The sky was covered in smoke and flames.
A deafening roar tore through the air, of a Void Beast.
Homes which once hummed with laughter and liveliness were now crackling in the flames of destruction.
The ground itself was covered in blood and bodies torn apart.
"Markkk!" Elowen screamed, while clutching her infant to her chest. Her breath came in ragged bursts as she stumbled and ran over the wreckage to reach her husband.
The night was black, but the orange light of fire revealed fragments of horror, their neighbors, now half-consumed and the earth drenched in shadows that writhed like living tar.
Hearing Elowen's voice, Mark turned, sword trembling in hand. "Go! Run, Elowen! Don't look back!"
She did not obey immediately to his words. She watched as her husband faced the void beast, a creature without features, its surface rippling like liquid darkness. It was enormous, the air around it was disgusting and destructive.
Then came an awful sound, it was not a roar, but a wet sucking noise which silenced everything else.
The world slowed down, and suddenly-
"Nooooooooo!" Elowen's scream split the night as the Void Beast devoured Mark entirely. There was no blood, he simply ceased to exist from the world.
Asterion, the child, whimpered in her arms, feeling her tears fall on his tiny face.
But Elowen, instead of falling in despair, started to run. Her legs burned with each step she took, her lungs threatened to collapse due to exhaustion, but she still had to run because stopping meant the same end for their-- for her child.
Behind her, the same beast that had swallowed her husband turned around, as if sensing it's another prey. Its hollow form suddenly accelerated, sliding across the ground with a terrifying speed and reaching towars them.
The wind it generated knocked over burning logs and when she turned and saw the beast behind her-
"Not my son," she begged through clenched teeth, clutching him tighter as she saw the beast coming after her.
Just as the beast closed the distance, a blinding surge of light erupted from above its head. A figure descended, fast, impossibly so and the Void Beast halted mid-lunge by instinct. For a single heartbeat, the world went silent.
Then, with one motion, the newcomer struck with his sword.
A crescent of void energy cleaved through the creature, splitting it apart. The formless shadow convulsed and dissolved into dust, leaving only silence and the faint particles of otherworldly power.
But Elowen again ran. She couldn't afford to stop because more of those beasts might come.
Whoever that was, whatever had just saved her, did not matter to her in that moment. She pressed forward with a loudly thumping heart , tears blending with soot as she fled toward the distant shelter lights.
Her thoughts only replaced the same scene where her husband, her life got devoured.
By the time she reached the fortified outpost of the village, her body was at its limit. Ahead, heavy iron gates were guarded by armored figures whose weapons glowed faintly in the darkness.
"Elowen of Braith village," she gasped, collapsing to her knees."Please let us go through."
The guards didn't ask for proof. They had seen enough refugees to recognize one. Rough hands caught her before she struck the ground due to exhaustion. The child in her arms was still crying.
"Take her inside," the soldier who caught her urged. "Quickly, the outer barrier will be taken care of in a few minutes!"
Elowen's world became a blur of light and voices. She remembered only the sound of heavy metal doors closing behind her, and the way Asterion's weight felt against her chest which was a proof that, somehow, she had survived.
The village now no longer existed.
Of the hundreds who had lived there, only a few dozen had made it to safety. The rest had been consumed, erased from existence by the devouring dark creatures. The survivors were transported to Eriandel, a border city shimmering beneath towering crystalline walls.
The journey took two days, though for Elowen it felt timeless, except for her child, only the sorrow of her husband remained.
The world outside the carriage window seemed little more than a blur of green and grey.
Eriandel, the city, was different. Its air hummed with energy; shops bustled along the streets. Awakeners patrolled openly, men and women bearing light in their veins, hope against the despair, guardians against the Void.
For Elowen, this city was both terrifying and hopeful. She had no husband, no home, no livelihood, only her child that had survived against all odds.
She later found work in the weaving quarter, learning the art of sewing. Her fingers bled for months before she grew accustomed to the needle's rhythm. She stitched and mended clothes, sometimes till it was dawn, whispering lullabies to Asterion as he slept beside her.
"Your father was brave, he faced the dark so you could see the light," she often said, though he was too young to understand.
