The Voideater's silhouette vanished into the fog…
but the pressure it left behind clung to the air like smoke.
Aren stared into the swirling mist, Voidscar Bow in hand.
His heartbeat had finally begun to slow, but his mind buzzed with the Remnant's final words.
Guide it.
Toward a second Voideater.
He exhaled sharply.
"This is insane."
The female operative stepped beside him, voice trembling.
"You survived being face-to-face with that thing. That should already be impossible."
The older operative crossed his arms.
"Herding one Voideater toward another?
Kid… that's suicide with extra steps."
Aren didn't disagree.
But he also didn't back down.
"It's part of the training. If the Remnant thinks I can learn this, then I will."
The female operative frowned.
"Do you even know HOW to guide a Voideater?"
Aren hesitated.
"…Not yet."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The fog shifted.
The Remnant stepped forward again, runes dimmed but firm.
"Lesson nine."
Aren turned.
"I'm listening."
The Remnant pointed one limb toward the fading direction of the Voideater.
"Voideaters follow disruption."
Aren blinked.
"Disruption?"
"Yes."
"They seek the strongest instability nearby."
Aren thought for a moment.
"So… if I create controlled instability, I can make it follow me?"
The Remnant nodded slowly.
"Correct."
The older operative swore under his breath.
"He's gonna use himself as bait…"
The Remnant continued:
"Your Voidscar is unstable.
That instability is bait."
Aren swallowed.
"Isn't that… exactly what it wants to eat?"
"Yes."
Aren closed his eyes.
Great.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Remnant stepped closer.
"But you will not give it your body.
You will give it your signature."
Aren frowned.
"My signature?"
"Voidscar energy is like scent."
The Remnant extended one massive limb.
"Learn to leave a trail."
Aren blinked again.
"...A trail? Like footprints?"
"No."
"Like a path of unstable pulses."
The female operative squinted.
"So… like dropping crumbs for a monster that wants to eat you?"
"Yes."
Aren groaned quietly.
"This training gets worse every day."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Remnant straightened.
"Voidscar bearer.
Show me a pulse."
Aren steadied his breath, raising his hand.
He reached inward—
not pulling on power,
but nudging it.
A small, weak violet spark flickered from his palm.
The Remnant shook its head.
"Too visible."
Aren tried again.
A pulse.
Softer.
More like a breath of light.
"Too stable."
Aren frowned.
"How unstable is unstable?"
"Enough to attract a Voideater.
Not enough to kill you."
Aren stared blankly.
"What does that MEAN?!"
The older operative muttered:
"It means 'good luck dying slowly.'"
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Aren tried again.
This time, he focused on the Voidscar's instinct—
The wild part that reacted to danger.
The chaotic part he suppressed during the Echo training.
He whispered:
"Just a little.
Not too much."
A ripple of violet pressure pulsed outward—
quiet, but jagged, like a fragment of broken space.
The fog trembled.
The ground hummed.
The Remnant finally nodded.
"Correct."
Aren sighed in relief.
"So… I just do this? Leave little pulses behind me?"
"Yes."
The Remnant gestured toward the valley below.
"Now you will walk."
Aren blinked.
"…Walk?"
"Walk."
"Where?"
"Toward the second Voideater."
The female operative almost dropped her scanner.
"There's another one ALREADY?!"
The Remnant lowered its head.
"It approaches."
A distant vibration rolled through the earth, deeper even than the last.
Aren's blood ran cold.
"…Of course it does."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Aren gripped the bow, gave the Remnant one last look, and stepped toward the ridge path that descended into the valley.
His boots pressed into the dirt.
He released a small pulse.
The fog shifted behind him.
He walked.
Another pulse.
The ground vibrated faintly.
He walked deeper.
Another pulse.
His heartbeat sped up.
Another pulse—
And the air behind him bent.
A hollow sound rippled across the ridge.
The Voideater had sensed him.
Aren didn't look back.
He kept walking.
Slow.
Controlled.
Deliberate.
The ground trembled in rhythm with him.
The female operative whispered:
"He's… doing it…"
The older one whispered back:
"He's making himself a breadcrumb trail of void energy. Insane… but it might actually work."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Aren reached the valley floor.
The fog in front of him twisted unnaturally.
The Remnant's voice echoed behind him:
"It is near."
Aren whispered:
"…Which one?"
The Remnant answered:
"Not the first."
A deeper, heavier vibration rolled across the valley.
Even the fog seemed to retreat.
Aren froze.
Footsteps shook the ground—
not hollow like the first Voideater's passage,
but heavy.
Predatory.
Sharp.
Aren raised the Voidscar Bow.
"What am I walking toward…?"
The Remnant stepped beside him.
Its runes glowed with rare intensity.
"A Voideater that hunts other Voideaters."
Aren's breath hitched.
"…There's a hierarchy?!"
"There is."
The fog tore open.
A massive shape emerged—
Taller.
Broader.
Faster.
Stronger.
The Remnant spoke the name with quiet gravity:
"Voideater Prime."
Aren's pulse stopped for a full second.
Prime.
The apex of void predators.
A creature that devoured smaller Voideaters for strength.
Aren whispered hoarsely:
"…And I'm supposed to guide the first Voideater… toward THAT?"
The Remnant lowered its head.
"Yes."
Aren exhaled.
He looked at the Prime.
Then at the fog where the first Voideater lurked behind him.
And whispered:
"…This is the stupidest thing I've ever agreed to."
He lifted the bow.
A new pulse rippled from his chest—
stronger than before.
The Prime's hollow face turned toward him instantly.
Aren's heart dropped.
The Remnant stepped back.
"Lesson ten begins."
Aren whispered:
"…What's lesson ten?"
The Remnant answered:
"Run."
And Aren ran.