The void never truly slept.
The grey horizon remained still and dim, the air thick like smoke. I lay on the cold ground, eyes open, staring at the shapeless sky. I couldn't sleep — not with everything spinning through my head.
The thought of heading into Empire territory gnawed at me. What would happen once we crossed the portal? Would they turn Blaze in? Would they experiment on him? And what about me? A former Resistance soldier walking straight into enemy lands — that never ended well.
I rolled onto my side, the ropes around my wrists creaking slightly. The two soldiers standing guard rotated shifts every few hours, keeping watch over the quiet camp.
The soft crackle of their comms broke the silence.
"I got a call from the captain. They should be arriving in a few hours."
"Finally," one of them muttered with a sigh. "I'm getting sick of this place. It's too damn quiet."
The other laughed nervously. "You'd rather it wasn't quiet?"
That silence didn't last long.
A faint tremor rippled through the ground. The first soldier froze, eyes scanning the darkness. "Did you feel that?"
Another tremor — heavier this time. And then came the sound: a low, distorted screech that didn't belong to any human.
"What the hell is that?"
Shapes began to move in the fog beyond the campfires — crawling, slithering, sprinting. Their outlines were wrong, shifting like broken reflections in water.
"Contact!" one soldier shouted. "Open fire! Don't let it reach the line!"
The night erupted into chaos. Gunfire tore through the air, echoing across the void. I pushed myself up, struggling to see through the smoke. And then I saw them.
Shards.
My stomach dropped. A dozen of them — maybe more — charging toward the camp in an erratic, jerking motion, like marionettes made of glass and shadow.
"Yeah, take this!" one soldier yelled, firing bursts into the horde.
For a second, it seemed to work. The shards stumbled and fell under the hail of bullets. But then, one of them twitched, its body shifting, studying the fallen soldier.
It stood up again — only now it looked different.
"Hey— look at that!"
The shard's body warped, taking on the soldier's form — his armor, his rifle, even his voice, a distorted echo of the man it mimicked.
"What the hell?! How is it doing that?"
"It's copying him! It's a mimic-class entity!" another shouted, panic in his voice.
I could barely breathe. This is bad. Shards could replicate what they saw — movements, weapons, even fighting styles. One could become a nightmare. A group of them? A massacre.
I looked around — the soldiers were firing blindly into the smoke. The sound was deafening. And somewhere in the chaos, I thought I felt him.
The same presence as before — the one Blaze fought.
He's here too… isn't he?
The thought barely formed before another soldier screamed.
"They're everywhere!"
In minutes, half the camp was burning. The shards moved faster now, mimicking every fallen soldier until an entire platoon of copies stood before us — armored, armed, and relentless.
"This can't be happening," one of the soldiers shouted, sweat dripping from his brow. "They've copied all of us!"
"Call for backup! If this keeps up we—"
He didn't finish.
A gunshot cracked through the air, and he screamed as a bullet tore through his arm. His rifle clattered to the ground — right next to me.
"Hey—! Stay with me!" the other soldier yelled, dropping to help his comrade.
I didn't think. I moved. The ropes had loosened enough over the past day that I could slip my hands through. I grabbed the fallen rifle, turned, and fired.
Bang! Bang!
The shard that was about to impale them with its blade shattered into fragments, scattering across the dirt.
Both soldiers turned toward me in shock.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" one shouted, raising his weapon at me.
"I just saved your life, idiot! Move!" I yelled back, ducking behind a broken crate and firing at the advancing horde. "Are you just gonna stand there!?"
The soldier hesitated, then gritted his teeth and joined in, firing beside me. "Fine! But if you try anything—"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just shoot!"
Our rifles roared in unison, the air filling with smoke and fire. Shards burst apart one after another, but for every one we killed, another two seemed to form.
Amid the chaos, Blaze stood near his tent, completely calm — too calm. The firelight flickered across his bandaged body, the faint shimmer of his sword's hilt at his side.
"Blaze!" I shouted. "You should get back inside! We can handle this!"
He didn't move.
"I don't think you can," he said quietly, eyes locked on the smoke.
One of the soldiers turned to him. "What the hell are these things?"
Blaze's tone shifted — firm, steady, like a man who'd seen this a thousand times before.
"They're called Shards. Entities from the void. They copy what they see — your movement, your fighting style, even your weapons. The longer you fight them, the more they evolve. And once they do…"
He trailed off. His expression darkened.
"They're almost impossible to kill."
We fought harder, but it didn't matter. The line broke again and again. The mimic soldiers looked just like us now — same uniforms, same weapons — the only difference was their empty, flickering eyes.
Then, for a moment, everything went still.
The gunfire stopped. The air went quiet except for the faint crackle of burning tents.
And from the haze of smoke, a single figure walked forward.
Tall. Armored. Cloaked in a torn hood that trailed behind it like a shadow. In its hand, a red sword pulsed faintly, each beat syncing with the flicker of the portal nearby.
Every step it took made the air glitch — like the world itself couldn't decide if it was real.
My heart stopped.
"No way…" I whispered.
I knew that stance. That blade. That energy.
He was back.
"The Shard…" I breathed, eyes wide.
The same one Blaze had fought before. The same one that refused to die.
Blaze's expression didn't change — only his grip on his sword tightened. His aura flared for a moment, the faint blue glow seeping through the cracks in his bandages.
"So…" he said softly, stepping forward, eyes locked on the creature. "You actually came back for a rematch."
The Shard tilted its head slightly — like it remembered him too. Then, slowly, it raised its sword.
The void fell silent. Even the other shards stopped moving, their bodies twitching like they were waiting for something.
Blaze exhaled, his breath misting in the cold air.
"Ryze," he said without looking back. "Stay behind me."
I gritted my teeth, clutching the rifle tighter. "You're hurt— you can't fight him like this!"
He didn't answer. His aura pulsed once more, light spilling into the dark.
"Guess I don't have a choice."
He drew his sword, and the hum of energy rolled through the camp like thunder.
The Shard moved first — vanishing in a blur. The ground cracked where it had been standing. Blaze barely had time to react, bringing his blade up just in time to block the strike. Sparks exploded between them, lighting up the void.
The sound that followed wasn't just metal on metal — it was like two storms colliding.
CRASH!
The shockwave blew through the camp, scattering ash and dirt. The soldiers dove for cover. I covered my face as the wind tore past, the campfire snuffed out in an instant.
Blaze slid back, boots grinding against the stone, but he didn't fall. Blood trickled from his shoulder, seeping through his bandages — but his grin stayed.
"Still hit like a tank," he said, wiping his mouth.
The Shard tilted its head again, the faint outline of a smirk glitching across its face.
Then they both moved — faster than I could see. Swords clashed again, arcs of light and red energy slicing through the dark.
The other shards began to move too, swarming the soldiers as they fought to hold the perimeter. Gunfire erupted once more, lighting the edges of the camp.
And in the middle of it all — Blaze and the Shard danced through chaos, each strike shaking the ground beneath them.
Every blow was heavier, faster, louder. The void itself seemed to warp around their fight.
I could barely breathe. Watching them was like watching two gods tear each other apart.
And for the first time since this all began, I realized something terrifying —
Blaze wasn't fighting to win.
He was fighting to protect us.