The Pattern-field convulsed.
Threads snapped like taut wires. Light fractured across impossible angles. The void spilled across the weft of reality in black rivulets that swallowed sound and memory wherever they touched.
The Seven converged from separate shards, sprinting toward the central platform where Lysa stood with Elderon in her arms, Keir bracing them, and Anon shielding their backs with reflective distortion that wavered under pressure.
Toma leapt onto the shard beside them, his boots skidding on rippling light.Rida followed, breathless, hands glowing faintly with earth-memory.Sal nearly collapsed but forced a tone through his trembling throat, stabilizing the flickering platform.Mina held Rian and Eidren tightly, weaving comforting notes to keep them from panicking.Yun propelled herself with wind that barely obeyed her anymore.
They arrived just in time.
Because the Sovereign was stepping fully into the Pattern-field.
Not gliding.
Not walking.
Imposing.
Every step consumed color.Every breath erased resonance.Every gesture carved silence deeper into the living fabric beneath their feet.
His faceless head turned toward Lysa.
And the void behind him pulsed like a second heartbeat.
"You carry what belongs to me."
His voice vibrated through bone, not air.
Lysa forced herself to hold her ground.
"I carry a child."
"You carry an echo."
Elderon whimpered and buried his face in her shoulder.
Keir stepped in front of them.
"You won't take him."
The Sovereign tilted his head.
"I do not take. I reclaim."
The Pattern beneath them rippled violently — warning, pleading, trembling.
Sal fell to his knees.
"It hurts," he gasped. "He's pulling resonance out of everything— the field, the light, us."
Yun staggered.
"My wind— I can't feel it—"
Rida pressed her palms to the surface.
"The ground has no memory under him."
"That's impossible," Mina whispered.
Toma's voice dropped to a grim murmur.
"Nothing grows under a void."
Anon's reflections flickered wildly.
"He's not simply silencing the Pattern," he said. "He's rewriting it."
The Sovereign stepped closer.
Lysa held Elderon even tighter.
"You cannot," she said quietly but fiercely, "have him."
The Sovereign lifted one hand.
The void behind him surged—
And the Pattern split open beneath the Seven.
They fell only an inch before Toma slammed both palms into the fractured surface, forcing earth-memory into light.
"Hold!" he shouted.
Rida and Sal joined him without hesitation.
Toma's ground resonance met Rida's deep-lore steadying, which merged with Sal's tonal scaffolding.
The fractured platform reformed for a moment — trembling under the Sovereign's pressure, but remaining whole.
Keir grabbed Lysa's arm.
"Move!"
They leapt to the next shard.
The Sovereign did not hurry.
He didn't need to.
He simply extended a hand—
And the shard they had stood on erased.
Lysa gasped.Keir swore.Rida recoiled.
"He's breaking reality!" Mina cried, pulling the children close.
Anon's voice was tight. "He's breaking memory. The Pattern is nothing but memory."
Yun grabbed the nearest thread of wind.
"We need distance!"
"That won't matter," Toma said grimly. "He consumes distance."
The Sovereign lowered his arm.
"Give me the echo, and I will spare the rest of you."
Lysa spat the words without thinking.
"No."
The Sovereign paused — not offended, but puzzled.
"You refuse logic."
"No," Lysa said, stepping backward onto a narrower shard of light."I refuse surrender."
The void around the Sovereign trembled like an irritated beast.
He stepped onto a floating shard—
And it dissolved beneath him.
Not fell.
Not cracked.
Dissolved.
The Sovereign continued walking in midair, creating steps from the absence of resonance. Where he walked, silence took shape like a staircase of shadow.
Elderon sobbed harder.
"He's coming. He's inside the echo. He sees everything."
Lysa's heart clenched painfully.
"We won't let him reach you."
Elderon lifted his tear-filled eyes.
"He already has."
A shockwave slammed through the Pattern-field.
