The sky in this realm was not blue. It was a swirling tapestry of violet and black, painted with stars that pulsed like slow heartbeats.
High atop a jagged cliff, overlooking a shattered plain of floating stone and endless storm, two figures stood in silence. Cloaked in dark robes etched with glowing sigils, they watched a crystal suspended in the air between them. It pulsed.
Hairline fractures began to spread across its surface, leaking strands of dark energy into the air like smoke.
One figure shifted. "It reacted."
The other nodded. "The seal... it broke."
They stared into the crystal as an image flickered within—of a boy standing over a broken pedestal, surrounded by stunned faces.
"He's just a child," the first murmured. "And yet the Void answered."
There was a long pause.
"Let's hope this one survives," the second said. Their voice was calm, but their grip on the crystal had tightened. "The last three didn't."
The wind howled across the cliff.
Without another word, the figures turned, disappearing into the shadows of the realm—leaving the fractured crystal spinning slowly in the still, heavy air.