Into the Void
The morning broke with a pale, gray light filtering through the windows of the cottage. Elena hadn't slept. She sat at the wooden table with the journal spread before her, its text shimmering faintly. Julian leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed and his expression unreadable.
"It feels like we're being pulled deeper into something we can't control," he said finally, breaking the silence.
Elena sighed, rubbing her temples. "I know. But we don't have a choice. The Keeper said the fractures would spread if we don't act."
Julian pushed off the doorframe and walked over to her, pulling out the chair opposite her and sitting down. "What exactly is 'the void'? And how do we even get there?"
Elena traced the glowing letters with her finger. "The journal has to be the key. It's been guiding us this entire time."
"Yeah, but what if the void isn't a place we're meant to survive?" Julian asked, his voice quieter now.
Elena looked up, meeting his gaze. "Then we do what we've done since this started: we figure it out together."
Julian studied her for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. Let's do this."
The journal's text began to shift as if responding to their resolve. The letters rearranged themselves into an image: a swirling vortex of darkness surrounded by faint, flickering light. Beneath the image, a single line appeared:
"Speak the truth to summon the shadow."
"What does that mean?" Julian asked, frowning.
Elena frowned, her mind racing. "Maybe it's literal. Maybe we have to admit something—something we've been hiding, even from ourselves."
Julian leaned back in his chair, his jaw tightening. "Truth, huh? That's vague."
Elena closed the journal, gripping it tightly. "We don't have a lot of time to figure this out."
The room grew colder, the air heavy with an unseen presence. Elena shivered and glanced at Julian, who had gone rigid, his eyes fixed on the shadows pooling in the corner of the room.
"Elena," he said, his voice tense.
She turned her head slowly, following his gaze. The shadows were moving, swirling as if alive. They stretched across the floor, creeping toward them like liquid smoke.
"Speak the truth," the shadows whispered, their voices layered and echoing. "The door opens only for those who dare to face themselves."
Elena's heart pounded. "What truth?" she demanded, her voice shaking. "What do you want us to say?"
"The truth within," the shadows replied.
Julian inhaled sharply, his fists clenching. "Fine," he said, his voice low. "You want the truth? I've spent years running from my mistakes—blaming everyone else for what went wrong in my life. But the truth is, I let my fear control me. I was too scared to stand up for myself, for my family… and for her."
The shadows paused, swirling around Julian as if considering his words. Then they shifted toward Elena.
She froze, her chest tightening. "I don't know what you want me to say," she whispered.
"You do," the shadows hissed. "Speak, traveler."
Elena's grip on the journal tightened. She thought of her life before all of this—the quiet monotony, the endless longing for something more. She thought of the choices she'd made, the people she'd hurt, and the dreams she'd abandoned.
"I've always been afraid of failure," she admitted, her voice barely audible. "Afraid of taking risks, of reaching for something and losing it. That fear held me back. It kept me from living."
The shadows surged around her, their whispers growing louder. She closed her eyes, forcing the words out. "And when I found the journal, I thought it was my chance to escape that fear—to rewrite my life into something extraordinary. But now I see… I've just been running from myself."
The room fell silent. The shadows stilled, then began to draw together, forming a swirling vortex in the center of the room.
"The door is open," the shadows intoned. "Enter, if you dare."
Julian reached for Elena's hand, squeezing it tightly. "We're in this together," he said.
She nodded, her heart racing as they stepped forward. The vortex pulsed with an otherworldly energy, its depths both terrifying and mesmerizing.
As they crossed the threshold, the world around them dissolved into darkness. The void awaited.