Chapter 111
Daelan
"Goddess?" I call again. My voice echoes, sharp against… nothing.
No answer.
No wind. No ground. No stars overhead.
Just void.
But not empty.
I close my eyes, and call my shadows. They gather beneath me, curling like smoke around my boots, forming a path where there is none. I walk.
Something watches.
Not malevolent. Just... curious. A presence that lingers just outside my reach.
Each time I pause and turn toward it, the feeling vanishes like smoke. But the moment I continue—there it is again. Light pressure at the back of my mind. Breath against my neck.
I've been here before.
Not this place exactly—but this silence. This darkness. This absence of warmth. Back when I was nothing but a name on a file and a flicker of mana someone tried to extinguish. Back when I clawed upward—no guidance, no gods, no one.
Only shadows.
My shadows ripple beneath each step, warping reality in my wake. A memory, flexed into form. A warning.