Chapter 18:The Devourer's Gambit.
The Void had a voice.
It wasnt the hollow whisper of the abyss or the fragmented cries of dying realms. It was a *roar*a- deafening,star-shattering force that tore through Veythars skull like a blade.
The corruption from the Hollow Pact seared through his veins, blackening his blood, twisting his thoughts.
The Devourer's essence coiled around his fractured Core, its presence a suffocating weight.
And yet...
*He could see it.*
Not as a monster, not as a godbut as a *pattern*. A tapestry of hunger and fractured time, woven from the same threads as the Shattered Realms themselves.
Sylviariss voice cut through the chaos, her words sharp with triumph, **You feel it now, dont you? The Veil isnt a barrier. Its a *mirror*.**
Veythar's gaze snapped to her. Blood dripped from his lips, his Core pulsing erratically.
**What did you do?**
She smiled, her violet eyes alight with something dangerously close toreverence.
**I gave you the key.**
---
The vision struck like a lightning bolt.
Veythar *remembered*:
- **His grandfather**, standing before the First Core, the Eclipse Pike in hand. Not to protect itto *break* it.
The Shattering wasnt an accident. It was a *betrayal*.
- **The Devourer**, bound not by chains, but by *bargain*. A deal struck between thief and beast: power for hunger, freedom for ruin.
- "*Himself**, in a future not yet lived, standing where his grandfather once stood. The Pike in his grip. The Core in his chest.
*The cycle repeats."
The memory shattered as Rune's scream tore through the air. She knelt beside Thalion's lifeless body, her golden light flickering, her hands pressed to his chest as if she could will his heart to beat again.
**NoNO!**
The Devourers laughter echoed through the bleeding sky.
**Foolish light. You cannot outrun what you are."*
---
Veythar's Core *reacted*.
The cracks in its surface flared, not with pain, but with *resonance*.
The Devourer's corruption slithered through him, but the Core*his* Coredid something unexpected.
It *reflected*.
The Void energy that should have consumed him twisted, warped,*changed*.
The Devourers presence in his mind recoiled as if scalded.
**Wh at?**
Sylviaris's breath hitched. **Tmpossible."*
Veythar didnt understand.
Not yet. But he *acted*.
He lunged for Rune, his hand closing around her wrist. **Look at me."*
He lunged for Rune, his hand closing around her wrist. **Look at me."*
Her golden eyes, dim with grief, met his.
And then-
***Light***
A surge of gold and violet erupted between them, a bridge of energy that connected their Cores. The Devourers corruption in Veythar *moved*, drawn toward Rune's light like a moth to flame.
But this time, it didnt corrupt.
It *purged*.
The blackened veins in Veythar's arms receded. The cracks in his Core sealedjust enough. And Rune?
Her light *burned* brighter.
The Devourer *screamed*.
---
Thalion's sword lay between them, its blade still etched with that single, glowing rune: *Finish it."
Runes breath came in ragged gasps, her fingers trembling as she reached for the weapon. **We dont have to die to break the cycle.**
Veythar understood.
The Eclipse Pike had shattered the First Core. The Hollow Pact had redirected corruption. But this?
This was something *new*.
He gripped the sword, his other hand still clasped with Runes. **Together."
The Devourer's avatar loomed, its form flickering betweenrealities, its twelve eyes burning with fury. "*You cannot defy me. I am the Void. I am*hunger*."*
Veythar smiled, blood on his teeth. **And we,"* he whispered, **are
*thieves*.**
They struck.
Not at the Devourer.
At the *sky itself*.
The blade connected.
The bleeding heavens *split*.
For a heartbeat, the Shattered Realms held their breath.
Then-
***Silence.***
The rift sealed. The Devourer's avatar *fractured*, its form dissolving into motes of dying light. The corruption in Thalion's body evaporated, his chest rising with a sudden, gasping breath.
And Sylviaris?
She stood frozen, her shadow unraveling at the edges, her violet eyes wide with something Veythar had never seen before.
*Fear.*
**What have you done?"* she whispered.
Veythar didnt answer. He didnt need to.
The sky was no longer bleeding.
It was *singing*.
---
The sound was faint at firsta-whisper of wind through broken glass. Then it grew, a chorus of voices, of *realms*, of *Cores*, all humming in unison.
The ground trembled.
The air shimmered.
And from the horizon, where the rift had been, stepped a figure.
Not the Devourer.
Not the Keeper.
A woman, clad in robes of starlight, her eyes twin pools of liquid gold.
**Enough,** she said, her voice the echo of a thousand dying stars.
Rune's breath caught. **Who?"*
The woman smiled.
**The First Core.** she murmured. **And the last."*
Behind her, the Veil *rippled*not with destruction, but with *rebirth*.
And the Devourer?
It *screamed*.