Chapter 108
Veraxis knelt, its shape flickering between states.
Not beast.Not god.Not shadow.
Just something that didn't want to exist… but now had no choice.
It rose again, trembling.
Not from weakness.
From rage.
It opened its arms—wide, endless—and released a wave not of energy, but of absence.
The wind didn't stop.
It simply forgot how to blow.
The villagers cried out as dreams drained from their minds.
Mothers forgot their children's names.
Lovers couldn't recall their first kiss.
Even the fig tree—symbol of memory and rebirth—began to twist, its roots turning to dust midair.
Eliendara screamed, falling to her knees.
"It's unraveling hope."
Kael grabbed her hand, anchoring her with a spark of willfire.
"Stay here. Hold on to this moment."
Vaern growled beside him, eyes glowing.
"This thing... it doesn't kill us."
"It isolates us."
Inside the wave of absence, Kael and Vaern were the only two who remained connected—because their fire was more than heat.
It was bond.
Veraxis screamed again.
"You are not one!"
"You are separate!"
"You do not belong to each other!"
Kael stepped forward, fire erupting from his chest.
"Wrong."
He clasped Vaern's shoulder.
"He's my brother.Even before the flame.Even before the world."
Vaern smirked.
"Nice speech.Now shut up and burn louder."
Together, they slammed their fists to the ground.
A wave of willfire surged—not outward, but inward.
Into memories.
Into the broken places where Veraxis had planted void.
And suddenly—
A thousand forgotten names flared back into existence.
Children remembered lullabies.
Elders remembered home.
The fig tree bloomed again, its leaves turning gold with shared memory.
Veraxis staggered.
Its arms collapsed.
Its scream twisted into something almost human—
Loneliness.
Kael took a slow step forward.
"That's what you really are, isn't it?"
"Not destruction. Not erasure."
"You're the first thing that was ever alone."
Veraxis shook violently.
The void around it cracked.
And from its chest, a single word formed—
Broken, trembling:
"Why… didn't anyone remember me?"
Vaern lowered his flames slightly.
"Because you chose silence."
"But we're giving you a voice now."
He extended a hand.
"End it with choice, not fear."
For a breathless moment, the entire world stood still.
Veraxis looked at the hand.
Then…
It reached back.
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 109: The Day the Void Chose to Exist
With the final spark of will, Kael and Vaern offer Veraxis something it was never given:
Belonging.
But if the void chooses to exist…what will the world become with it in it?
Because sometimes, even peace…must learn how to live.