The universe should have been celebrating.
Order restored. Worlds saved.
Samuel Herindor — youngest of the cosmic Trinity — victorious.
But cosmic victories always come with bleeding edges.
And Tristan was dying.
––––––
The room was dim — a secluded fortified safehouse carved into the outskirts of Abuja's hidden underground district. No city noise. Just humming wards and glowing sigils decorating stone walls. The other Five designed it to keep Samuel and Tristan unseen from prying realms.
Tristan lay shirtless on the starmetal bed — powerful frame once unshakeable, now trembling. Thin fractures of dark energy crawled along his skin like veins of corruption, burrowing deeper into muscle and bone. A curse forged by Femi's betrayal . He got this wound from his face off with Femi in the last fight— slow, parasitic, merciless.
Samuel sat beside him, pupils glowing gray-gold as he pressed a palm to Tristan's chest. He tried using his healing Void energy pulse to burn away some of the corruption… but not enough.
Tristan jolted, teeth clenched.
"Don't—" he growled. "—worry, Sam. It's… just pain."
Samuel's expression hardened.
"You are the strongest warlock to ever walk your realm. And now you're pretending like this is just toothache? Abeg, respect yourself."
Tristan blinked through the pain.
"…here we go again. The Nigerian jokes."
Samuel smirked — but it cracked with worry.
"I'm serious. This curse is spreading. We need more than Earth's air… more than my Void."
Tristan's voice weakened:
"We need… my realm."
Samuel didn't want to hear that. Leaving Earth meant exposing Daniel… and the Five barely patched their own lives back together.
But Tristan's breathing rasped. Time was no longer a friend.
––––––
The Five, the soldiers of balance, had tried to return to normalcy:
• Ignara — now working night shifts in Maitama, yet flames curled whenever her emotions flared
• Zephira — joining Abuja thunderstorms for "stress relief exercises"
• Nysara — meditating underwater in hidden rivers to keep oceans calm
• Velyd — reinforcing Samuel's safehouse with illusion barriers
• Tristan — broken
• Samuel — refusing to let another person die for him
They all lived together here — uneasy family, bound by tragedy.
Nysara stepped inside, carrying crystalline vials of enchanted liquid.
"He needs to be submerged soon," she urged. "Water slows corruption spread."
Samuel nodded and lifted Tristan gently. Their closeness — forehead brushing cheek — made Tristan flush, even in agony.
"Why are you looking at me like that…" Tristan muttered.
"Like what?"
"Like you're about to kiss me or cry."
"…both?"
Tristan managed the smallest smirk before another shock wave tore a grunt from his throat.
––––––
Elsewhere in the safehouse — Daniel stared at his glowing hands like they belonged to a stranger.
Cosmic energy pulsed beneath his skin — Celestial Pulse, the Five called it. A power that connected to the flow of forces between worlds. He had already absorbed surges of power by accident — light from Ignara's flames, a bit of Zephira's lightning…
But every time he did, his chest sparked violently.
As if his heart was trying to explode into a star.
Ignara walked by, offering a half-smile.
"Try not to vaporize the kitchen again."
"Abeg leave me," Daniel shot back. "You think it's easy to handle cosmic nonsense? I just wanted to pass my exams in peace."
Samuel approached with a tired grin.
"Guy, if you fail final exams, I'll rewrite the marking scheme myself. Cosmic perks."
Daniel choked a laugh — the sound cracked with fear.
"You know what scares me most?" he whispered. "Femi looked at me like… I mattered."
Samuel didn't like that. Not at all.
Daniel continued, voice trembling:
"What if he's right about me being dangerous?"
Samuel placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
"Daniel… look at Tristan. Look at all of us. We don't get powers by accident. You're here for a reason."
Daniel nodded — not convinced, but trusting Samuel.
––––––
THROUGHOUT THE REALMS… LIES SPREAD LIKE POISON
In the shimmering crystalline halls of Astryx Prime…
Femi bowed dramatically before Queen Solene — radiant sovereign of starlight.
"My Queen," he said with a soft, manipulative tremor, "Samuel Herindor hides behind Earth's shadows… while his power corrodes the fabric of existence."
"You speak of escalations?" Solene asked, uneasy.
Femi's eyes gleamed violet — charming, wicked.
"Worlds are collapsing. Constellations glitching. Celestial beasts stirring."
He leaned in, whispering death:
"And all signs point to… the Void."
––––––
In the brutal arenas of Drakorion…
General Dracos, the towering warlord, snarled when Femi revealed conjured visions of destruction — forged illusions, not truth.
"Then we strike first," Dracos roared.
"Before the Void becomes unstoppable."
––––––
In the obsidian courts of the Shadow Realm…
Lady Virelith, wrapped in dark silk and ambition, smirked.
"So the little cosmic prince loses control," she whispered.
"This will be entertaining."
––––––
Finally —
High Lord Kaelen of Tristan's realm — watching the cursed fractures spreading through reality.
His verdict:
"If the Void child threatens balance… he must be contained."
Femi bowed his head like a loyal servant —
while smiling like a predator.
––––––
Back in Abuja — Tristan convulsed again. Samuel grabbed him, horror tearing through his chest.
Black sigils crawled up Tristan's throat — curse nearing his heart.
Samuel's voice nearly shattered:
"Hold on. Please — hold on."
Tristan's fading gaze locked with his:
"Sam… if I die—"
"You're not allowed."
Tristan smirked faintly.
"You're bossy."
"And you love it."
A soft laugh escaped Tristan before darkness seized him again.
––––––
Above them —
the stars flickered wrong.
Constellations reshaping.
Space trembling like something massive was waking.
Samuel felt it in his bones — the universe holding its breath.
Change was stalking them.
And somewhere in the dark of the realms…
Femi whispered a promise:
"He cannot save you this time.
Let the stars rebel."