The silence in the cell was louder than any screams. Kaen was on the floor, lying on his side in the darkest corner, his face hollowed with tears. His body was rigid, contracted, no longer feeling cold or hungry, nor could he feel time.
He had screamed Riven's name until he lost his voice, but his brother had died alone, unable to feel his presence. He had seen the axe blade fall and his head roll into the crowd.
Kaen's entire world had lost its colour.
"This way, it's the next on the right" a distant voice said from the corridor, heading toward the cell. From the sound of the footsteps, it was several men.
Three guards stopped in front of the bars and looked at Kaen lying on the ground. "It's him, the Archmage wants him in the square, like the other one" Grey Mantle stated. Together with his colleagues he opened the cell and lifted Kaen from the floor.
Kaen did not react. What was the point of fighting for a better life if his brother, his only family, was no longer with him? He felt no more empathy or grief, only a sense of emptiness and remorse. Even the anger was gone. Maybe the least painful option was to stop living.
The three guards dragged him out of the cell, his feet crawling along the corridor. "Are we sure it's him? He doesn't seem capable of killing one of us, look how skinny and weak he is!" one of them said. Kaen did not say a word. Several prisoners saw him pass by and stared at him, some with pity, others with resignation.
The stench of the prison dissipated as soon as he was outside, into the square. The crowd that had witnessed Riven's execution was still there, as were the Archmage, the two wizards, the executioner and the presumed commander of the Grey Mantles. They were all standing in the same place, waiting for another execution.
This time it would be Kaen's turn.
He climbed the few steps that led to the scaffold, lifting his head only to look at the creature that had exterminated his family. The icy, mysterious presence of the Archmage was strong even from this distance, even in such a large open space.
The eyes of Kaen and the Archmage met. There had to be a man of flesh and blood behind that mask. Kaen would have liked to see the killer's real face. But for what purpose? Even with all the power in his body, he would be no match for him. Whoever wields mana can shape matter and space to his will, especially if he is an Archmage.
He was only a Nullborn, a mana-less creature.
Anger began to boil in Kaen's blood again, his heartbeat increased. The expression carved into the glass mask made him furious; he wished he could gouge out that damned murderer's eyes.
The guards left the prisoner in the hands of the executioner, who grabbed Kaen by the shoulder and forced him to face the crowd. It was time for the mustached guard's speech.
"Now, people of Drosven Hollow! The sinner called Riven did not act alone! His brother stands before you! He is being judged by the Guardians of Mana for contempt of a public authority and cooperating in the theft!"
The crowd began to murmur in confusion, and Kaen turned his gaze forward. Just below his feet, a trail of blood led down the stairs. He closed his eyes; he knew what he would see. Anger exploded inside him again, like a fire.
The guard's voice became muffled, as if he were submerged in water. In his mind there was nothing but the deepest darkness, cold and devoid of any emotion.
"Kaen"
A deep voice spoke his name.
Kaen opened his eyes. He looked around but saw no one but the executioner, the crowd and the guards. He closed his eyes again, trying to concentrate on that strange feeling. A moment later, he found himself plunged into darkness, standing in the middle of nowhere.
There was nothing in this place, no light, no sound.
"Who has spoken? Where am I?" he wondered, looking around but seeing nothing.
Suddenly, a large inscription appeared before him, floating in the air. It was like an ancient hologram, something ethereal yet tangible.
[Subject identified: Kaen]
[Void System Initializing]
"Welcome, Kaen," the deep voice said again. This time it was clear, not a hallucination.
"What... who are you? How did you get inside my head?" he exclaimed in disbelief.
"I can feel your anger. I feel your desire for violence, for revenge. You have been chosen. The Void has chosen you" the voice replied.
"The void?" The word paralysed Kaen. A cold shiver ran down his spine, immobilising him. "What are you talking about? What is it?"
The voice waited a few seconds before answering, "Long before the world you know took shape, there was only the Primordial Aether, a chaotic expanse of raw, undefined power. Out of this chaos, a sentient essence arose, devoid of form but imbued with will. The Void".
Kaen remained silent and listened. In this unearthly place, time had stopped. The square, the executioner, the axe hanging over his head: nothing seemed to exist anymore.
"The Will of the Void was an ethereal entity that represented the absolute negation of magic and order. It favoured chaos, mutable matter. Its nature was pure, unadulterated" the voice continued. "When the Gods of Aetherra imposed magical order to stabilise the world and shape matter, the Void rebelled, raging against them."
"The magic of the gods, however, was too powerful. Unable to destroy the Void, older than divine beings, they sealed it within the darkest and deepest meanders of existence, in a place devoid of light and time, called by some the Heart of the Void."
"The Heart of the Void" Kaen repeated in a low voice, motionless.
"What your brother found was a fragment of my heart, the Heart of the Void" the voice echoed.
"What? Riven? My brother was killed for a trivial mana crystal, not for a fragment of..."
"Don't be foolish, Nullborn!" the voice thundered, causing the surrounding space to tremble as if shaken by an earthquake. Kaen had to wave his arms to keep his balance.
"Do you really think that such an arcane, powerful Archmage would be interested in a trivial mana crystal? You and your brother have been deceived! The Archmage has the shard, but the crystal acted as a catalyst. You have awakened me! You have awakened the Void!
Kaen could hardly believe what he was hearing. The Void, a power older than magic, had been awakened by him and Riven? It seemed far too real to be a hallucination.
"You will not die, Kaen. Magic will die, it will die forever. Use your anger, embrace the Void."
The writing in front of Kaen began to flicker again. His head was pounding, the images of Riven's bloodied face, his head rolling down the scaffold, playing over and over again.
"There it is! I can feel it! I sense your rage!" the voice shouted, taking on an increasingly demonic tone, as if it took pleasure in feeling the rage in Kaen's heart.
Suddenly, the inscription hanging in the darkness changed.
---------------------------
[Void resonance detected].
[Condition: Compatible][System initialization: In progress]
[Do you accept resonance with the Void?]
---------------------------
"Kaen," the voice resumed. "You have been denied power. You have been denied justice. Now no one will be able to deny you your wrath."
"I...I accept."