cost?

Somewhere in the distance, Nyra could hear the sound of approaching horses, their movements muffled by the storm. Voices followed soon after, sharp and hurried against the silence lingering across the ruined bridge. Even through the haze of pain clouding her thoughts, she knew the royal guards had finally arrived.

Late, as always.

Relief barely had time to settle before the world started to tilt. Nyra tried to focus on the approaching guards, but their shapes blurred together. Exhaustion pulled at her like a tide she no longer had the strength to fight.

Then everything disappeared.