The winds screamed over the Black Cliffs as Russ stood at the edge, the ocean crashing against jagged rocks far below. His fists clenched as he stared into the horizon—where sky and sea bled into one.
Behind him, Kala approached slowly, her wings tucked neatly behind her back. "You shouldn't have come alone," she said softly.
"I needed to think," Russ replied, eyes not leaving the vast expanse. "After everything… I don't even know what part of me is real anymore."
Kala tilted her head. "You unlocked the Void's pulse. You resisted Elder-level influence. You're more than real—you're rewriting what it means to be Talen."
He turned around. "But that's just it. The Talen bloodline was supposed to end with peace. Quinn made sure of that. And now I'm here, ripping open scars that were meant to heal."
Kala stepped beside him. "You didn't open those wounds, Russ. The world just covered them with lies. Someone had to see the truth beneath the bandages."
Russ let out a shaky breath. "I saw something when I connected to the pulse. A memory. My father's… or maybe not. A battlefield beyond space. A voice calling me… not as Quinn's son, but as an heir to something older than vampires, older than systems."
Kala blinked. "You think it's connected to the original Void?"
"I don't know. But whatever it is, it's waking up. And it wants me to take its place."
Silence stretched between them.
"Then we go to the Aether Archives," Kala finally said. "There's a record of every lineage, every power awakened across dimensions. If the original Void left a mark, it'll be there."
Russ nodded. "Where are the Archives?"
"Buried under the ruins of Gravis Prime. A restricted zone… and under Dominion control."
Russ groaned. "Of course it is."
They began walking back to the ship, but before they reached the ramp, a new voice echoed from the trees.
"Leaving without saying hello?"
Russ froze. That voice—calm, composed, and laced with mockery—he knew it from the broadcast. From the fights. From the past his father never wanted to revisit.
A man stepped out from the shadows, dressed in deep obsidian armor with white veins pulsing through it like living energy. His hair was silver, his eyes pitch black with crimson rings circling the iris.
"You…" Russ breathed. "You're Silas Vore."
Silas gave a mock bow. "Pleasure, Voidspawn."
Kala instinctively summoned her wings and stepped between them. "How did you find us?"
"Please," Silas said, walking slowly, unthreatened. "The moment he touched the Void's pulse, his signature flared across dimensions. Every old god and fallen emperor is sniffing the wind for this boy now."
Russ narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?"
"To talk," Silas said, smiling. "Because unlike your father, I don't believe in suppressing what we are. You're not a monster, Russ. You're evolution. A bridge between systems, bloodlines, and the Void."
Russ felt a cold pit form in his stomach. "You think I'm going to join you?"
"I think," Silas said, eyes flashing, "you'll realize you don't have a choice."