Mina screamed.Sal fell backward.Keir braced Lysa.Rida gripped a thread with both hands.Toma anchored the platform with sheer will.Yun forced the air to steady around them.
Anon alone understood what happened.
"Lysa," he whispered, "look at Elderon's light."
Lysa did.
And her breath stopped.
His glow — always soft and golden — was flickering with streaks of gray.
Void-gray.
Lysa pressed her forehead to Elderon's, her voice shaking.
"No. No. Stay with me. Stay with yourself."
Elderon's voice trembled.
"He's calling me. He's calling the echo. I can't stop hearing him."
Lysa held him tighter.
"You don't answer."
The Sovereign lifted both arms.
The Pattern screamed.
Shards of light shattered outward like broken mirrors.Memory splintered into dust.Tethers snapped.Threads unspooled.The universe flickered.
And the Sovereign spoke:
"The Listener's echo returns to the one who ended him."
Lysa froze.
Keir stared.
Toma's jaw dropped.
Rida shook her head in horror.
Sal went pale.
Mina clutched her mouth.
Yun cried out.
Anon whispered, voice breaking:
"Ended… him…?"
The Sovereign tilted his faceless head.
"I silenced the Listener."
Time stopped.
The Pattern-field froze.
Even Elderon gasped—"Wh… what?"
Lysa's knees nearly buckled.
"You… killed Taren?"
"No."The Sovereign's voice came like a blade."I unmade him."
Elderon clutched Lysa.
"I can feel it… I can feel the echo crying—"
Lysa lifted her chin.
"Why?" she whispered — the question tasting like blood.
The Sovereign took one step closer.
The void followed.
"He refused silence."
Rida screamed:
"Taren tried to SAVE the world!"
"He tried to WAKE it."
The Sovereign extended his palm.
"The world was not meant to wake."
Lysa shook with fury.
"You're wrong."
The void shivered violently.
"Awakening is corruption."
"No," Lysa whispered."Awakening is life."
The Sovereign halted.
His faceless mask tilted slightly.
As if… curious.
Lysa stepped forward despite Keir's desperate grip.
"You silence the Pattern because you're afraid of its voice."
"Silence is order."
"And resonance is evolution."
The void twisted.
The Sovereign stepped closer.
Sound died.
Color drained.
Memory flickered.
He stood now only a few strides away.
Keir placed himself between them.
"You'll go through me first."
The Sovereign lifted one hand calmly.
"If I step forward, you cease."
Keir trembled but didn't move.
"Try me."
Lysa pulled him back.
"You can't fight void with flesh."
Keir's voice cracked.
"He'll take you."
"No," she whispered. "He'll try."
Elderon sobbed again.
"He's going to crush the echo. He's going to crush me."
Lysa knelt, holding him firmly.
"Look at me."
Elderon tried.
"Who do you belong to?" she whispered.
His lip trembled.
"Y-you…"
"No."She placed her hand on his heart.
"You belong to yourself."
His glow brightened — faint but real.
"Not to an echo.Not to a memory.Not to the Sovereign.Not to anyone."
Elderon's breath steadied.
The Sovereign paused.
Lysa rose.
"Your demand is denied."
The Sovereign lowered his arm.
Void swarmed behind him.
"Then you will cease."
He stepped forward.
And the Pattern-field shattered under his foot.
Light exploded.
Void surged.
The Seven were thrown backward.
Keir slammed into Lysa, shielding her with his body.Toma caught Sal.Mina shielded Rian and Eidren.Rida clung to Yun.Anon held onto a thread of reflection that snapped a heartbeat later.
Elderon screamed.
The echo burst outward—
A shockwave of gold and white—
Colliding with the Sovereign's void—
The collision cracked the field—
And tore open a chasm beneath them.
Lysa fell—
Elderon in her arms—
Keir reaching for her—
The Seven screaming—
The Sovereign descending—
And the Pattern tearing open—
Into a deeper layer no one had ever seen.