Beneath the shimmering surface of the Veil, ripples of distortion began to pulse in rhythmic intervals. Echo felt it first—a tremor that was more sensation than reality. He knelt, pcing his palm against the shimmering barrier, and the surface buckled under his touch, splintering outward like fractured gss.

  “Do you feel that?” Echo whispered, his voice ced with something almost akin to reverence.

  Gideon stepped beside him, her gaze hardening. Her fingertips grazed the Veil’s surface, and immediately, lines of order threaded out from her touch, attempting to seal the jagged rifts. But they resisted, pulsing back with force.

  “This isn’t a shift,” she murmured, her eyes narrowing. “It’s a breach.”

  Echo’s grin was unrestrained now, the flicker of madness barely hidden behind his eyes. “Then we finally get to see what’s on the other side.”

  Gideon hesitated, her expression uncharacteristically uncertain. “Echo… if this is what I think it is, crossing over could unravel everything.”

  “Or redefine it,” Echo replied, his form flickering with chaotic energy. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “You’re not getting it. This isn’t some game. If we cross over, there might be no way back. And we’ll lose control of the Veil completely,” Gideon warned, her voice colder now, more serious.

  Echo turned to face her, his grin softening but never fading. “You’ve always been about control, haven’t you?”

  “I am about bance, Echo. You know that.” Her eyes narrowed with a mixture of frustration and concern. “If you push too far, you could—”

  “Unleash something amazing?” Echo interrupted, his voice a smooth challenge.

  “No,” Gideon snapped, taking a step forward. Her hand hovered near the cracks, carefully threading more strands of order into the gaps. “We’ll lose everything. You don’t understand—this breach is more than just chaos. It’s something new, something unpredictable.”

  “Unpredictable is what makes it exciting.” Echo’s smile returned, though it was darker this time. He stepped closer to the rift, his hand hovering over the growing fracture. “What if it’s the key to everything we’ve been trying to understand?”

  “You’re asking the wrong questions,” she said softly. “And you’re blind to the danger of the unknown.”

  The Veil trembled again, sending a wave of energy rippling through the realm. The crack widened slightly, and Echo’s eyes sparked with curiosity. He reached out, touching the rift.

  The moment his fingers made contact, the rift surged violently. A low hum filled the air, vibrating through the ground beneath them, and the energy from Echo’s touch sparked a flurry of light that cascaded across the realm.

  Gideon flinched, her control slipping for a fraction of a second. “No!” she shouted, but it was too te. The rift expanded rapidly, cascading a bright fsh of blinding light around them.

  Echo’s expression was a mixture of awe and anticipation. “Here we go.”

  Gideon tried to force the rift back into pce, but the chaos of Echo’s energy cshed against her every effort. “This is madness. You don’t know what you’re doing!”

  “I know exactly what I’m doing.” Echo's voice was steady, yet filled with a chaotic energy all its own. “It’s time to let go.”

  The Veil shattered.