Chapter 16:The Astral Covenant.
The air in the ruins of Darkreach Chasm still hummed with residual void energy, the ground littered with the ashen remains of Valenor's armor. Veythar knelt beside Rune's unconscious form, his cracked Void Core pulsing erraticallyeach beat sending jagged pain through his ribs.
Thalion slumped against a shattered obsidian pillar, his severed arm wrapped in tattered cloth, his face pale but determined. Above them, the sky had fractured into a swirling gate of stars, and the Keeper stood at its threshold, their bone mask reflecting the eerie light.
Then"*the shard moved**.
Sylviaris' shadow uncoiled from the fragment of the First Core, slithering toward Veythar like a living thing. *You were never meant to survive the Concord," it whispered.
*But now that you have·the real game begins."
The Keeper raised a skeletal hand. **The Veil is thin here.
Step through, and see what your sacrifice has wrought."*
The gate swallowed them whole.
One moment, Veythar stood in the ruins; the next, he was **inside the Citade|**colossal spire of blackened steel floating in a sea of dying stars. The walls pulsed with imprisoned Void Cores, their light feeding a central altar where the Devourer's silhouette flickered, bound by chains of liquid shadow.
But the true horror lay beneath it.
Embedded in the floor was a "*massive, beating heart**the *First Core*, shattered but still alive, its cracks oozing violet energy.
**This is where Cores are born,** the Keeper intoned. **And where they are *broken*."*
Thalion staggered, his gaze locked on the heart. **Thats our *curse*."* The vines that had plagued his bloodline for generations writhed in the air as if drawn to it.
Rune stirred, her golden eyes flaring. **It's *calling* to us."*
———
Sylviariss shadow coalesced into solid form, her silver hair shimmering as she pressed a hand to the First Core.
**The Eclipse Concord didnt reset the Void. It *unlocked* this."* She gestured to the altar, where ancient runes flared to life"*starforged glyphs**, their patterns mirroring the scars on Veythars chest.
**Your family didnt just guard the Cores,"* she said.
**They *fed* them. Every Veythar born is a vessel for the Devourer's hunger."*
Veythar's breath hitched.
The truth was a blade twisting deeper:
- **The Pitual** his father attempted wasnt to *save* the realmsit was to*complete* the Shattering.
- **Thalion's curse** was a fail-safe, meant to keep rebels from the Citadel. - **Rune's light** was the *only* force that could stabilize the Core-or destroy it.
The Keeper's mask tilted. **You have a choice, thief. Reforge the First Core… or shatter it forever."*
Rune lunged for the altar, her hands blazing gold. **We end this now."*
But the Devourer *moved*.
A tendril of shadow lashed out, piercing her shoulder. She screamed as violet corruption spread through her veins, her light flickering.
**RUNE!** Thalion roared, lunging with his remaining armbut the vines*exploded* from his skin, pinning him down,
Veythars Core *screamed* in response, the cracks widening. He fell to his knees, his vision swimming with memories:
- *His grandfather's voice: The Void must feast." - *Flicker's dying whisper: Thank you."
- *Sylviaris's smirk: Power always has a price."
Then**a hand gripped his**.
Rune, her fingers trembling, gold and violet warring in her eyes. **Youre not*him*,** she gasped. **Choose.*differently*.**
---
The Keeper struck.
Their bone mask split open, revealing a **face identical to Veythars"*an ancestor, preserved in the Void. **The Concord requires a Veythar's life,"* they hissed. **But not necessarily *yours*."*
Sylviariss shadow *laughed*. **Oh, you clever bastard."*
The Keeper lunged for Rune, their hands glowing with stolen light-
but Veythar *moved faster*.
He plunged the Eclipse Pike into the First Core.
The Citadel *screamed*.
---
The world **unmade itself**.
The First Core shattered, its fragments scattering like dying stars. The Devourers chains snapped, its form dissolving into a vortex of rage. The Keeper's mask cracked, their body crumbling to dust.
And Sylviaris?
She stood amid the chaos, her shadow drinking in the unleashed energy, her voice a whisper:
**Now we *begin*."*
Then"the gate of stars collapsed**, hurling Veythar, Rune, and Thalion back into the Shattered Realms
where the sky was now *bleeding*.
---