The Shattered Void Dexus stretched endlessly before Zami, but something gnawed at the edges of his thoughts. He paused mid-step, his hand instinctively resting on the hilt of his katana, and looked back in the direction he had come.
"Karesh," he said, his voice low, "something's wrong."
"What is it now?" Karesh's voice was laced with mild annoyance but carried an undertone of curiosity.
Zami's silver eyes flickered as he stared into the distance, where the battle against the Eternal Hunger had taken place. "The shard. The Eternal Hunger's shard. I should've seen it after I defeated him. Every vessel has dropped one, so where is it?"
Karesh was silent for a moment before replying, "It's true. The vessels always leave behind a shard, a fragment of their essence. But if it wasn't there, then…"
Zami didn't wait for him to finish. He turned sharply and began retracing his steps, his pace quick despite the pain still wracking his body. His injuries were severe—holes, bruises, and gashes covered him—but they no longer mattered. He had endured worse and would endure more if it meant finding the shard.
As he walked, the void around him seemed to grow darker, the oppressive atmosphere pressing against him like a weight. The ground beneath his feet shifted and cracked, almost as if the void itself was resisting his return.
Karesh broke the silence. "Zami, you already defeated the Eternal Hunger. What does it matter if the shard isn't there?"
"It matters because it has to be there," Zami replied firmly. "The shards aren't just fragments. They hold power—memories, knowledge, something the entities left behind. I can't just leave it."
Karesh sighed. "And what if it's gone? Or hidden? What then?"
Zami didn't answer immediately. His mind was racing, replaying the battle in vivid detail. The monstrous form of the Eternal Hunger, the beams of darkness, the tendrils, the crown of pure darkness—every moment etched into his memory. He had delivered the Reality Breaking Slash, the attack that should have shattered everything, and followed it with the Reaching Thunder. He had seen the creature fall, its form disintegrating into nothingness.
But no shard.
"It has to be there," he muttered, more to himself than to Karesh.
When he finally reached the battlefield, the void was eerily silent. The ground was scarred and broken, remnants of the clash still evident in the deep gouges and shattered terrain. The air felt heavier here, as if the void itself remembered the battle.
Zami stood at the center of the destruction, his silver eyes scanning every detail. He knelt, running his hand over the fractured ground, searching for any trace of the shard.
Minutes turned into hours as he combed the area, frustration mounting. "Where is it?" he muttered, his voice growing darker.
Karesh remained quiet, observing Zami's determination.
Finally, Zami's eyes caught a faint glimmer—a barely perceptible flicker of light in the distance. His heart raced as he approached, his footsteps slow and deliberate.
When he reached the source, he froze.
Embedded in the cracked ground was a fragment unlike any he had seen before. It wasn't glowing like the shards of the Bone Monarch or the Wailing Dread. Instead, it seemed to absorb the light around it, radiating an aura of pure malevolence. Its surface was jagged and dark, almost like crystallized shadows, with faint tendrils of darkness swirling within.
Zami knelt before it, his hand hovering over the shard.
"Is that… it?" Karesh's voice was cautious.
Zami nodded slowly. "It has to be. This is what's left of the Eternal Hunger."
Karesh hesitated. "Be careful, Zami. That shard… it feels different. Stronger. More dangerous."
Zami didn't respond immediately. He could feel it too—the overwhelming presence emanating from the shard. It was as if the essence of the Eternal Hunger still lingered, waiting to consume him.
But he didn't hesitate. Reaching out, he grasped the shard.
The moment his fingers closed around it, a surge of darkness flooded through him. His vision blurred, and he felt as though he were being pulled into an abyss. Voices whispered at the edges of his mind, incomprehensible but filled with malice.
Zami gritted his teeth, tightening his grip on the shard. "I'm not afraid of you," he growled.
The darkness recoiled slightly, and the whispers subsided. Slowly, the shard's energy began to stabilize, its chaotic essence bending to Zami's will.
As the surge faded, Zami stood, the shard pulsing faintly in his hand. He could feel its power—a raw, unyielding force unlike anything he had encountered before.
Karesh's voice broke the silence. "You have it now. But what will you do with it?"
Zami looked at the shard, then at the endless expanse of the Shattered Void Dexus. His expression was resolute.
"I'll keep moving," he said simply. "This shard… it's just another step. Another piece of the puzzle."
And with that, he turned and began his journey once more, the shard clutched tightly in his hand, its malevolent aura a reminder of the trials he had overcome—and those still to come.