Chapter 22
Draziel stood in the aftermath of his vision, the energy still thrumming beneath his skin — quiet, but coiled like a storm waiting to be released. The Rift had not just shown him something—it had *unlocked* something.
Ryann stepped cautiously forward. "You're… different."
He looked at his hands. They shimmered faintly with obsidian lines, pulsing with slow light. "It's not just power," he murmured. "It's… awareness."
He looked at his palm.
In his palm, tendrils of pure Void flickered into existence — thin and floating like strands of shadow. When he touched a stone wall with them, it decayed in moments — not destroyed by force, but *unwritten*, like it had never existed.
Ryann stepped back. "Careful…"
Draziel clenched his fist, and the threads vanished.
Not all of it was controllable… not yet.
—
*"This power… it isn't just for war,"* he said quietly. "It's memory. It's endings. It's *truth.*"
"But power like that," Ryann whispered, "will *terrify* the world."
Sylas added, "And someone will want to control it. Or kill it."
Draziel looked out into the horizon.
"Then let them come."
—
The group made camp in a hollowed out alcove carved by ancient erosion, deep within the Scarran Rift. Jagged rock spires rose like skeletal fingers into the sky, but here — for a fleeting moment — the world was quiet.
A fire crackled in the center of their circle. It didn't chase away the shadows entirely, but it gave warmth. And for now, that was enough.
Ryann tended to Sylas's shoulder, dabbing salve against where Nyra's blade had grazed him. "You keep rushing in like that," she murmured, "and you're going to lose more than your pride."
Sylas winced but smirked. "You say that like pride isn't the most important part of me."
Draziel sat slightly apart, his gaze unfocused. He wasn't sleeping, but *listening* — to something deeper. The Void, perhaps, or the silence it left behind.
"You've been quiet," Ryann said, approaching with a waterskin. "Want to talk about it?"
He took it without looking. "There's… a weight. It's like the Void is watching *me* now, not the other way around."
"Do you regret accepting it?" she asked gently.
Draziel's jaw tightened. "No. But it changes things. Me. Us. Everything."
Sylas stretched, tossing a twig into the fire. "Well, for what it's worth," he said, "I've followed worse people. At least your terrifying new powers come with half-decent cooking."
Ryann laughed softly. Even Draziel cracked a faint smile.
Then came silence — but it wasn't heavy. It was shared, understood. A fragile moment of *humanity* amid chaos.
Above them, the sky stretched vast and unfeeling. But around the fire, three souls held onto a bond forged in blood, betrayal, and something unspoken.
They didn't know what lay ahead.
But for tonight, they were not alone.
—
The sky above the Rift shifted from deep violet to a pallid, rust-hued gray — Scarran's version of morning. Light here didn't rise; it bled in slowly, filtered through swirling mists and ash clouds that never truly cleared.
Draziel stood at the edge of the ridge, his cloak catching the breeze, eyes scanning the expanse ahead. Below lay the chasmic depths of Scarran, jagged and broken — a wound upon the world.
Behind him, Ryann stirred, brushing hair from her face as she stepped out of the tent. "You didn't sleep again."
"I didn't need to," he replied, without turning. "Not anymore. The Void… it keeps me alert."
"Useful," she said, "but disturbing."
A few paces away, Sylas emerged, stretching with a groan. "Morning," he muttered, yawning. "Or what passes for it down here." He glanced around, sniffed the air, then frowned. "No monsters. No bounty hunter. No nightmares. That's either a good omen... or we're due for something worse."
Draziel finally turned. "It's time we move. The temple ruins the Rift conceals — they're close."
Ryann buckled her gear. "We'll reach it before midday, if the terrain holds."
As they packed up camp, something subtle stirred in the wind — a whisper, felt more than heard. Draziel's hand flexed instinctively, and the shadows beneath his boots seemed to shift.
The Void stirred with anticipation.
And somewhere, deeper in the Rift… something *waited*.