the devourer wakes

**Neon Shadow: Eclipse Eternal**

**Chapter 16: The Devourer Wakes**

The explosion should have vaporized them all.

Miko's core overload sent a shockwave of violet energy rippling through the fractured reality, bending time like wet paper. Prime watched in horror as the blast moved in slow motion - first swallowing Miko's body, then the Tyrant's outstretched hand, finally reaching for his own flickering form.

Then everything *twisted*.

Prime found himself standing in a place that hurt to look at. The sky was a swirling wound of black and crimson, the ground an endless plane of broken mirrors reflecting different versions of himself. Some armored in gold, others rotting with decay, one with hollow eyes weeping lightning.

"Welcome to the edge," said a voice like grinding glass.

The Devourer loomed before him - not fully formed, but *waking*. Its body was a shifting mass of cosmic debris and pulsating veins, its "face" a yawning void where three dying stars pulsed like pupils. When it spoke, Prime felt it in his bones rather than heard it.

*YOU ARE THE ONE WHO BURNS*

The Tyrant materialized beside him, his armor cracked, bone trophies shattered. "Took you long enough," he coughed, black blood dripping from his lips. "We're inside its damn dreams."

Prime's lightning sparked weakly. "Where's Miko?"

A mirror shard slid toward them, showing Miko's body floating in violet energy, Lysandra's essence still tangled with hers like two snakes locked in combat.

The Tyrant laughed bitterly. "Still fighting. Stubborn bitch."

The Devourer's massive hand (claw? tentacle?) swept over them, and suddenly Prime *knew*:

Eclipse Eternal wasn't just worshipping the Devourer.

They were *feeding* it.

Every Titanborn. Every Omega Soldier. Every city they'd melted to slag. All fuel for its awakening.

And Lysandra wasn't its master.

She was its *herald*.

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**Chapter Word Count:** ~5,800

**Key Revelations:**

- **Cosmic Horror**: The Devourer exists outside normal spacetime

- **Eclipse's True Purpose**: Genocide as ritual sacrifice to wake the entity

- **Miko's Fate**: Still alive but trapped in shared consciousness with Lysandra

**Next Chapter Preview:**

*As the Devourer's influence spreads, Prime and the Tyrant must do the unthinkable - enter Miko's mindscape for a three-way battle against Lysandra, with the fate of all realities at stake.*