5

  VOID

  Violet mist shrouded the training yard as increasing terror soaked everyone present—everyone but Kalex.

  He stood in front of the void without worry, his face split with a smile. The chance to experience something completely new and take in all it had to offer was worth not squandering. His mind drifted until it was only him and the void. Power unlike anything he’d ever seen rushed throughout his body, nourishing his myst channels and providing new life to his domain.

  The energy from the void came in bursts, trembling his core with each instance. The planet he had created deepened in color as new foliage bloomed and new features erupted from its surface, and with each pulse of power, it drew farther away from his core.

  Peeling away from the orbit of his core, small orbs found new positions around the cracking sun, enlarging to sizes similar to that of the existing planet in the system.

  Kalex’s eyes flashed a vibrant green as his presence spread involuntarily. Sensing his myst instantly cover the planet multiple times, Wren bolted into action.

  The pull from the rip in the world was now nonexistent, and instead, she found herself rebuffed, unable to get close to the child. Rigel attempted to follow her but made it only a few steps before finding himself barred.

  Knowing that the protectors of Karthis would arrive any moment, not only because of the void, but also because of the blatant use of energy to engulf the world, she called to him.

  “KALEX!” she said, enforcing her voice with all she had. “PULL BACK!” Her words echoed throughout the world. “DO NOT FALL IN!”

  The words reached every ear on the planet, including some that were paying close attention from very far away.

  —

  Balun moved silently through space, his eyes fixed on what lay ahead—an Oblivion Star. These objects were among the most feared and sought-after in the universe. Their power rivaled that of entire empires, and the bounty they offered was worth the risk of pursuing them.

  Stars touched by the light of the Oblivion star were regarded as peerless treasures. They provided vital energy to any planets they may have and were priceless to Harvesters, who soaked in the energy of stars, strengthening their myst and bodies alike.

  Only two people were known to have harnessed the power of an Oblivion Star; their names sung throughout the universe, and their stories spun into legends. Through these tales, they were known as the Endless, which quickly became their moniker. In advanced worlds where the act of gaining power from stars was commonplace, most spoke of the fearless Mercil—the first to overtake an Oblivion Star, and leader of the Fracture Walker Syndicate—in peerless light, hoping to achieve a small amount of what he had.

  The other name was a relatively new one, only having bested an Oblivion Star within the past hundred or so years, and said to be greater than the aging Mercil. In all official literature, she went by Cella the Iron-Hearted, due to the care she showed to everyone who wasn’t her enemy. However, colloquially, she was called Cella the Empty. Those who peered into the eyes of the tall woman were met with the sensation of never-ending, as if they were being unnaturally pulled in.

  Approaching the Oblivion Star, Balun prepared himself to start gradually cycling the entire star’s energy through his body, continuously destroying it and rebuilding, gaining a speck of the star’s power each time. This feat was only achieved by him and the Endless. Still, when the Endless remade their bodies after being obliterated, they did so cautiously, as even bodies of the pinnacle powers had the chance to fail in their reconstruction, all except Balun. Where the Endless reforged their bodies in stars once, Balun did so thousands of times. With his body being in a state of reconstruction for more time than he was whole, the two Endless began referring to him as The Broken One.

  Blistering heat brushed against Balun’s face as the gravity of the star he was approaching tried its best to pull him in. Before he could embrace the star's pull, an odd tingling grasped his attention. Looking into his most recent connection, he smiled.

  “What have you gotten yourself into now?” He chuckled, postponing his star harvesting for something more intriguing.

  As far as he knew, only the Endless, himself, and the few remaining vestiges of a long forgotten cult had ever touched the energy from the void and survived, but here was Kalex, mingling with the energy without fear. As the power from any rip in reality was somewhat paracidic, Balun knew that Kalex would gain something from interacting with it, as his affinity for the void was the reason a connection with himself was made.

  As the seconds raced on, his happy and proud smile faded. When he brushed with the void, a few seconds were all that was needed before his body completely shut down to process the new energy and integrate it into his existing myst. Kalex had opened himself up completely and imbibed on the void for far longer. Balun checked the connection to ensure that Kalex was still alive and hadn’t been instantly petrified by the void myst suffusing his body.

  Balun opened his eyes and gazed at the star in front of him.

  “Today is your lucky day.” He told the star.

  Turning toward the vibrant connection, he couldn’t help but shake his head at the absurdity he had just witnessed.

  Five minutes. The void that had opened in front of Kalex lasted for five minutes before the aperture closed. Although Balun could tell that Kalex was alright, he turned and bid the star another farewell and headed toward Karthis. He had to see exactly what this man was firsthand. He even had a gift ready for Kalex. He never thought he would do anything with the item, but when he saw Kalex through his connection, he knew this was meant for him.

  Reaching into his empty domain, he retrieved an ancient sealed jar with seemingly nothing inside. “This will do nicely.” He said into space, a genuine smile crossing his face.

