The hive's heartbeat grew louder as Elyra and the Marauder descended toward the core. Each pulse sent tremors through the air, making the ship's hull vibrate like a struck chord. The deeper they went, the more the darkness seemed to notice them—whispers rippling through the void like waves.
Elyra adjusted the controls carefully. "The energy levels are unstable. If we move too fast, the shockwave could wake the whole hive."
"Then we tread lightly," the Marauder murmured. "But be ready—something waits ahead. The Void never leaves its heart unguarded."
They maneuvered through the black crystal pillars until the cocoon filled the viewport. It was immense—spanning hundreds of meters, pulsing between shadow and light. Strange shapes moved within it, silhouettes of memories twisting in pain. Elyra felt a pang of recognition in the flickering faces—friends, soldiers, explorers—all swallowed by the corruption.
Then the cocoon split open.
A surge of energy threw the ship backward, alarms flaring. Elyra gripped the console as a figure stepped from the cocoon, surrounded by a faint, distorted aura of light. Her heart stopped.
It was Kael.
Or rather, something wearing his shape.
The reflection of his armor, his stance, even his voice—it was almost perfect. But his eyes glowed with void energy, and his expression was void of warmth.
"Elyra," the doppelgänger said, voice layered with echoes. "You shouldn't have come."
The Marauder reacted instantly, tendrils flaring defensively. "The Void copies what it cannot destroy. This is not your companion—it's his echo."
But Elyra couldn't look away. Every detail—the way he tilted his head, the cadence of his tone—it was Kael, down to the smallest imperfection.
"Why?" she whispered. "Why use him?"
The echo smiled faintly, though the gesture felt wrong. "Because he's what you trust most. The Void doesn't need to fight you—it only needs you to hesitate."
The cocoon behind him pulsed brighter, feeding his form with shadow. Elyra felt her chest tighten. The fragment in her hand began to hum violently, its light flaring against the surrounding dark.
The Marauder's voice boomed. "Elyra, focus! The fragment recognizes the false pattern—it can undo it!"
Elyra steadied her breath. "If this thing is built from Kael's image… then maybe I can reach it through his memory."
She pressed her hand against the control sphere. The fragment projected waves of harmonic light that filled the chamber, washing over the echo. The figure staggered, the shadows around him flickering like static. For a split second, she saw something underneath—Kael's real essence, faint but alive somewhere deep inside the void.
The echo roared, its form unraveling and reforming. "You can't save him. He belongs to us now."
"Then we'll take him back," Elyra said fiercely.
The Marauder surged forward, its tendrils striking through the shadows, disrupting the energy field. The hive screamed—thousands of voices overlapping—as the chamber began to collapse.
Through the chaos, Elyra held her ground, light meeting darkness head-on.
And as the echo reached toward her, a single, human word escaped its lips—soft, uncertain, real.
"Elyra…?"
Then everything exploded into white.
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