Silence.
Elyra opened her eyes to find herself floating—not in the ship, nor the hive—but in an endless expanse of fractured light. Shards of memory drifted around her, glowing softly like pieces of broken glass. Each fragment shimmered with images—faces she knew, places she'd been, and moments she thought she'd forgotten.
She turned slowly, realizing she wasn't alone.
Kael stood a few meters away, his armor flickering between its real form and the shadowed echo she'd faced. His expression was distant, confused, but when his eyes met hers, a glimmer of recognition sparked.
"Elyra?" he said, his voice uncertain, almost childlike.
Relief and disbelief tangled inside her. "Kael! You're… you're here."
He looked around, frowning. "I don't know where 'here' is. I remember the battle with the Void, the storm, and then… nothing. Everything after that feels like someone else's dream."
Elyra approached carefully, the ground forming beneath her feet as if the Mind itself shaped it from thought. "We're inside the Void's mental construct. It copied you—your memories, your emotions—and trapped your consciousness within its hive. I think it wanted to learn from you."
Kael grimaced. "Or control me."
"Both," she admitted.
He glanced around at the shards floating nearby. "Then these fragments… they're my memories?"
"Yes—but distorted. The Void twists what it takes. We have to find the core of your consciousness before it merges completely with the infection."
As if responding to her words, the horizon rippled. The colors around them shifted from serene blue to deep crimson. From the cracks in the ground, black liquid began to seep, spreading like veins of ink.
Kael drew his weapon, though it flickered uncertainly in his hand. "It knows we're here."
A voice echoed through the vastness—cold and mocking, yet hauntingly familiar.
"You think you can separate yourselves from me?"
The air thickened, and from the red mist emerged the echo Kael—now larger, more monstrous, its body formed from writhing shadow. The imitation smirked, eyes burning with malevolent light.
"I am not a copy," it hissed. "I am what remains when truth fades. I am the part he hides from you."
Elyra felt the fragment in her hand pulse again, its light illuminating the darkness. "It's lying," she said to Kael. "It feeds on your doubt. Don't let it anchor itself."
Kael clenched his fists. "I won't."
He stepped forward, facing his echo head-on. "You're nothing but noise in my head. Time to silence you."
The echo lunged, and reality itself splintered—light and shadow colliding in waves. Elyra raised the fragment, projecting a shield of luminous energy that held back the chaos. The two Kaels clashed within the storm of their own shared mind, each strike sending ripples through the world.
Elyra shouted over the roar, "Kael! Focus on what's real—on us!"
For a moment, the real Kael's eyes cleared, blazing with purpose. His form stabilized, brighter than before.
And with one final surge of will, he drove his blade through the echo's heart.
The shadow screamed—and shattered into a thousand fading sparks.
The storm calmed.
Kael collapsed to one knee, breathing heavily, the light around him dim but steady. Elyra knelt beside him, relief flooding through her.
He looked up at her weakly and smiled. "You always were terrible at leaving me behind."
Elyra laughed softly through her tears. "And you always make rescuing you too complicated."
The shards of light began to dissolve, revealing a path of gold leading upward.
"Come on," she said, offering her hand. "Let's go home."
---