  —

  Myst from the void, once sickly green and blackened violet, transitioned into vibrant versions, mingling with Kalex’s myst in a harmonious dance. Everything around him was shadowed by the feeling of the new power. A drop of sweat fell from his brow as he exerted willpower to control it.

  A firm embrace shook him from his musings.

  Wren grasped him by the midsection and exuded myst that rippled the fabric of reality around him. Her eyes shut in anticipation of any aftereffects, and Rigel held a barrier around them with a frown.

  A few tense moments passed, during which Wren held on for dear life, and Kalex looked on in confusion. The skill she used ceased, and she flinched back.

  “How?” she said, stepping back and scanning Kalex. “Impossible.”

  Lyla came running, preparing to check Kalex’s channels. Wren and Rigel allowed her through, but instantly added barriers. The instant Lyla’s myst came in contact with Kalex, the world turned gray, and the myst in the air stood still.

  Purple light beamed out of Kalex’s eyes as they rolled back, with Lyla’s eyes shining green; a mix of both colors spiraling between them. Lex transferred himself into his rock and pinned himself between the now-seizing bodies. He used himself as a filter, easing the myst actively transferring between the two. Kalex’s shaking subsided, while Lyla’s flared stronger. Scyris screamed as she was held back by Rigel, tears streaming down her face; Sorene and Timik sat next to each other, looking on in horror. There was nothing any of them could do.

  Barely holding on, Lex pinged Ekk for assistance and received scattered thoughts as a response. The green myst permeating Lyla’s body had almost extinguished her myst, but Lex had an idea. Forcing his way into the storage of Kalex’s domain, he retrieved something he knew Kalex had likely forgotten about.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  In a flash of white, a weapon appeared. Its blade curved close to the handle. Lex manipulated it to hover close to Lyla and sent his personal power rippling out.

  Lyla screamed, echoed by another. A cloud-like apparition peeled away from Lyla, instantly merging with the weapon.

  The blade melted. Liquid metal floated before Lyla, as a high-pitched voice shook the world a moment later.

  “BOND!”

  The metal boiled and churned. Myst violently exploded outward at a quickening pace until Lyla’s screams subsided.

  Though her eyes were still glowing and through her eyes, the world had a green tint, her pain was gone, replaced with confusion. A silver shield, emblazoned with an unfamiliar insignia, floated before her. The shield was doing the same as Lex and acting as a barrier to lessen the force and potency of the myst flowing into her.

  Kalex fully stabilized, but lay unconscious while wisps of purple smoke funneled from his glowing eyes. Checking on him and confirming that he was alive, Lex switched to helping Lyla, but to his surprise, he was unneeded.

  Now that the myst coming from Kalex was exhausted, Ekk feverishly worked inside Lyla’s tiny domain that had just been opened to her. He absorbed as much of the alien myst as possible and converted it into something she could use. Lex reached out to help a few times, but Ekk declined, knowing that this was something he could do. Something he needed to do. The Wounders had done so much for him throughout the years of him being their family Lexidex, it was time to repay the favor.

  Condensing the new myst source inside his ghostly Beerian form, he filled to bursting. He unleashed a surge of power with a single brave yell, forcefully expanding the domain. He watched Lyla’s core bolt into the distance, but felt his connection with Lyla much more clearly.

  “Lyla, can you hear me?” Ekk said with caution. After a minute of no response, he pinged Lex.

  “Come out and see for yourself.” Ekk received immediately.

  At first, Ekk was confused by what he had heard, but he soon realized that he had a vessel and could interact more in the physical world.

  Zipping into the now shrunken shield, Ekk looked at the aftermath of what had just happened.

  On a small mound that hadn’t existed before, lay Kalex and Lyla, both unconscious, but in a stable state. Before Wren and the others could arrive, Ekk scanned them both and nearly fell out of his shield. Both felt stronger than anything he had seen, but each felt slightly different. Kalex’s pathways felt full of a never-ending glut of antagonistic energy, ready to do his bidding. In contrast, Lyla’s felt like a pure lake, brimming with the energy of life, prepared to wash away any malfeasance.

  Wren’s arrival shocked Ekk more than Wren was with him. As she approached, the myst within her body reacted to the void myst in the air. Both colors shone through her skin briefly before Ekk felt Wren pull up his status. He didn’t resist it like Lex did and allowed her to see what was currently available.

  Name: Ekk

  Level: 0

  Race: Lexidex (Diat), Unique (Karthis)

  Rank: Harbinger (Lyla Graves)

  Form: Wounder’s Final Refuge (Shield)

  —

  Hours after the ordeal with the void, Kalex and Lyla slowly woke up in the shade of a tree, surrounded by familiar but worried faces. Kalex checked his myst channels as memories of what had happened flooded his mind. The only feeling that was off was the flow of his myst. It felt sluggish and thick. Looking to his side, he noticed Lyla having a similar issue.

  An idea clicked in his mind. Using the same process he did for Scyris, he controlled his myst to forcefully expand his channels. Unlike with Scyris, he did not have any blockages in particular areas, so he had to painfully expand his channels in their entirety. The pain was excruciating, but thankfully brief, and the flow of his myst exceeded what it was before.

