What remained was barely human—a desiccated corpse with parchment-thin skin stretched over bone, and hollow eyes locked in a contorted, silent scream.
“Is that what I think it is?” Fenn’s voice faltered, his usual confidence shaken as he looked over at Rynna. “Just who or what are we supposed to be fighting?”
Rynna stepped closer, her eyes fixed on the thing that had once been a man as Taren and Bran swooped down, blow after blow slamming into the desiccated corpse. And, with each blow, they forced it to the ground, holding it in place as it thrashed beneath their power.
But something wasn’t right. Rynna’s gaze followed a faint, eerie trail of oil, barely visible as it snaked away from the enemy, leading toward the center of the cavern. And there, in the middle of the ash-covered floor, lay a well of…emptiness…thicker and deeper than the surrounding shadows.
“What?” The word slipped from her lips as she stared at the strange connection between the creature and the abyss at the back of the cavern.
It can’t be. The familiar screaming deep within her soul grew louder, swirling into a mournful wail as memories she could barely comprehend forced their way to the surface.
Her legs buckled, driving her to her knees as her mind spiraled through the centuries. The millennia. Seeing world after world drained to desolation. Over and over again. And then, the endless chase across space and time. She saw herself tracking down every last one of the void-spawned race responsible. The endless pursuit, the agony of loss, the orb... Losing her...
She shook her head.No!
She had locked them all away once, beyond the reaches of reality, sealed behind the Weaving. Outside. She gasped, scratching at her arms, trying to block out the torrent of images, but the memories continued their cruel assault.
“Rynna?” Kaelith’s voice came from behind her as a hand fell on her shoulder.
She latched onto the sound, clinging to it like a lifeline, pulling herself through the pain, desperate to find her way back to the surface. But there was nothing he could do. Nothing any of them could do.
It’s a Wraith.
She’d sacrificed her very soul to defeat them before…before…she had become this wretched, broken agent of the Weaving.
Her body shook as her vision sharpened, locking onto the creature’s puppet.How did this one escape?
“Bran!” The scream ripped from her as the truth hit her full force. “You can’t win! It can’t be destroyed!”
“I know!” Bran called back, his voice straining. “We’re going to bind it again like the ancient warriors did!”
Taren landed beside her, his whip sparking as he lashed it at the corpse. “The Source has been feeding off us as we use it, giving this thing the power it needs to break free. But it’s not fully loose yet. We still have time to reset the bindings and cut its connection to us.”
Rynna’s heart pounded. “The ancient’s were able to bind it?” The thought felt impossible, yet it clicked into place. “There must be only one, then.”
They usually traveled in packs, draining planet after planet. If this was the only one, maybe they had a chance.
She ground her teeth, mind racing. “But how did you figure this out?”
“It told us. Gloating. Hika confirmed it.” He shrugged, raising his whip again. “Only the dead and Skarn to talk to for thousands of years made it chatty, I guess.”
“Almost there,” Bran grunted, a streak of darkness streaking past his face. “Just a little more!” He was weaving intricate symbols of fire in the air, while a sustained blast of flames kept the creature trapped in place. The hum of the Great Phoenix resonated through the cavern.
“But…” Rynna swallowed hard. “The corpse is just a puppet.”
Both Taren and Bran jerked their heads toward her, eyes wide.
“What?!” they cried in unison.
She felt it then, a tremor rippling through the ground, subtle at first but growing, originating from the center of the cavern. Just as she opened her mouth to warn them, somethingpulsed, and the ground beneath them quaked. Then, before anyone could react, a shockwave crashed through the room, knocking them all off their feet.
And as the cavern shook, nobody noticed when a hole tore open directly beneath Fenn.
“Rynna!” His hand shot out, reaching for her.
She saw the shock in his eyes, and her stomach lurched as her fingers skimmed his. But she couldn’t grasp him in time, and he disappeared, only to reappear near the churning pit at the center of the cavern.
“Fenn!” Blood pounded in her ears as she scrambled to her feet.
