The Verdant Maw shrieked as its vines stretched skyward, tearing holes in the crystalline canopy above. Light shattered into fragments, falling like broken glass around the companions. Carlos shielded his eyes as the air itself split apart, revealing not sky, not trees, but an endless void scattered with stars.
The Expanse was no longer bound to its world. The corruption had torn it open, spilling them into the very fabric of the cosmos.
And the Maw followed.
Its colossal form warped, stretching through the rupture, its roots twisting into serpentine tendrils that reached across the star-strewn void. Where its resinous vines struck the stars, those stars dimmed, flickering into black husks.
Carlos's breath hitched as his boots left the ground — not falling, but floating, suspended in the shattered remnants of the Expanse. Around him, Lys, Thalor, Rina, and Maren drifted too, clinging to their weapons, their eyes wide with awe and terror.
"Where… are we?" Lys whispered, her voice trembling.
"The Maw has dragged us into its realm," Maren gasped, clutching her glowing staff to her chest. "We're in… between. Not the Expanse. Not our world. The void itself."
"And it's still coming," Rina spat, pointing her dagger toward the Maw as it writhed in the distance, now a star-sized silhouette of roots and hunger.
A Battlefield of Stars
The companions steadied themselves, instinctively forming a circle as they floated in the void. Their breaths came quick, ragged, visible as frost in the cold, thin air.
But their fear was drowned out by motion.
The Maw unleashed its spawn — not wolves or serpents this time, but resinous shapes that resembled constellations made flesh. Shards of broken stars fused with black resin, forming serpents of light and shadow, winged beasts with burning eyes, and vast humanoid titans that strode across invisible planes.
"They're made of the stars themselves," Lys whispered, nocking an arrow of pure flame.
"Then we'll just have to shoot stars," Carlos said grimly.
The beasts came.
The First Clash
The star-serpents struck first, weaving through the void with impossible speed. Lys loosed arrows of fire and frost, each one igniting trails of brilliance that lit the darkness. A serpent hissed as her arrow pierced its crystalline skull, shattering it into fragments that scattered like dying comets.
Thalor braced himself against nothingness, using his shield to block the sweeping claw of a resin-titan. The force sent him spinning, but he roared and thrust his blade forward, carving through the titan's knee. The beast fell with a soundless scream, collapsing into shards of black glass.
Rina moved like a shadow among the stars, leaping from fragment to fragment of broken crystal that floated in the void. Her daggers flashed, severing tendrils that sought to bind her ankles. "Try harder!" she taunted, though her breath came quick with exhaustion.
Maren hovered in the center, her staff blazing with unstable light. Her magic surged in every direction — fire against serpents, lightning against titans, waves of force that rippled through the void. Her power burned brighter than ever before, but sweat poured down her face. "I can't hold this pace," she gasped.
Carlos surged forward, the Blade of Ascension blazing golden. He struck a beast of light and resin, his sword cleaving it in two. But the fragments did not vanish — they coiled into smaller beasts, lunging toward him from all sides.
The Maw's laughter echoed across the stars.
"FIGHT, FRACTURED ONES. THE VOID WILL TAKE YOU PIECE BY PIECE."
The Desperation Builds
The battle raged like fire in a storm. Every blow, every arrow, every spell was swallowed by endless waves of corruption. The companions fought valiantly, but for every creature they felled, more emerged, pouring from the Maw's gaping core.
Thalor's shield cracked under the relentless assault. His arm bled where shards of starlight cut through his armor.
Lys's quiver ran low. She began retrieving arrows from the corpses of her enemies, firing them back in desperation.
Rina staggered as a tendril lashed her side, blood blossoming against her tunic. Still she pressed forward, rage carrying her blade deeper into the dark.
Maren's staff shook violently. The glow around her flared, then faltered, her magic threatening to spiral out of control.
Carlos fought like a star aflame, the Blade of Ascension burning brighter with every strike. But his breath came ragged, his vision blurred, and he knew — they could not last much longer.
And still, the Maw pressed closer. Its colossal form filled the void, its thorn-lined maw opening wider, drawing them toward its core.
Into the Maw
A sudden pull seized them — gravity where there should have been none. The companions screamed as they were dragged toward the abyssal mouth of the Maw.
"Hold together!" Carlos shouted, reaching for the others.
Lys's hand caught his.Thalor locked his shield arm around Rina's shoulder.Maren clung to Carlos's back, her staff blazing wildly.
Together, they were pulled into the storm.
The Maw's throat yawned before them, an endless tunnel of roots and resin, glowing faintly with stolen starlight. They hurtled inside, spinning, clinging to each other as beasts pursued them, snapping at their heels.
"This isn't just a fight," Maren gasped, her voice barely audible over the roar. "It's trying to consume us completely — body and soul!"
"Then we fight inside it," Carlos growled, planting his feet as they landed on a writhing, root-covered surface. His blade flared, golden light piercing the suffocating dark. "We cut this thing apart from the inside!"
The Battle Within
The Maw's interior was a labyrinth of living roots, pulsating with resin and light. Each wall shuddered with the beat of its massive heart. From every crevice burst new creatures — smaller, sharper, more vicious.
Thalor took the lead, shield raised as he hacked through roots that sought to entangle them. His voice boomed with grim determination: "One step at a time!"
Lys fired arrow after arrow into glowing nodes along the walls, each shot bursting the resin sacs in showers of black ichor.
Rina darted ahead, blades slicing through the tendrils that lashed toward them. Her movements grew slower, her wounds deeper, but she refused to stop.
Maren unleashed a torrent of fire that spiraled down the tunnel, burning hundreds of beasts to ash — and nearly collapsing the passage itself.
Carlos surged forward, his blade carving a path of golden light. Every swing was a defiance, every strike a declaration: we will not be consumed.
But still, the Maw's voice thundered all around them.
"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE. YOU CANNOT PREVAIL. YOU ARE ALREADY PART OF US."
A Glimpse of Hope
They burst into a vast chamber — the Maw's heart. A colossal core pulsed there, black and green, every beat sending shockwaves through the void. Tendrils lashed outward like the limbs of a god, and thousands of resin-beasts swarmed around it like blood through veins.
The companions froze, awe and despair gripping them.
"It's… endless," Lys whispered.
Carlos raised his blade, sweat streaming down his face. "Then we make it end."
The Blade of Ascension blazed brighter than ever, golden light cutting through the suffocating dark. One by one, his companions straightened beside him, bloodied but unbroken.
Thalor lifted his cracked shield.Lys raised her final arrow.Rina twirled her bloodstained daggers.Maren steadied her trembling staff.
The Maw's heart pulsed, its voice a scream of rage.
The companions charged.