CHAPTER TWENTY:The Mark Of The Void Breakers

Elianah

The dream returned that night — clearer, sharper than ever before.

This time, she stood in a field of stars. Endless and echoing. Before her rose a tower made entirely of bone-white crystal, its spire piercing the cosmos like a blade. At its peak, a voice called out.

"Elionys," it whispered, ancient and powerful. "Voidbreaker."

She turned.

A figure cloaked in tattered black floated toward her — faceless, but not formless. Its presence dripped with sorrow… and something deeper.

Hunger.

"Elionys," it breathed again. "You were the one meant to close the gate. And you left it open."

She woke with a scream, her body soaked in sweat, the mark on her shoulder burning like fire.

Xadriel was beside her in an instant.

"Elianah!"

She gasped, trying to breathe, trying to understand what she'd just seen. But the words wouldn't come. Only one thing pulsed through her veins now:

The mark was changing.

She yanked her shirt aside and stared into the mirror. What once had been a crescent moon cradling a sword now had a crack forming across it — like something within was breaking free. Or breaking open.

Xadriel stared at it too, then slowly lifted his own sleeve.

His mark was reacting — glowing in sync.

"You've crossed into the next phase," Selene said from the door. She'd appeared silently again, like shadows answering fate's call. "You've triggered the Voidbreaker lineage."

Elianah frowned. "Voidbreaker. That's what it called me."

"It wasn't wrong," Selene replied. "In your first incarnation, you were the one chosen to seal the rift between realms. But you died before you could. That rift remained open — and through it, the Hollowed were born."

Elianah's legs felt weak. "So I created them?"

"No," Selene said calmly. "You failed to stop them. There's a difference."

Xadriel stepped between them. "What happens if she completes the seal this time?"

Selene paused.

"If she seals it now, the Hollowed will vanish from all realms. The soul cycle will reset clean. But it will cost something."

"What?"

Selene's eyes darkened.

"Everything."

The silence that followed was a dagger.

Elianah exhaled shakily. Her voice was calm, but sure.

"If that's the price to stop this forever, I'll pay it."

Xadriel turned to her, panic flaring behind his eyes. "You don't have to decide that yet—"

"I already have," she said. "This is my burden. But this time, I won't carry it alone."

Xadriel reached for her hand, threading their fingers together. "Then we fight to change the ending. We break the cycle together — not by sacrifice, but by rewriting the rules."

Selene nodded solemnly. "Then we need the final piece."

Elianah's brow furrowed. "What piece?"

"The map to the Hollowed's anchor in this world. It's hidden in the ruins of Solgrave."

Xadriel's eyes widened. "That's a forbidden site."

"And where else," Selene whispered, "do you think the gods buried what they were most afraid of?"