CHAPTER 36 —
The void did not sleep.
Even when Aetheria fell into silence after Airi heard the whisper of "Four…", even when Haruto tried to soothe her trembling body, even when the city shut its doors and tried to hide, the void realm wrapped around them like a second skin. Every breath felt heavier. Every shadow stretched a little longer. Every light dimmed a little earlier.
This realm was not bound by rules. It breathed with the Herald's will.
And it was waking up.
Haruto stayed awake long after Airi finally drifted into an uneasy sleep. She lay curled against him on the Skyhub balcony, small hands gripping his coat even in her dreams. The sky above was cracked, hollow, and black. No stars. No moon. No horizon. Just an oppressive canvas of darkness broken only by faint pulses of white fractures.
There was no morning.
There was no night.
Only shifts in the void's mood.
And on the next shift, Aetheria entered its fourth day inside the dying illusion.
A faint, grayish light smeared across the sky like someone rubbing ash on glass. Not a sunrise. Just a brighter shade of wrong. Aetherians stepped out of their homes reluctantly, looking up at the false sky with fear clinging to their hearts.
Then the sky rippled.
Words carved themselves into the air as if scratched by invisible claws.
3 DAYS REMAINING
Gasps spread through the plaza. Children cried. Adults stared helplessly. Spirit beasts lowered their heads in fear.
Airi, still clinging to Haruto's sleeve as they walked, saw the countdown and tightened her grip until her fingers turned white.
"Onii Chan… it's counting… above us now…"
Haruto exhaled slowly. He lifted her hand and squeezed back. "I know."
Airi's silver eyes trembled. "Then… it's real…"
"It is," he answered softly.
He wished he could lie. But lies crumbled in this realm. The void devoured them as easily as truth.
The city was quieter than before. Footsteps echoed louder. Sounds bounced strangely, as though the air had hollowed out. People walked closely together, avoiding windows, avoiding mirrors, avoiding shadows. Even the rails of the Skyhub vibrated with a strange, metallic ringing.
Aetheria was changing.
It started subtly.
A lamp flickered when no one was near it.
A bench shifted two inches to the left.
A shadow on the wall blinked.
At first, Airi tried to ignore these things, clutching Haruto's arm and keeping her gaze low. But as they crossed the central plaza, her breath caught in her throat.
A storefront door was bent the wrong way curving inward as if someone had grabbed it and pressed it like clay.
"Onii Chan… the city looks… different…"
Haruto followed her gaze and stiffened. "Stay close."
Airi nodded with fear dripping from every movement.
As they continued walking, they passed a bakery window and Airi saw herself reflected in the glass.
Except the reflection did not move with her.
It blinked late.
It smiled on its own.
Airi stumbled backward, a choked cry escaping her throat.
Haruto immediately turned her away and covered the window with his cloak. "Airi… don't look."
She clung to him, shaking. "It smiled… but I didn't smile… that wasn't me…"
Lyria fluttered nervously near Haruto's shoulder, her glow flickering. "The void is starting to overwrite reality. It is using reflections to peer into our world."
Frost growled, teeth bared. "The Herald has not left us. Its eye remains."
Airi shut her eyes and pressed her forehead against Haruto's arm. "I don't want to see… I don't want the city to look at me…"
He held her head gently. "Then look only at me."
She nodded quickly.
Aetheria's fourth day unfolded like a nightmare written in slow motion.
Buildings leaned.Shadows crawled.Rail tracks twisted slightly, then snapped back straight.Spirit beasts whined and hid.People whispered about hearing breathing behind walls.
As noon or what felt like noon approached, Haruto gathered the leaders for another meeting.
But Airi never left his side. Not even for a second.
Inside the Skyhub's council hall, an eerie chill seeped into the floor. Frost paced restlessly. Lunara stood tall but her wings trembled. Lyria hovered close to Airi, trying her best to be steady.
Voices rose in argument.
"We have no way to escape—"
"The exits lead into darkness—"
"No one outside can reach us—"
"Our weapons aren't responding properly—"
"This realm is changing time—"
The fourth day passed like this, unsteady, broken, suffocating.
By the start of the fifth day, the city was falling apart.
The sky cracked louder this time, splitting open with a sound like bone breaking. White lines forked across the canvas of darkness. Airi flinched so hard she nearly fell.
Above them, new words burned into existence:
2 DAYS REMAINING
The city shook.
A scream echoed from the northern district.
Haruto, Airi, Lunara, Lyria, and Frost rushed toward the sound and saw a house collapsing in on itself. Not crumbling. Not breaking. Melting.
The walls dripped like wax under a flame, stretching and sagging into black goo before stiffening again.
Airi covered her mouth, horrified. "Onii Chan… that's their home…"
Haruto could only tighten his grip around her shoulders.
Lunara inspected the melted wall. "Void corrosion. The realm is collapsing faster."
Frost sniffed the air. "The Herald is letting the illusion rot."
Airi whimpered softly. "So it wants us scared before it comes."
Lyria nodded with a pained expression. "It feeds on fear. It grows stronger from despair."
Airi hugged Haruto again, trembling. "Then it is growing a lot…"
Haruto stroked her hair, whispering, "We won't give it more than we must."