With every coin earned, every tear suppressed, Elowen built a fragile world around her son, one which was stitched together only by love and resilience.
Twelve years passed by in a blur.
The sound of distant cars echoed through Eriandel. Children played among themselves, people lived safely in their homes, watched over by the ever-present glow of the watch-towers looming around the city.
Asterion stood at the edge of the academy plaza, sunlight spilling across his face. He was sixteen now, tall and sharp-eyed, he carried himself with quiet maturity. A little above average in looks but not handsome. His hands showed the faint callouses of labor, result of years spent helping his mother and practicing as much as he could with his weapon - a glaive. His eyes, a clear black, reflected both kindness and calculation.
He was known at his school for his insatiable hunger he had for knowledge. While others boasted about awakeners and battle techniques, Asterion spent nights immersed in books that covered history, runic theory, monster biology, even stories.
If someone asked the reason, he only replied-
"Information, is power. The kind they can't take from you."
His teachers admired him for his maturity. But his classmates didn't understand him.
Elowen, who was now in her late thirties, often watched him study in the small room they shared. Despite the pain that had shaped her life, she smiled, proud and fearful all at once.
He had earned a scholarship to Stellar Academy, the most prestigious institution in the city, home to future awakeners, alchemists, and even scholars. For Elowen, it was both a promise and a reminder. She had lost one loved one to the dark; she feared losing another.
Still, she said nothing. She simply placed her hand on his shoulder and whispered, "Then go, Asterion. Learn everything you can. Just promise me… you'll always come back."
"Yes mother, I will." That was all he could say after seeing the look of worry in her eyes. Asterion has now completed his mandatory schooling and was waiting for his first day at the academy.
The sun hung high, casting a warm glow across the departing crowd outside the school. Students exchanged farewells with laughter and tears. Asterion stood slightly apart, his satchel slung over one shoulder. He had said his goodbyes, to friends, teachers, everyone who had shaped his youth.
Now, he was ready to step into a new chapter.
The road home wound through the quieter part of Eriandel, where the hum of city life softened into the sound of wind through trees and buildings. He thought of his mother, already preparing a modest meal to celebrate his acceptance.
Then something changed.
At first, it was a subtle pressure, like a shift in gravity. Then came the distortion. The cobblestone beneath his feet blurred, the colors of the world bending like water disturbed by a stone.
Asterion stopped walking. His instincts which were honed by years of his mother's warnings about the unnatural, told him not to panic.
His heartbeat quickened, but his mind stayed clear.
He reached out, trying to touch the distortion before him. It rippled.
"What… is this?" he murmured.
His surroundings started to shift, stretching in irregular shapes. He started feeling his body weightless. He also felt a pull, not physical, but something deeper, something was tugging at his soul.
Through the distortion, he caught glimpses: fragments of shadow, figures of void creatures far greater than the beasts his mother had described.
Seeing the sight, he recognised it and a strange calm filled him. He clenched his fists in determination as he now understood what was happening to him.
"I will come back alive," he whispered, more to himself, anchoring by that single thought.
The world around him shattered, not violently like destruction but simply. Light exploded around him, drowning him entirely.
Yes, he awakened at the age of sixteen when the age of awakening, known by everyone was 18 for every commoner. No one knew the reason but everyone had to accept it.
Something vast observed him.
A being which was neither male nor female, but resonant and endless, told him something.
"Child of Fate… you have been chosen."
That being was nothing but simply a will, it was the will of the Void.
Asterion couldn't answer, but his heart was likely giving its own answer by thumping loudly.
"The knowledge you seek lies beyond the veil. Will you reach for it, knowing it may consume you?"
His thoughts formed into words, steady and clear: If it helps me protect the one who gave me life, then yes. I will reach for it.
And now, far away, in an unseen place, the awakening had begun.
Back in Eriandel, the wind shifted. Elowen paused at her window, with a needle in hand.
She felt her heart tightening for some reason. When she looked toward the horizon, the sky which was covered in orange-red hues of the sunset, she felt as if the world itself was trying to convey something.
"Come back safely, my son," she whispered, to herself.
And somewhere beyond the galaxy, Asterion's journey, the one which is born of loss, knowledge, and survival had only just begun.