Kael's boots skidded on the Sanctum's polished floor as he ducked a lumium blade's glowing arc, its edge sizzling the air inches from his face. The tech-cult's chamber roared with chaos—red alarms blaring, lumium conduits sparking, and the massive rift crystal at the center pulsing wildly, casting violet shadows across the walls. His satchel, heavy with the lumium shard, rift crystal, voltspire orb, cinderwisp blade, lumivore core, and spiral-etched scale, bounced against his hip, each item a tether to the void's secrets. His scarred arm burned, the void's hum a fire in his veins, urging him to fight or flee. Ryn fired her plasma pistol beside him, blue bolts scattering a trio of cultists in spiral-embroidered robes. Talia, at a hacked console, rerouted a turret to spray suppressing fire. "Move!" she shouted, her voice sharp over the din. "They will overwhelm us!"
Kael's heart pounded. The cultists' ambush had come too fast, triggered by a traitor Talia could not yet name. Her words—Kael's blood as a "void key"—gnawed at him, echoing the lumivore's vision of scientists binding the void to human hosts. He had followed Ryn and Talia into this trap for answers, but now survival was the only goal. His void powers—shadow burst, tendrils, cloak, teleport, drain, shield—had kept him alive, but each use drew him deeper into the void's grasp. Jessa's warning rang: "If it calls you, run." He was done running.
A memory surged, raw and jagged. Kael was ten, crouched in a junkyard's shadows as Jessa faced a tech-cult scout, his robes marked with spirals. "We seek void-touched children," the scout had said, his voice cold. "Their blood holds power." Jessa's knife had flashed, her voice a growl. "No kids here. Get lost." The scout had left, but Jessa's hands had trembled as she pulled Kael close. "They cannot have you," she had whispered, her eyes fierce. Had she known what he was? Why had she never told him?
A cultist's shout snapped Kael back. The chamber's far wall shuddered, metal buckling as a new threat emerged—a voidreaver, a humanoid rift creature towering eight feet, its body clad in void-infused armor that shimmered black and violet. Its claws, glowing with telekinetic energy, tore through a console, sending debris flying. Its faceless helm, etched with spiral symbols, turned toward Kael, drawn to his void energy like a predator to blood.
Kael dove behind a lumium conduit as the voidreaver's claws slashed, a telekinetic wave shattering the floor. Ryn rolled beside him, firing her pistol, but the bolts glanced off the creature's armor. "What is that thing?" she hissed, her smirk gone. Talia's turret stalled, its circuits fried by the voidreaver's energy. "It is theirs," she said, sprinting to another console. "They breed rift spawn for war."
Kael's chest tightened. The voidreaver's armor hummed with the same spiral symbols as his clues, a link to the cult's obsession. He reached for the void, his shadow cloak wrapping him as he teleported to a shattered pillar. The voidreaver's claws followed, tearing through steel, but Kael's void shield flared, deflecting the strike. The creature paused, its helm tilting, as if studying him. Kael's mind raced. His powers were growing, but so were the threats.He focused, feeling a new pull—a splintering of his shadow. A decoy formed beside him, a shadow clone mirroring his stance. The voidreaver lunged at the clone, claws passing through, and Kael teleported behind it, draining its armor's energy.
The creature roared, a sound like tearing metal, and spun, its telekinetic claws slashing wildly. Kael's shield cracked under the assault, but he sent his clone forward, drawing the voidreaver's attention. Ryn fired, her bolts hitting the armor's joints, while Talia's new turret roared, cracking the creature's helm.Kael seized the moment, combining tendrils and drain to target the voidreaver's core—a pulsing violet light beneath its chest plate. His clone distracted it, and he teleported close, driving tendrils into the core. The voidreaver convulsed, its armor fracturing, and collapsed, leaving a spiral-etched chest plate behind. Kael grabbed it, and a vision hit—a pre-Collapse scientist, eyes wild, binding void energy to a child's blood, chanting, "The key host will open the gate." The image faded, leaving Kael reeling. His blood. His powers. The cult's goal.
Talia's voice cut through. "The vault," she said, pointing to a sealed door beyond the rift crystal. "It holds records—answers about the void key." Ryn snorted, reloading her pistol. "Great. More traps." Before Kael could respond, a deep voice echoed from the corridor—a cult leader, his form warped by void energy, eyes glowing violet. "The voidborn comes," he intoned, cultists rallying behind him. Kael gripped the chest plate, the void's whisper urging him to the vault. Escape was impossible. They had to fight.