But the void didn't care.
It kept breaking pieces of Aetheria, one after another.
A street flickered and reappeared upside-down for a second.A shop's interior rotated sideways.Grass vanished.The fountain water rose in midair, forming a spiral before collapsing into black sludge.
Then it happened again.
Airi saw her reflection but not in a basin this time.
In a puddle of melted stone.
A smiling circle hovered on the surface, its eyes uneven, its grin too wide.
She screamed, backing into Haruto's chest.
He immediately covered the puddle with his cloak again but the laughter underneath the fabric echoed faintly.
Lunara growled and blasted the puddle with a shockwave of violet fire. It evaporated, but the echo of laughter lingered for moments afterward.
Aetherians gathered in terror.
Haruto stood in front of them, trying to provide strength even as the world twisted.
"We will endure," he said firmly. "We will not break."
Some calmed.
Some didn't.
By the end of the fifth day, Aetheria had shrunk.
Literally.
Buildings stood closer than they should. Streets narrowed. Horizon lines blurred, as if the world itself were folding inward.
Airi refused to sleep. She clung to Haruto the entire night, resting her head on his chest while his fingers stroked her hair softly.
But even Haruto could not rest.
He felt it.
A presence scraping across his thoughts.
A whisper meant for him alone, deep and venomous:
"Protect her.Fail her.Lose her.Break.Two…"
Haruto stiffened so hard that Airi felt it.
She looked up at him, voice shaking. "Onii Chan… did you hear something?"
He forced a smile. "Nothing important."
He lied only because she needed stability.He lied because she was breaking.He lied because he had to.
But inside, he was trembling too.
On the sixth day, Aetheria woke to thunder without sound.
The sky split into dozens of fragments before stitching itself back together, forming new text:
1 DAYS REMAINING
The letters flickered violently, glitching like broken machinery.
Airi saw the words and collapsed to her knees. Haruto caught her quickly, holding her against his chest as she cried.
"One days… Onii Chan… only One…"
Lyria fainted mid-flight, and Lunara had to catch her.
Frost paced aggressively, fur bristling with primal fear. "It is preparing the kill stage."
The void did not wait long.
That afternoon, Aetheria suffered its worst break.
Haruto and Airi walked past the central plaza when the ground beneath Airi suddenly softened like liquid.
She screamed as her foot sank into the floor.
A swirling black vortex opened instantly.
Tendrils of darkness wrapped around her ankle.
Haruto lunged without hesitation, grabbing her waist and yanking her upward. The tendrils dragged harder, pulling her down.
Airi sobbed, kicking frantically. "Onii Chan! It's pulling me! Onii Chan—!"
Frost leapt into the vortex, trying to bite the tendrils, but his jaws passed through as if they were smoke.
Lyria shrieked in terror.
Lunara unleashed a blast of dragon mana that shook the entire plaza, forcing the void-hole shut.
Airi collapsed into Haruto's arms, sobbing uncontrollably, clutching his coat so tightly her knuckles turned white.
"It… it almost took me… it almost took me… Onii Chan…"
Haruto held her tightly and kept whispering,
"I've got you. I'm here. I won't let go. Ever."
But his voice shook.
He felt how close it had been.
Too close.
For the rest of the sixth day, Aetheria was silent. People stayed inside, afraid to walk. Afraid to blink. Afraid to breathe.
The city cracked again overhead.
That night if it was night, Haruto sat with Airi on the balcony again. She refused to leave his arms. Her breathing was uneven, her body trembling every few minutes as the memory returned.
"Onii Chan…" she whispered into his chest. "…don't let go…"
"I won't," Haruto whispered back.
Lunara stood watch at the entrance. Frost lay beside them, ears perked. Lyria hovered near Airi's shoulder, glowing weakly.
The air shifted.
A breeze passed.
But there was no wind.
Haruto's eyes widened.
No.
Not a breeze.
Breath.
Cold.
Wrong.
Close.
He stood up instinctively, pulling Airi into his arms while glaring at the sky.
"Show yourself!" he roared.
The sky trembled.
Cracks spread like lightning.
The countdown text glitched violently.
The letters burst apart.
Fragments scattered like shattered glass.
A massive pulse of void washed over Aetheria.
And new words carved themselves into the darkness:
TIME'S UP
Airi gasped.
Lyria screamed.
Frost growled with his fur standing like knives.
Lunara's wings spread wide in alarm.
The sky bent inward as if something pressed against it from the outside.
Then.
A whisper rolled across the entire realm.
A whisper made of countless voices.
A whisper that filled every shadow, every street, every ear, every heartbeat.
"TIME'S UP."
The second whisper followed, deeper, colder, eternal.
"I AM COMING."
Airi clung to Haruto, tears spilling from her eyes. "Onii Chan… it's coming… it's coming…"
Haruto held her tightly, shielding her from the trembling world. His voice shook but remained fierce.
"Let it come. We will face it together."
A final pulse of void swept across the city.
Then the sky fell silent.
The Herald had spoken.
Now it's COMING.
END OF CHAPTER 36 — Six Days Inside a Breaking World