Russ sat at the head of the obsidian table, his fingers steepled beneath his chin, eyes scanning the room. Around him gathered the most dangerous individuals from each of the surviving races—vampires, werewolves, celestials, draconians, and even the elusive shadowkind. The Void's influence lingered in the room like a sentient fog, watching, listening.
This was the Council of Shadows.
He hadn't called for it. They had come to him.
"You've shaken the balance, Talen," said Grand Alpha Veylor, his fur-lined cloak draped over his massive shoulders. "Even the Werebrood felt the surge when you destroyed Xyre's Ascension Gate."
"The surge was a warning," Russ replied coolly. "This dimension is cracking. If no one moves, everything falls."
"You say that as if it's your burden to fix," snarled Veylor. "You—half-shadow, half-vampire... child of a legend. You don't understand what you're playing with."
"I didn't ask for this power," Russ answered, his voice low but sharp. "But I will use it. Because unlike you, I'm not content to wait for the end."
The room went silent.
A cloaked woman leaned forward. Her voice was velvet and venom.
"Power responds to will, Russ Talen. Yours is strong… but reckless. Do you even know what the Pulse of the Void did to you?"
Russ turned to her. "Enlighten me, Maven of Shadows."
She pulled down her hood, revealing shifting black eyes like pools of ink. "You're becoming something... not of this world. The Pulse didn't just awaken your lineage—it awakened the Void within you. You're a conduit now."
The word hung in the air.
Conduit.
A vessel. A living link between the mortal realm and the endless abyss.
"Then maybe it's time we stop fearing what's beyond and start using it," Russ said, rising slowly. "Quinn closed the breach before. I'll finish what he started."
"But what if you are the breach?" asked a voice from the far end of the table.
Everyone turned. The speaker was draped in crimson, his face veiled, but his aura was unmistakable.
Lucien.
The Celestial defector. The one who had once tried to consume Quinn's soul.
"I watched your father fight fate until it nearly broke him. And now here you are, thinking you'll win where he wavered. Noble. But foolish."
Russ didn't flinch.
"I'm not my father."
Lucien smiled, cold and amused. "No. You're darker."
Maven stood. "Enough. The Void is stirring. And the old gods are whispering again. We either unite… or die divided."
Russ met every gaze at the table.
"I won't ask for loyalty. I demand resolve. The Ebon Rift is opening again. And this time, if we fall, there won't be another Quinn Talen to save us."
He placed a shimmering crystal on the table—a sliver of pure Voidstone, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
"I've located the last shard of Oblivion."
Gasps rippled through the council.
The weapon that had ended the last war. The same weapon that Quinn had shattered to seal the dimensional gate.
"You plan to reforge it?" Maven asked.
Russ's eyes burned violet-black. "No. I plan to evolve it."