No answer. Just the pulse, rhythmic and insistent, like a second heartbeat I didn’t ask for but can’t live without now.
The Void feels different.
Not empty anymore. Not pressing in on me like it’s trying to decide whether to consume or ignore me.
It’s… listening.
That thought should terrify me. Instead, I just feel exhausted.
I slump against something that might be a wall or might be nothing at all. My legs give out and I slide down, arms wrapping around my knees.
“Just need a minute,” I mutter. “Just one goddamn minute.”
The hum synchronizes with my breathing. In, out. Steady. Like it’s trying to calm me down or maybe remind me I’m not alone anymore.
I close my eyes.
Sleep shouldn’t be possible here. But my body doesn’t care what should or shouldn’t be possible. It just shuts down, dragging me under before I can fight it.
After what could be minutes or hours, a sound pulls me back.
Soft. Rhythmic. Pads on stone.
My eyes snap open, heart hammering, every muscle tensed to run.
Ethos. Or worse—one of those things that screams without sound, the ones that hunt anything stupid enough to move.
But the shape that steps from the shadows is small.
Made of shadow that moves like smoke but holds its form. A fox. Eyes that burn like tiny stars in a face made of living darkness.
It sits a few feet away and tilts its head at me.
Curious. Not predatory.
“You’re not real,” I whisper.
The fox yawns, showing sharp white teeth, then settles back on its haunches like it’s got all the time in the world.
My breath comes fast. Shallow. Every instinct screaming at me to move, to run, to do anything except stand here waiting to be devoured.
But it doesn’t move. Just watches me with those burning eyes.
When I shift a little, testing, it doesn’t flee or attack.
It walks right up to me.
I freeze.
Its nose nudges my hand—warm, solid, real—and I jerk back like I’ve been burned.
Void creatures don’t touch without devouring. They don’t have warmth. They don’t—
The fox just sits again, tail flicking through the air, leaving faint trails of silver light that fade as soon as they appear.
The darkness around it stays still. Doesn’t writhe or pulse or consume.
It’s just… there.
