Darkness. But not emptiness.
Russ floated through a sea of memories—none of them his, and yet every one intimately familiar. He saw hands he didn't recognize weaving sigils in the air. Eyes—his eyes—burning with Voidlight as stars collapsed in the distance. He heard voices whispering, not from without, but within.
> You are not the first.
You are the echo of an oath.
You are the continuation of a broken promise.
He awoke with a gasp, drenched in cold sweat, the Seal on his chest now glowing permanently. It didn't hurt anymore—it throbbed with power.
Kala crouched nearby, watching him like he might explode. "You've been out for six hours. You screamed. Twice. And then you started muttering in a language I don't think exists."
Russ sat up. The chamber around them had changed. The monolith was gone. In its place, a pool of liquid shadow churned slowly, as if waiting for him to step in.
"I remember… pieces," he murmured. "A pact. A war. Something ancient."
"Ancient as in last millennia, or ancient as in 'before stars had names'?"
He smiled weakly. "Closer to the second one."
Kala exhaled. "Of course it is."
Russ rose, wobbling slightly. "I'm not just carrying the Void. I was part of it. Or shaped by it. I think I was one of its champions, eons ago. And every few cycles… I come back."
Kala's eyes narrowed. "You're telling me this has happened before? You've lived before?"
He nodded. "Each time the universe nears collapse, the Seals call out. And someone—me, or someone like me—answers. Only this time, it's different. Something broke the cycle. Someone intervened."
As if summoned by the conversation, the shadows in the pool rose, forming a flickering image—a cloaked figure with no face. It spoke in a voice that resonated directly in their skulls.
> The Warden has awoken.
The Fourth stirs beyond the Veil.
Prepare the Heir.
The image shattered. Silence returned.
Kala muttered, "Okay, that's enough cryptic horror for one day."
Russ turned to her, face pale. "The Warden is one of the Old Beings. If it's awake… we're already too late. It guards the Fourth Seal."
"Let me guess," she said dryly. "We have to get to it before it… unseals itself?"
He nodded grimly. "And that means leaving now."
As they returned to the surface, the Forgotten Moon began to rumble. The moment Russ set foot outside the ziggurat, the ground behind them cracked, the structure folding in on itself as if consumed by the very shadows that had birthed it.
They sprinted to the skiff and launched just as the entire moon imploded into a silent singularity. Kala watched the collapsing sphere through the viewport, then looked at Russ.
"Next time you say, 'Let's explore an ancient void temple,' I'm going to punch you."
"Fair."
The ship jumped to subspace, and Russ closed his eyes, clutching the memory of the monolith, the Seal, and the words still echoing in his mind:
> Prepare the Heir.
He wasn't sure what he was becoming. But he knew this: the universe had forgotten its old nightmares.
And he was waking them up.