Kira's POV
The little girl with Mordain's voice laughs, and the world ends.
The Void tears explode outward like bombs. Reality shatters around us—actual pieces of the world breaking apart and floating in nothing. Buildings crack and crumble into dust that doesn't even hit the ground. It just disappears into the hungry darkness.
Through our bond, Lucian's terror slams into me. Not fear for himself—fear for everyone around us. The guards. Maven. The people screaming in the streets as the Void swallows their homes.
"Get back!" Seraphine shouts, pulling her injured soldiers away from the spreading tears.
But there's nowhere to run. The Void is everywhere now, eating the city like a monster with a thousand mouths.
The little girl—who isn't really a little girl—stands in the center of the chaos, smiling with Mordain's cruel expression on her innocent face. "Did you really think you could beat me? I've been planning this for years while you two were busy hunting each other like fools."
"Where is she?" I demand, stepping forward even though every instinct screams at me to run. "Where's the real girl?"
"Dead." Mordain's voice through the child's mouth makes my stomach twist. "Died three days ago. I'm just wearing her body like a puppet. Neat trick, isn't it?"
Lucian makes a sound like a wounded animal. Through our bond, I feel his horror—not just at the death, but at what it means. Mordain has been using dead children as weapons. How many others has he killed?
"You're a monster," Lucian says, and his light magic flares so bright it hurts to look at.
"I'm a survivor." The puppet girl tilts her head at an angle that's completely wrong. "When the Void consumes both Courts, I'll be the only one left standing. The Void promised me power beyond imagination. All I had to do was deliver it two kingdoms worth of souls."
Maven's face goes white. "My sister. Lyra. You're going to feed her to that thing?"
"Her and thousands more." Mordain shrugs the girl's small shoulders. "Why do you think I've been collecting prisoners? The Void needs to eat, and I need to prove my loyalty."
Through our bond, Lucian and I share the same thought: We have to stop him. Now.
We move together without planning it, our twilight magic blazing to life. Shadow and light weave between our joined hands, creating that impossible silver-gold power that shouldn't exist.
The puppet girl's smile falters. "That won't work on me. I'm not really here, remember?"
She's right. Our magic slams into her, but it passes right through like she's made of smoke. The body collapses—just an empty shell now—and Mordain's laughter echoes from everywhere and nowhere.
"Enjoy your last moments!" his voice booms. "The Void is hungry, and it's finally time to feast!"
The tears spread faster. I watch a guard try to run and simply cease to exist mid-step. One second he's there, the next he's gone. Not dead. Just... erased. Like he never existed at all.
"We can't fight what we can't touch," Lucian says through gritted teeth. "And we can't seal this many tears at once."
"Then what do we do?" Maven asks, helping Seraphine stay on her feet.
Through our bond, an idea forms. It's desperate and stupid and probably going to kill us both, but it's all we have.
"The Void's origin point," I say, remembering what Lucian told me about his research. "Mordain said this has been planned for years. That means he opened the first tear somewhere. If we can find it and seal it—"
"The rest collapse with it," Lucian finishes. His eyes meet mine. "But we'd have to get there through the Void itself. Travel through that darkness to reach the source."
"That's suicide," Seraphine says flatly.
"Everything we do is suicide at this point," I remind her. It's almost funny how many times we've said that today.
Another building disappears. More screams. The Void is eating the city faster now, like it's gaining strength with every person it consumes.
"Where's the origin point?" Maven demands.
Lucian closes his eyes, and I feel him searching through our bond for the visions he's had. Cassian's ghost, trying to show him the truth. The memories of his brother's final days.
"The Shadow Court dungeons," he says finally. "The same place where Cassian died. Mordain opened the first tear there three years ago."
"That's where they're keeping Lyra!" Maven's voice cracks. "We have to go there anyway to save her!"
Through the bond, Lucian and I understand what this means. We'll have to travel through the Void—let that hungry darkness surround us—to reach the dungeons. And we'll have to do it while maintaining our twilight magic connection, because the second we let go, the Void will rip us apart.
"How do we travel through it?" I ask, staring at the closest tear. It pulses like a living thing, radiating cold that makes my bones ache.
"We don't travel through it," Lucian says quietly. "We become part of it. Use our shadow magic to hide inside the darkness, then use light magic to navigate through it."
"That's insane."
"You have a better idea?"
I don't. And we're out of time.
Another explosion rocks the ground. A massive tear opens right beneath our feet. We all scramble backward, but Seraphine isn't fast enough. Her injured leg buckles.
She falls toward the Void.
Maven screams. I lunge forward, my shadow magic stretching out to catch Seraphine, but I'm too far away—
Lucian's light magic flares. A barrier of pure radiance forms under Seraphine, catching her inches before she touches the Void's edge. He pulls her back to solid ground, gasping with effort.
"Go," Seraphine orders, coughing blood. "We'll evacuate as many people as we can. You two seal that tear."
"If we don't make it back—" Lucian starts.
