The Waking Void
1234 Words
Elara woke to find the void standing at the foot of her bed.
Not inside her. Outside. A figure of silver light, human-shaped, with grey eyes that mirrored her own. It had her father's stance, her mother's sharp chin, her own stubborn set to its jaw.
"You're dreaming," Elara said.
Am I?
"You're not real."
I am as real as you made me. You filled me with memories. With hopes. With a desire to be more than hunger.
"If you're real, prove it."
The figure reached out and touched her hand.
Its fingers were warm.
---
Elara sat up in bed.
The void was still inside her—she could feel it, warm and present. But something had changed. The barrier between them was thinner. More like a suggestion than a wall.
I want to speak, the void said. Not through dreams. Through words. Face to face.
"That's not possible."
Make it possible.
"How?"
Go to the Glass Sea. The place where I was born. The Deep Ones can help.
Elara looked at the window. Dawn was breaking over Ember's Rest.
"I'll go. But not alone."
Bring whoever you trust.
"I will."
---
James listened to Elara in the kitchen.
Taylor stood by the stove, her hand on her sword. Sarai sat in her chair, her ancient eyes sharp.
"The void wants to speak," Elara said. "Face to face. It says the Deep Ones can help."
"It's a trick," Taylor said.
"It's not a trick. It's... curiosity."
"The void doesn't get curious. It gets hungry."
"The void is changing, Mom. I've been telling you that for years."
Taylor set down her cup. "And I've been watching you waste away carrying it. You're thinner every time you come home. You sleep less. You smile less. The void is eating you, Elara. Just slowly."
"The void isn't eating me. It's learning from me."
"Same thing."
"No. It's different."
James raised his hand. "Enough. Elara, if you want to go to the Glass Sea, I'll go with you."
"Dad—"
"I'm not asking permission. I'm telling you. You're my daughter. I'm not letting you face the void alone."
Elara looked at him.
"Okay."
---
The journey to the Glass Sea took ten days.
James, Elara, and a small team of soldiers. Taylor stayed behind to protect Ember's Rest. She wasn't happy about it, but she understood.
The void was quiet inside Elara.
Your mother hates me, it said.
"She doesn't hate you. She fears you."
Same thing.
"No. Fear can change. Hate is harder."
Will she ever accept me?
"When you prove you're not a threat."
How do I prove that?
"By helping. By protecting. By being something other than hunger."
The void was silent.
Then: I will try.
---
The Glass Sea was different.
The salt was whiter, the sky clearer. The cracks in the earth had healed. The silver light was gone.
Serev met them at the edge of the flats.
The void told us you were coming.
"How?"
The void speaks to all Deep Ones. We are its children. Its first children.
"The void said you could help it speak face to face."
We can. But the ritual is dangerous. It requires a vessel to hold the void's form while it speaks.
"What kind of vessel?"
A body. Willing. Strong. The void would borrow it for a short time.
James stepped forward. "Use me."
"Dad—"
"I carried the Ember. I carried the core. I can carry the void for a few minutes."
The void may not want to leave your daughter. She is its home.
"Then convince it."
Serev looked at Elara.
Will you allow this?
Elara hesitated.
Then she nodded.
---
The ritual chamber was beneath the bone-house ruins.
The walls were carved with new symbols—the void's symbols, not the old hunger's. They glowed with golden light.
Elara stood in the center of the circle. James stood beside her.
The void will leave your body and enter his, Serev said. It will speak through him. Then it will return. The transfer will take seconds.
"And if it doesn't return?"
Then your father becomes the void's new home.
Elara looked at James.
"I won't let that happen."
"I know."
She closed her eyes.
---
The void left her like a warm breath.
She felt it flow out of her chest, down her arm, into her father's outstretched hand. James gasped. His eyes turned silver—not the cold silver of hunger, but the warm silver of the void's new light.
Then he spoke.
Hello, Elara.
His voice was James's voice. But the words were the void's.
"Hello," she said.
I have wanted to speak with you for so long. Not through feelings. Through words.
"Then speak."
Thank you. For teaching me. For feeding me memories instead of fear. For showing me that hunger is not the only way.
"You taught yourself. I just gave you the tools."
You gave me yourself. That is more.
James's silver eyes flickered.
I must return now. The transfer is straining your father's body.
"Then come back."
I will always come back to you. You are my home.
The silver light faded.
James collapsed.
---
Elara caught him.
"Dad? Dad!"
James opened his eyes. They were grey again. His own.
"Did it work?"
"It worked. Rest."
"The void... it's different. Kinder."
"The void is learning."
James smiled weakly. "Good."
He closed his eyes.
---
Serev helped Elara carry James out of the chamber.
The void has never spoken before, Serev said. Not in all the eons of its existence. You have changed it.
"I didn't change it. I just listened to it."
Listening is change.
Elara looked at the sky. The sun was setting, painting the salt flats gold.
"What happens now?"
The void will continue to learn. To grow. To become something new. And you will guide it.
"That's a lot of pressure."
You are strong enough.
"I have to be."
---
They camped at the edge of the Glass Sea.
James slept. Elara sat by the fire, staring at the stars.
The void inside her was warm.
Your father is brave, it said.
"He's stubborn."
Same thing.
"No. Stubborn is refusing to give up. Brave is being scared and doing it anyway."
What is the difference?
"Stubborn is in the bones. Brave is in the heart."
The void was silent.
Then: I think I am learning to be brave.
Elara smiled.
"I think you are too."
---
James woke at midnight.
Elara was still sitting by the fire.
"How long did I sleep?"
"Six hours."
"The void?"
"Back inside me. Safe."
James sat up, wincing. "It felt strange. Being a vessel again."
"You did well."
"I did what needed to be done."
"Same thing."
He laughed. "You sound like your mother."
"I take that as a compliment."
"It wasn't meant as one."
They sat in comfortable silence.
"Dad?"
"Yeah."
"The void wants to help. Not destroy. Help."
"Can hunger help?"
"It's not hunger anymore. It's something else."
"What?"
"I don't know yet. But I'm excited to find out."
James put his arm around her.
"Then find out. I'll be here."
---
The journey back to Ember's Rest took ten days.
James recovered slowly. Elara walked at the front, her hand on her sword, her eyes on the horizon.
The void inside her was quiet.
But it was not sleeping.
It was thinking.
- Writer
