🌌 Chapter 32: The Beginning of Fractura

The sky above the world no longer felt the same.Beyond Aerthalia, in places once peaceful and mundane — small trade towns, stargazer villages, even ancient border gates — shadows emerged from the fractures of reality.
Not armies.But something far more terrifying.

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🕳️ Synthetic Shadows: Born of Distortion
In the town of Nareth, a young boy saw the sky crack like glass.From the fissure, a writhing shadow slipped down like liquid mud… then slowly shaped itself into someone he recognized — but faceless.
> “Mom…?”


> “Mom?” the shadow echoed back, its voice like an empty reverberation.


Then, it attacked.

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🕷️ Small-Scale Attacks, Massive Impact
Umbra Concordia didn’t launch large-scale invasions.They created localized terror:
Synthetic shadows imitated the person their victims feared or missed the most.
Every appearance came with magical fractures, disrupting local leyline formations.
Local governments were paralyzed — unsure if this was an ancient curse, forbidden sorcery… or the first tremors of global collapse.


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📡 Aerthalia Receives the Signal
Inside the central arcane observatory, crimson signals flared — indicators of reality breaches — at seven locations simultaneously.
> “This is coordinated,” said Deputy Headmaster Calhoun grimly.“They’re sending one message: without Void under control… the world will tear itself apart from within.”


Myra stared at the map, her hands trembling.
> “They’re blaming Angeline.They want to force the world to see Void as a plague.”



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🧠 Closed-Door Meeting: A Divided Alliance
In a warded chamber protected from magical surveillance, global envoys clashed.
Some urged the surrender of Angeline, hoping it would stop the shadow-born attacks.
Others insisted on protecting her — seeing her as the only real hope for the future.

> “Void is not a weapon.It’s a legacy.And like any legacy… it can bring light — or devastation,” said the elvaran representative.


But most… remained undecided.

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🔥 Chapter End: Burned by Choices
In the eighth city, the attack was no longer symbolic.
A colossal shadow descended, consuming the entire magic marketplace and creating a null-zone — where all arcane power ceased to function for 500 meters.
> “Fractura… has begun,” whispered Nira from the Umbra Concordia stronghold.“And the world is starting to break… without us even needing to destroy it ourselves.”