CHAPTER TWO— THE NIGHT THE SKY SPLIT OPEN
1488 Words
Lyra sensed something was wrong before she even stepped out of the bakery. The air felt heavier, like someone had squeezed the sky. Kai usually walked her home by now, but tonight he wasn’t waiting outside like he always did. The street lamps flickered. The wind pushed cold air across her arms.
“Kai?” she whispered.
No answer.
Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. She walked faster, fingers gripping her apron like it was armor. She checked the alley next to the bakery — nothing. The corner near the old market — empty. Panic crawled up her throat.
And then she heard it.
The sound of something hitting stone. Hard.
She sprinted.
Her shoes slapped against the ground, breath tearing out of her chest. The streets were almost empty, the night too silent. She turned down a narrow path she never used, driven by a feeling she couldn’t name.
“Kai!” she shouted.
Still no response.
But she wasn’t alone anymore.
She could feel eyes watching her.
Then she saw it — shadows moving at the end of the path, shifting like smoke.
She ran faster.
The world tilted when her foot caught a broken tile. Pain burst through her knee as she slammed onto the ground.
“Not now,” she gasped, pushing herself up. Dirt scraped her palms. She stumbled forward again, ignoring the sting.
Then she saw him.
Kai.
He was on the ground, propped against a wall, wrists limp at his sides, breath shaking like someone tore it in half. His cheeks were streaked, eyes red.
He’d been crying.
And Lyra knew what that meant.
When Kai cried, his power drained.
When it drained, he weakened.
And tonight… he looked nearly empty.
“Kai!” she ran to him.
He opened his eyes slowly, as if even that cost him strength. “Ly… you shouldn’t be here.”
A long shadow moved behind him.
Lyra’s breath froze.
There he was.
Mark.
And behind him, two others—his teammates, cloaked in dark gear, faces unreadable.
Mark stepped forward first, the moon carving sharp edges along his jaw. His eyes locked onto Lyra, and something electric passed between them. His expression wasn’t anger. It wasn’t hate.
It was confusion. And something deeper.
But the two men behind him didn’t hesitate — they aimed their power at Kai.
Lyra’s scream tore out of her without thinking.
“Stop!”
The first blast hit the wall near Kai’s shoulder. Stone exploded into dust. Kai flinched, trying to push himself up, but his knees buckled instantly.
Lyra didn’t think — she threw herself in front of him.
“Get away from him!” she shouted.
The second attacker lunged. Lyra backed up, heart hammering, grabbing Kai’s arm and pulling him behind her even though she could barely stand herself.
Kai tried to push her away weakly. “Ly… no… I can’t— I don’t have enough—”
“I don’t care,” she said, voice breaking. “I’m not leaving you.”
The attackers moved again.
Lyra braced—
and something inside her snapped awake.
A flash.
A pulse.
Her vision blurred for a second before sharpening too much. The world lit up strangely, the edges of everything glowing faint yellow.
Kai’s breath caught.
“Lyra… your eyes…”
But before she could ask what he meant, energy surged from her chest — not painful, not burning — more like someone lit a lantern inside her.
Her eyes glowed brighter.
The attackers took a step back.
“What is that?” one of them hissed.
Lyra didn’t know.
She only knew she couldn’t let them hurt Kai.
“Stay away,” she said — and her voice wasn’t fully hers anymore. It carried something heavier, something powerful.
Kai lifted his head weakly, staring at the light pouring off her. “Ly… whatever you’re doing… I can use it.”
“What?”
“I can… borrow energy. If you share it.”
She didn’t understand, but she nodded, and the glow from her eyes flickered toward him. It wrapped around Kai like threads of light. His weak hands tightened. His breathing steadied.
And then—
Kai stood.
Still shaky, still pale, but standing.
The attackers charged instantly.
Kai raised his arm, and the yellow light from Lyra burst into a shockwave — blasting both men backward. They crashed into a wall, groaning, weapons clattering onto the ground.
