Episode Five (ii): The Awakening
296 Words
"You cannot win!" Cassius screamed, his composure finally breaking. "The Void is awake! Nothing can put it back to sleep!"
Lyra looked at the cage, at the hole in reality that was slowly expanding. She remembered her grandmother's last words in the memory: The weapon requires a wielder, someone with the strength to use it without being destroyed.
She understood now what that meant.
• • •
"Seraphina!" she called. "I need you to open a path to the Void. Can you do that?"
The Archon's eyes widened as she understood Lyra's intention. "No. There must be another way."
"There isn't," Lyra said softly. "My grandmother gave her life to wound the Void. Now it's my turn to finish what she started." She raised Remembrance, the blade blazing with all the light of her memories. "Open the path."
For a long moment, Seraphina hesitated. Then, slowly, she nodded. "Your grandmother would be proud," she said. "As am I."
The Archon's power surged, tearing open the cage that contained the Void. The darkness rushed out like water through a broken dam, reaching for Lyra with tendrils of absolute nothingness.
She didn't hesitate. She leaped into the heart of the Void, Remembrance raised high, and struck.
The blade met the darkness, and for a moment, nothing happened. Then, slowly, light began to spread from the point of contact—not the harsh light of the sun, but the gentle glow of a thousand memories, each one a testament to the beauty and pain of existence. The Void That Hungers had never experienced such a thing. It had fed on fear and despair, on the negative emotions that were easiest to extract. It had never tasted joy, or sorrow, or the simple clarity of being alive.
The darkness screamed.
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