The night stretched endlessly over the Void Plains, a black canvas punctuated by the eerie glow of corrupted obelisks. The air was thick with silence, broken only by the distant howling of unseen creatures.
Lyssara moved through the shadows like a whisper, her presence barely disturbing the dust beneath her boots. She had walked these lands before, but tonight was different. Tonight, she hunted something far more dangerous than any void-born horror.
Kiran.
Her fingers brushed the hilt of her twin daggers, their hilts cold, humming with the dark enchantments woven into them. She had known this moment would come.
Malrik's orders had been clear—Kiran must not reach the Void Shard.
But Lyssara wasn't simply here to stop him.
She was here to break him.
A Trail of Power
She knelt beside a patch of scorched earth, running her fingers over the charred remains of the creatures Kiran had fought. The energy here still crackled, a silver light lingering at the edges of the wounds.
He was changing.
She had sensed it the moment he survived the Night Reapers. But now, standing here, she could feel the shift in the very air.
The Hollow Mark within him was no longer just resisting—it was awakening.
She stood, her violet eyes narrowing. If he learned to control that power, he could become a threat even Malrik wouldn't be able to contain.
But that wouldn't happen.
She would see to that.
An Old Ally, A New Trap
A faint rustling to her left.
Lyssara didn't react, didn't so much as flick her gaze toward the disturbance. Instead, she merely waited.
A figure emerged from the shadows—a man clad in tattered robes, his face hidden beneath a deep hood. His presence was unnatural, like he existed between worlds, neither fully alive nor fully dead.
"The Seeker," she greeted him.
The hooded man inclined his head. "The boy grows stronger." His voice was like wind through dry leaves. "The Void stirs because of him."
Lyssara tilted her head. "Can you track him?"
The Seeker chuckled, though there was no amusement in it. "Tracking him is simple. Stopping him… that is another matter."
Lyssara's fingers tightened on her daggers. "We don't need to stop him yet. We need to guide him."
The Seeker regarded her in silence before nodding. "A trap, then?"
"A lesson," she corrected. "One that will make him doubt. Make him hesitate."
She turned toward the horizon, where the distant ruins of Vardros Keep lay shrouded in mist.
"He's heading there. That's where we make our move."
The Shadow's Path
The Seeker faded into the darkness, already moving ahead.
Lyssara remained a moment longer, staring into the empty void where the sky should have been.
She had fought Kiran before.
But this time, she wouldn't just fight him.
She would break him.
And if she succeeded…
He would never leave the Void alive.
To Be Continued…