They stayed down.
Lyra blinked in disbelief. The world was still tinted golden from the glow in her eyes.
But Mark…
Mark didn’t move.
He hadn’t even flinched.
He stepped through the fading dust slowly, eyes locked on her.
Not on Kai.
Not on the attackers.
On her.
Lyra’s heart twisted painfully in her chest.
She had seen him angry before.
She had seen him cold.
But she had never seen him like this — looking at her as if she was something he had been searching for but didn’t know existed.
Kai moved in front of her protectively, arm shaking as he tried to gather what was left of the energy she’d given him.
“Stay behind me,” he whispered.
But Lyra couldn’t. Her gaze kept drifting to Mark.
The closer he stepped, the more her breath shortened.
The world seemed to quiet around them.
“Why are you here?” she asked, her voice barely more than a tremble.
Mark stopped only a few feet away. His teammates were unconscious behind him, yet he didn’t look worried. He looked determined.
“You know why,” he said quietly.
Kai tensed. “Don’t come closer.”
Mark didn’t look at him.
Not once.
His attention stayed on Lyra.
“You’re glowing,” Mark said. “Do you even realize what you just did?”
Lyra swallowed. Her eyes still burned yellow. Her pulse raced.
She tried to take a step back, but Mark took one forward. She tried to lift her fists defensively, but her hands shook.
And then something inside her — the part of her she always tried to hide — pulled her toward him instead of away.
Kai grabbed her wrist. “Lyra, don’t.”
But her body moved anyway, like something magnetic pulled her.
She stumbled forward, the ground suddenly uneven. Her foot slid on dust, and she nearly fell again, catching herself against a broken crate. Her palms stung. Her knee throbbed from earlier.
Still, she pushed through the pain.
She needed to get closer to him.
She didn’t know why.
She didn’t know what she was doing.
All she knew was that even in the middle of danger, even with Kai barely standing, even with Mark way too strong…
Her heart went straight to him.
Mark’s eyes widened slightly, watching her crawl to her feet, watching her fight in a way that didn’t make sense. She wasn’t fighting to win. She was fighting to reach him.
“Lyra…” he murmured, confused. “Why are you—”
She didn’t let him finish. She stepped toward him again.
Kai tried to grab her, but she slipped from his grasp, the yellow light flickering wildly as if reacting to Mark’s presence.
“What are you doing?” Kai shouted, voice breaking with fear.
Lyra didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
She was breathing too fast.
Her legs were shaking.
The glow in her eyes pulsed brighter as she stared at Mark. Every heartbeat pushed her closer to him, even though she knew she shouldn’t be near him. Even though he was danger. Even though he’d brought attackers. Even though Kai was nearly collapsing behind her.
Still she moved toward Mark.
Mark’s brows drew together, something troubled flickering across his face.
The girl in front of him wasn’t fighting like an enemy.
She was fighting like someone reaching for something they couldn’t let go.
He didn’t attack her.
He didn’t lift a hand.
He just watched her, breathing hard, trying to understand.
Lyra’s voice cracked as she whispered, “Why… are you doing this…?”
Mark stepped closer — slow, careful, almost as if he was afraid she would break.
Kai tried to stand between them, but Mark simply walked past him like pushing through fog. Kai stumbled, too weak to fight back.
Lyra lifted her chin, eyes blazing yellow as Mark stopped only inches from her.
“Why are you still fighting me like this?” he whispered. “What are you trying to reach, Lyra?”
She didn’t answer.
She couldn’t.
She just stared at him, trembling, heart splitting open with fear and longing at the same time.
Mark looked down at her hands. They were shaking.
He looked at her face. Streaked with dirt and worry.
He looked into her glowing eyes — and something in his expression cracked.
She wasn’t fighting him out of hate.
She was fighting to reach him.
And Mark didn’t know what to do with that.
- Writer