"You'll make it back," she interrupts. "You're too stubborn to die. Both of you."
Maven hugs me quickly. "Save my sister. Please."
"I will," I promise, even though I have no idea if I can keep it.
Lucian takes my hand. Our twilight magic flares bright enough to push back the Void's darkness for just a moment.
"Ready?" he asks.
"No," I admit. "But let's do it anyway."
We run toward the largest Void tear—a massive crack in reality that swallows half the street. At the last second, I pull my shadow magic around us like a cloak. Lucian adds his light magic, and we jump.
The sensation of entering the Void is like drowning in ice-cold nothing.
There's no air. No sound. No light except the silver-gold glow of our joined hands. The darkness presses against us from every direction, trying to tear us apart. Trying to erase us like it erased everyone else.
Through our bond, I feel Lucian's panic matching mine. Keep holding on, his thought screams. Don't let go!
I grip his hand tighter. Our twilight magic is the only thing protecting us, creating a tiny bubble of reality in this place where reality doesn't exist.
We fall through the darkness. Or maybe we're flying. It's impossible to tell direction when there's nothing around you.
Images flash past—memories that aren't ours. People being consumed by the Void. Cities falling. The world ending in a thousand different timelines. The Void shows us everything it's destroyed, every universe it's eaten, and whispers that we're next.
No, I think back at it. We're going to stop you.
The Void laughs. It sounds like dying stars.
Then, suddenly, we crash through into reality again.
We land hard on cold stone floors. I gasp for air, my lungs burning. Beside me, Lucian coughs violently, our hands still locked together.
We're in the Shadow Court dungeons. I recognize the black stone walls, the magical chains hanging from the ceiling, the smell of fear and despair that never quite goes away.
"We made it," Lucian whispers, sounding shocked.
But my relief dies when I see what's in front of us.
The origin point of the Void is massive—a tear in reality so big it takes up the entire far wall of the dungeon. And standing in front of it, surrounded by unconscious prisoners chained in a circle, is Mordain.
The real Mordain this time. Not a puppet.
"Welcome," he says with that cruel smile. "You're just in time for the main event."
He gestures to the prisoners, and I see Maven's little sister Lyra among them. She's barely conscious, blood running down her face.
"I was going to feed them to the Void one at a time," Mordain continues. "But since you're here, I think I'll throw you in too. The Void will love consuming a soulbonded pair. That's rare magic. Delicious."
Behind him, something moves in the massive Void tear. Something huge. Something that makes the darkness we traveled through look like a candle next to the sun.
Through our bond, Lucian and I both realize the same terrifying truth at once:
The Void isn't just hungry darkness.
It's alive.
And it's waking up.
A voice speaks from the tear—ancient, terrible, vast beyond comprehension.
"FINALLY," it says, and the word shakes the foundations of reality. "THE BRIDGE BETWEEN SHADOW AND LIGHT. THE SOULBOUND PAIR. I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU."
Mordain's smile grows wider. "Did you really think I wanted to feed it random prisoners? No. The Void needs something special to fully wake up. Something impossible."
He points at Lucian and me.
"It needs you two. Your bond is the key that unlocks its full power. The magic that lets it consume not just this world, but all worlds. Every reality. Everything."
Through our bond, I feel Lucian's horror matching mine. We didn't come here to save the world.
We came here to end it.
The Void's massive form shifts in the tear, and I see something that makes my blood freeze—eyes. Thousands of them. Millions. All focused on Lucian and me.
"COME TO ME," the Void commands, and the pull is irresistible. Our feet start moving toward the tear against our will, drawn like moths to flame.
"Fight it!" Lucian shouts, but I can feel through our bond that he can't stop moving either.
Mordain laughs. "You can't fight what you're destined to become. Your bond was never meant to save the world. It was meant to destroy it. Shadow and light together—the perfect fuel to burn reality itself."
We're three steps from the tear when Lyra's eyes snap open.
She looks directly at me, and her voice—strained and weak—cuts through the Void's pull:
"The bond isn't the key. It's the lock. You have to—"
Mordain strikes her silent with a blast of dark magic.
But those words echo in my mind.
The bond isn't the key. It's the lock.
What did she mean?
The Void's pull grows stronger. Two steps away now.
Through our bond, Lucian and I share one last desperate thought:
If we go in there, if the Void takes us, everyone dies. Every world. Every reality. Everything.
One step away.
The Void's mouths open wide, ready to consume us.
And then I remember something from my assassin training. Something about locks.
To break a lock, you need the right key.
But to become a lock yourself—
You have to shatter the key.
"Lucian," I whisper, turning to face him. "We have to break our bond."
His eyes go wide with horror. "That'll kill us both!"
"Better we die than let that thing use us to destroy everything."
The Void screams in rage, realizing what we're planning.
Mordain lunges forward. "NO!"
But we're already moving. Our joined hands pull apart. Our twilight magic flares one last time, bright as a dying star.
And as the soulbond between us begins to tear—
Everything goes white.