Chapter 63: Voice in the Void
Arthur stood alone in the tent long after the others had left, staring at the space where Lyralei’s hologram had shown Marcus Chen’s transformation.
The magical recording crystal lay dark on the table, but the images burned in his mind—human flesh dissolving into living shadow, reality cracking like broken glass around a hunger that couldn’t be satisfied.
*Two months. Maybe less.*
His hands trembled as he picked up the crystal, feeling the void resonance pulse stronger in response. The System warnings kept flashing at the edge of his vision:
[WARNING: VOID RESONANCE DETECTED]
[EVOLUTION PROTOCOL: 15% UNSTABLE - RISING]
[RECOMMENDATION: SEEK IMMEDIATE CONTAINMENT]
"Containment," Arthur muttered. "Right. Lock myself in a cage and hope I don’t eat everyone I care about."
The shadows in the tent seemed to shift despite the steady magical light. Arthur’s eyes tracked the movement, noticing how the darkness bent toward him, drawn like iron filings to a magnet. When had that started happening?
He thought about the hunger Lyralei had mentioned. That gnawing need he’d felt when creating the shadow realm, the urge to pull Lyralei’s phoenix fire into himself. He’d dismissed it as battle-lust, but now...
*Now I know better.*