Aria's POV
The darkness swallowed us whole.
One second we were stepping through the doorway, hands clasped together. The next, we were falling through absolute nothingness. No light. No sound. No up or down.
Just endless, suffocating dark.
Caelan! I screamed in my mind. Where are you?
His thought came back faint, like he was far away: I'm here! Don't let go!
I squeezed his hand tighter or tried to. But I couldn't feel him anymore. Our glowing forms were separating, pulled apart by the void's terrible gravity.
No! I reached for him desperately. We have to stay together!
But the void had other plans. It grabbed us like a giant invisible hand and yanked us in opposite directions.
The last thing I felt through our bond was Caelan's terror matching my own. Then the connection went silent.
I was alone.
I fell through the darkness for what felt like hours. Or maybe seconds. Time didn't work right here. Nothing worked right here.
Then, suddenly, I hit something solid. I crashed onto a surface that felt like stone but looked like shadows. My glowing body flickered, dimmer than before.
Where am I?
I stood up slowly, looking around. The void wasn't completely empty like I'd expected. Instead, it was a twisted nightmare version of the real world. Broken buildings made of darkness. A sky that pulsed like a diseased heart. And in the distance, I could see something massive moving.
The corruption. The thing we came here to destroy.
But first, I had to find Caelan.
Caelan! I called through our bond. Can you hear me?
Nothing. Just silence.
Terror gripped my chest. What if the void had killed him? What if he was gone forever, and I was trapped here alone?
Then I felt it a tiny pulse through the bond. Weak, but there.
He was alive. And he was calling for me too.
I started running toward the feeling, my glowing feet barely touching the shadow-ground. The bond pulled me like a compass pointing north. He was this way. Somewhere in this nightmare, he was alive.
I just had to find him before something else did.
Because I wasn't alone in the void. I could hear things moving in the darkness. Whispers. Growls. The sound of thousands of lost souls, all trapped here just like the ancient couple had warned.
A shadow creature lunged at me from nowhere. It had too many arms and a mouth full of darkness instead of teeth.
I raised my hands and drew a glowing symbol in the air. Fire magic blazed from my palms, brighter than it had ever been in the real world. The creature shrieked and dissolved.
My magic is stronger here, I realized. Because I'm made of magic now.
Good. I'd need every advantage I could get.
I kept running, fighting off shadow creatures as I went. Each one that attacked got blasted with fire, ice, or force. I was a storm of magic, cutting through the void's darkness.
And finally, after what felt like forever, I saw him.
Caelan stood on a platform of shadow-stone, surrounded by a dozen void creatures. His glowing form flickered like mine, but he was fighting with the same deadly grace I'd seen in the real world. His sword made of pure light now instead of steel cut through the monsters like they were nothing.
Caelan! I called.
His head snapped toward me. Relief flooded through our bond. Aria! You're alive!
So are you! I blasted a path through the creatures between us, clearing the way.
We met in the middle, crashing together in a desperate hug. Our glowing forms merged slightly where we touched, like we were made of the same light.
I thought I lost you, Caelan said, his voice shaking.
I thought I lost you too, I thought back. Don't ever let go of me again.
Never, he promised.
The void creatures backed away from us, hissing. They seemed afraid of our combined light.
We stood back-to-back, ready to fight anything that came close.
We need to find the corruption and destroy it, Caelan said. Before the void tears us apart again.
There. I pointed toward the massive thing I'd seen moving in the distance. That has to be it.
Caelan couldn't see it with his eyes, but through our bond, he felt what I was showing him. His face went pale.
That's... that's huge.
I know.
The corruption looked like a dragon made of pure darkness. It towered over everything, its body constantly shifting and changing, consuming pieces of the void and growing larger.
And it had noticed us.
The creature's head turned in our direction. Eyes like black holes opened across its body, all staring at us.
Then it spoke. Not out loud, but directly into our minds. A voice like death itself.
FRESH SOULS. COME TO FEED ME. COME TO JOIN THE VOID.
We're not here to join you, I shot back. We're here to destroy you.
The corruption laughed. The sound made my glowing form flicker and fade.
YOU CANNOT DESTROY ME. I AM ETERNAL. I AM THE END OF ALL THINGS. AND YOU... YOU ARE JUST TWO BROKEN CHILDREN PLAYING AT BEING HEROES.
Images flooded my mind terrible visions that the corruption pulled from my deepest fears. Lyra laughing as she poisoned me. My parents turning away. Kaelis calling me cursed. Everyone I'd ever loved abandoning me.
Through the bond, I felt Caelan suffering too. The corruption was showing him Marcus's betrayal, his father's rejection, and the moment he lost his sight.
We both fell to our knees, overwhelmed by the psychological attack.
Stop! Caelan shouted. Get out of our heads!
But the corruption just laughed harder.
THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE. BROKEN. WORTHLESS. ABANDONED. YOU THINK LOVE CAN SAVE YOU? NOTHING SAVES ANYONE IN THE VOID.
My glowing form was fading fast. The darkness was winning.
Then I felt Caelan's hand find mine.
Don't listen to it, he said fiercely. None of that matters anymore. We're not those people. We're not broken. We're together.
His words cut through the corruption's attack like a blade through shadow.
You're right, I thought, strength returning. We're not broken. We're STRONGER.
Our bond flared with golden light the same color it had turned when we'd first admitted we cared about each other. The light pushed back the darkness, creating a safe space around us.
The corruption hissed, genuinely hurt for the first time.
IMPOSSIBLE. LOVE CANNOT EXIST IN THE VOID.
Then you've never felt real love, Caelan said, pulling me to my feet. And that's why you're going to lose.
We raised our joined hands together. Our combined magic gathered not just my power or his strength, but something new. Something that only existed because we chose each other.
The corruption roared and charged at us, a tidal wave of pure darkness.
We unleashed everything.
Golden light exploded from our hands, meeting the darkness head-on. The void itself screamed as our magic tore through it.
For a moment, I thought we were winning.
Then the corruption smiled terrible, knowing smile.
YOU FELL FOR IT. YOU USED ALL YOUR POWER. NOW YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT.
Our light flickered. Dimmed. Started to die.
And the corruption's darkness rushed in to consume us both.