The figure stepped forward, the dark shroud swirling around them in tendrils like sentient smoke. Their face remained hidden in the shadowy haze, but the air around them radiated a suffocating aura of power and malice, sharp enough to make every hair on my body stand on end.
Logan shifted protectively in front of me, his sword drawn and his stance low, ready for a fight. “Who are you?” he demanded, his voice steady despite the tension thrumming through him.
The figure tilted their head, a gesture that felt almost curious. When they spoke, their voice echoed unnaturally, layered with an otherworldly cadence that made it impossible to tell whether it was male or female.
“You carry it,” the figure said, their tone low but filled with unmistakable disdain. “The heart of the void… or what remains of it.”
I tightened my grip on the orb instinctively, its warmth seeping into my skin as though trying to counteract the oppressive chill emanating from the figure. “It’s gone,” I said, forcing my voice to stay firm. “We destroyed it. You’re too late.”
The figure laughed, a deep, hollow sound that didn’t so much echo as vibrate through my very bones. “Destroyed?” they mused, stepping closer, their movements slow but deliberate. “No… You didn’t destroy it. You changed it.”
“What does that mean?” Liam demanded, his voice tight with panic. “The void heart was obliterated-there’s no coming back from that!”
The figure ignored him, their attention fixed entirely on me. As they spoke again, the shroud around them began to twist and ripple, revealing glimpses of their form. Their skin was gray and cracked, as if chiseled from ancient stone, and their eyes glowed faintly with an unsettling crimson light.
“It latched onto you,” they said, a hint of amusement curling in their voice. “You became the vessel… and the vessel became the lock.” They extended a hand, their long, clawed fingers pointing toward the orb in my hands. “It still remembers its master. And now you’ve dragged it here… to me.”
Logan snarled low in his throat, his claws half-extending as his wolf instincts surged to the surface. “Whatever you want, you’re not getting it.” He lunged forward in a blur of motion, sword raised high.
But before his blade could connect, the figure flicked their wrist, and a shockwave of dark energy erupted from them, sending Logan hurtling backward. He crashed into the side of a building with a sickening thud, crumpling to the ground with a pained groan.
“Logan!” I shouted, rushing toward him, but the figure’s next words froze me in place.
“Move, and I’ll crush him,” they said with chilling finality, raising a hand that crackled with dark lightning.
I stopped, trembling, my heart pounding as I glanced between Logan’s prone form and the figure standing before me. Liam and Mal had their weapons drawn, but they looked just as unsure as I felt.
“What do you want from me?” I asked, my voice cracking under the weight of fear.
The figure tilted their head again, and for a moment, I thought they might smile, though no expression breached their stony face. “What belongs to me,” they said simply, motioning toward the orb in my hands. “It is a fragment of the heart’s power, and you are no more than a thief.”
“Thief?” I repeated, incredulous. “I didn’t take this-I saved it. Saved us. You have no claim to it.”
“Every lock requires a key,” they replied, stepping closer. “And every key… belongs to someone.” They stopped a few feet away, the weight of their presence bearing down on me like a physical force. “That key belongs to me.”
“Over my dead body,” Logan growled, dragging himself to his feet despite the clear pain in his movements. His golden eyes burned with rage, his muscles taut and ready to spring again.
The figure turned to him, almost amused. “Such bravery for one so fragile. Tell me, wolf-do you truly wish to test my patience?”
Logan bared his teeth in defiance, his claws fully extended now. But before he could act, I stepped in front of him, raising the orb. Its glow pulsed in response, brighter than before, pushing back slightly against the figure’s oppressive aura.
“You said the orb is the key,” I said, my voice steadier now, though my hands still trembled. “What does it unlock?”
The figure hesitated, their gaze shifting to the orb in a way that almost seemed… reverent. “The Nexus,” they said finally. “The place where all power converges-the source of what you call the void.”
The air grew heavier with those words, a thick tension descending over the square. Liam’s face paled, and even Mal’s ever-steady hands faltered slightly on the hilt of her blades.
“You’re lying,” Mal said, though there was doubt in her voice. “There’s no such place.”
The figure chuckled darkly. “And yet, here I stand, speaking its truth.”
I looked at the orb again, its soft, steady glow now seemingly infinite. “If I am the lock, as you say, then I control what happens next,” I said, a sudden surge of resolve steadying my voice. “You won’t get this.”
The figure tilted their head again, studying me as if I were a particularly interesting specimen. Then, with a low growl that sent chills racing down my spine, they raised both hands. Tendrils of dark energy coiled outward, snaking toward us.
“Then you’ll die with it,” they hissed.
Logan lunged forward once more, claws swiping at the tendrils as Mal flung her knives, their sharp edges slicing through the darkness. Liam chanted something under his breath, runes glowing faintly at his fingertips. But no matter how many attacks we threw at the figure, their shroud seemed endless, absorbing every blow.
The orb in my hands grew brighter still, its pulsing light becoming a blinding beacon. The whispers in my head rose to a deafening roar, unintelligible but filled with purpose. My heartbeat thundered in my chest, and I knew-knew-that whatever happened next, I had to trust the bond between the orb and myself.
I closed my eyes, drawing on the orb’s energy, letting it guide me. The world around me seemed to fade as warmth flooded my veins, pushing out the icy fear that had taken hold. When I opened my eyes again, the figure was no longer laughing. Their shroud faltered, just for an instant.
And in that moment, I struck.