The crack in the cosmic sky widened like an ancient wound reopening.
Cold, silver light spilled out—light that didn't warm, didn't glow… it devoured.
The floating citadel trembled as if the void itself was breathing down its spine.
Ethan felt the temperature drop instantly.
The Silent Star's pulse, normally warm and alive, suddenly recoiled inside him—
as if something far older, far darker, had entered the realm.
Lyra clutched her staff, voice shaking.
"…That light… that's not possible. The Void Sovereign was erased from existence."
Eldric answered quietly, his gaze frozen on the widening crack:
"No. He erased existence."
Even Vahl'Serath—the Harbinger, the cosmic titan who had just tested Ethan—stepped backward.
For the first time, uncertainty flickered in his molten eyes.
Ethan took a breath, steadying himself.
"Who… is the Void Sovereign?"
The crack pulsed once.
The entire Void Frontier bowed under the weight of that heartbeat.
Vahl'Serath spoke slowly.
"The first being that learned how to kill a universe.
The one who devours the roots of reality.
The only enemy the Silent Star could never destroy."
He pointed at Ethan.
"And the reason you were chosen."
Ethan swallowed, feeling the tremor in Eldric's stance.
A second pulse emitted from the crack—this one deeper, heavier.
The pillars of the citadel split.
The sky fractured like glass.
Lyra grabbed Ethan's arm.
"We have to go! If the Sovereign emerges, this entire realm will vanish."
But before Ethan could move, a voice drifted out of the crack—
soft, echoing, layered, like a thousand whispers speaking through one mouth:
"So… the Star chooses another vessel."
Every star in the sky dimmed.
Ethan's breath hitched.
The voice didn't sound loud.
It sounded everywhere.
Vahl'Serath dropped to one knee, instinctively. Even he couldn't remain standing.
"Do not speak his name…" Eldric whispered.
"It draws him closer."
Ethan stared at the crack as a shadow began to shape itself inside.
Not a body.
Not a form.
Just… absence.
A silhouette made of pure nothingness.
The Void Sovereign's presence pressed against the realm, and Ethan's chest constricted.
The Silent Star's pulse inside him flickered violently.
The shadow spoke again:
"Your pulse is unstable, vessel.
The Silent Star awakens… but you are not yet worthy to wield it."
Ethan stepped forward anyway.
"I won't run from you."
The shadow tilted its head, amused.
"Courage.
A rare defect in mortals."
The crack widened again—violent this time.
A shockwave blasted out, knocking Lyra to the ground and nearly pushing Eldric off the platform.
Ethan shielded them with a burst of starlight, gritting his teeth as the force burned through his arms.
Vahl'Serath rose, roaring:
"Sovereign! This realm is not yours!"
The shadow turned.
And with a single whisper—
"Silence."
—Vahl'Serath was thrown across the sky like a broken comet, crashing into a floating mountain with a sound that shattered the landscape.
Ethan gasped.
Lyra froze.
Eldric's eyes widened.
The Harbinger of Entropy…
one of the strongest beings Ethan had ever seen…
was swatted aside like dust.
The shadow focused on Ethan again.
"The Silent Star chose you.
But you are still blind to its true nature."
The pulse inside Ethan throbbed painfully.
The shadow's voice became sharper.
"Do you wish to survive, vessel?"
Ethan clenched his fists, his aura trembling.
"Yes."
The Sovereign extended a hand of darkness through the crack.
Stars around them flickered out.
Reality bent backward.
The citadel disintegrated at the edges.
"Then awaken.
Find the forgotten chamber—the Starcore Sanctum.
Only there will your pulse stabilize."
Eldric snapped to attention, shocked.
"The Sanctum was destroyed ages ago!"
The shadow turned toward him.
"Your records were destroyed.
Not the Sanctum."
Then the Sovereign pulled back into the crack, and the wound in the sky sealed shut in a single violent blink.
The realm fell into dead silence.
The air slowly returned.
Ethan collapsed to one knee, gasping as the Silent Star's pulse flickered violently inside his chest.
Lyra put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay?"
Ethan nodded weakly.
Eldric approached, his voice low and tense.
"The Sovereign never gives warnings.
If he told you to find the Sanctum…
we have no time to waste."
Vahl'Serath limped back, battered but alive.
He faced Ethan and spoke with grim seriousness.
"You passed the Trial.
Now comes the true path of a Starbearer."
He pointed toward the distant horizon, where a faint line of ancient starlight appeared.
"The Starcore Sanctum lies hidden at the edge of the Eternal Rift.
If you wish to face the Void Sovereign…
you must awaken the Silent Star's Second Pulse."
Ethan exhaled slowly.
The journey was no longer a choice.
It was destiny.
---