Zane stood tall, surrounded by the ashes of the figures who dared oppose him. Shadows flickered, twisting unnaturally as if bowing to their master. The Crown of Night blazed above his head, and the obsidian blade pulsed with void-born lightning.
He raised the blade one final time, pointing toward the skies.
> "Tell your king—The Void has returned."
The world seemed to freeze.
Then, as if reality itself exhaled, the shadow armor receded, slithering off Zane like smoke retreating from fire.
The crown dissolved, scattering into glimmering wisps of black light that vanished into the air.
The obsidian sword cracked mid-air, splintering into shards, which hovered briefly—then flew straight into Zane's chest, embedding themselves in his soul like a lock sealing shut.
Zane drifted weightlessly in a vast void—not empty, but full of stars that bled like wounds. Gravity meant nothing. Light bent wrong. Somewhere far above, a crown spun like a dying sun.
Then he fell—into a chamber of obsidian and bone.
A woman stood waiting.
Her gown was woven from starlight. Her skin shimmered with pale silver. Her antlered crown was shaped from fragments of collapsed constellations. Her eyes—entire galaxies—watched him with sadness.
She stepped forward, barefoot across the air, and placed her hand gently over his heart.
> "You burned too brightly... too soon," she whispered.
> "You are not ready. The pieces are still scattered."
Zane opened his mouth to speak, but no words came—only a faint echo of that same dreadful voice he'd heard before, the one that had whispered:
The woman looked past him.
> "You hold a power older than this world. A fragment of what you once were. A memory rewritten... by fear."
She turned her hand palm-up. Relics began to float around them—crowns, blades, chained stars, black rings dripping with ichor.
> "Each piece of yourself will return... when your strength allows it."
> "You will forget this dream. But when the final seal breaks, when all fragments return..."
The void behind her rippled like water touched by lightning.
> "Not even the gods will be safe."
> "You are not alone, Zane. Even kings must sleep... but their enemies never do."
Zane reached for her—
Darkness swallowed everything.
Zane awoke with a gasp, body sore, breath ragged.
He was on a soft bed inside Sera's estate. The first light of dawn crept through the window. The world seemed peaceful again.
But beside his bed...
The blade fragments pulsed faintly under his skin, glowing for a heartbeat before vanishing.