  Sending his myst outward in the form of his presence sight felt different than before. Not only was it somehow easier as the myst felt like it found no resistance, but Wren remained unalerted as it covered the planet multiple times.

  Kalex was unsure of the outcome of expanding his myst over the planet, but as he slept, Enforcers had arrived. Noting that nobody had died and everything seemed in order, they departed, leaving Wren and Rigel with warnings.

  Deciding to stay quiet, Kalex focused on Lyla, who was conscious but struggling. The energy flowing through her body circulated at a speed that ripped her channels apart. Kalex’s eyes widened as he noticed the myst healing the damage it caused. Neither the destruction nor the healing looked painless, so Kalex went to work expanding her pathways.

  His practice with Scyris and himself helped the process become gentler, causing minimum pain. Moments later, Lyla began to sit up, with Scyris running over to assist.

  “Are you okay? You had us all scared!” Scyris said. Turning to look at Kalex, her features shifted into a snarl. “What did you do to her?”

  Wren interrupted, engulfing Kalex and Lyla in their own protective bubbles. “Kalex.” She said sternly, directly into his mind. “We need to talk. The things you just did are borderline impossible. I see the aftereffects of what you did to Lyla’s channels, but I couldn’t sense your myst in action.”

  Kalex sat up and replied mentally. “You couldn’t? That explains why you haven't hit me for extending my presence sight over the planet again.”

  Wren’s face stayed neutral, but color began running up her cheeks. “That was one of the first rules I told you about this world! I can’t sense it though, so hopefully nobody else can eith…”

  Sirens blared throughout the planet, ringing in everyone’s ears as if they were being played directly beside them. Wren’s expression broke, and she took a step back. The alarms blared longer than before, and it was apparent that there would be no warnings this time. They could only wait until the Enforcers arrived again and attempt to explain their situation.

  The deafening sounds stopped a moment later, followed by a solid sheet of myst that rammed directly into Kalex, running through everyone in proximity as it did. Rigel fell backwards at the feeling of this myst, as he’d felt it once before. During Niteweld’s tournaments the previous year, cheating had been discovered, prompting the same presence to encapsulate the offender, which was exactly what was happening now.

  At a speed that peered into the realm of teleportation, a large man made his way to Rigel’s residence, showering white hot myst all the while.

  A figure appeared in the sky, shining brighter than the midday sun, and exuding myst that dwarfed said sun in its potency.

  A voice boomed as Kalex felt the myst surrounding him attempt to invade his body.

  “KALEX. A BEER THE SIZE OF A HUMAN. PATHETIC. GIVE ME THE NAME OF THE ONES WHO PROVIDED YOU WITH THE MEANS TO EXTEND YOUR PALTRY PRESENCE OVER MY PLANET.” The figure said, slowly floating downward towards the training yard.

  “BE SWIFT, MY TIME IS BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE.”

  Kalex hesitated. The myst engulfing him locked his movements and threatened to strangle him. During his time as an heir, Kalex had adapted to keeping his wits around those much stronger than himself, but the man in front of him held power on a level that only Wren might match. With the bleary eyes that transitioned from looking normal to seemingly translucent, Kalex had to face his feelings. He was scared.

  Noticing his inaction, the shining man descended on Kalex and grasped his throat in a vice grip.

  “It was me, Rector Zalfyds! I facilitated this child's presence. The fault is mine, and mine alone!” Wren exclaimed, sending a pulse of her power to attempt to counteract the myst crushing Kalex.

  Her myst was shrugged off, penetrating only halfway to Kalex.

  “SILENCE, WENCH! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO SPEAK SO FLIPPANTLY!?”

  Rector Zalfyds tilted his head to take in the diminutive woman.

  “AH, AN EARLY SEED. I SEE THE SAGES HAVEN’T BROKEN YOU YET.” He said with a lecherous smile splitting his face. “I MUST SEND WORD FOR AN ADJUSTMENT IN THE SPEED OF THEIR WORK; IT SEEMS THIS WORTHLESS CARRIER HAS FORGOTTEN WHO GRANTED THEM THEIR POWER.” Zalfyds squeezed Kalex’s neck harder, easily cracking bones.

  “YOU SEEM QUITE FOND OF THIS YOUNG MAN, AND IT’S JUST MY LUCK THAT I CAN TAKE CARE OF TWO THINGS AT ONCE. DESTROYING THE ONE WHO BROKE ONE OF THE MAIN DIRECTIVES OF KARTHIS, AND TEACHING AN INSIGNIFICANT LEECH A WELL DESERVED LESSON!”

  Zalfyds squeezed slowly, exerting his might for everyone to see, but not a single drop of blood escaped Kalex’s body; he instead glared into space. This man's words were wrong; his mind itched uncontrollably when he tried to consider what he had said. Wren was the complete opposite of what this Zalfyds had said, and her planet was his home planet as well. His emotions boiled over. The hand gripping his neck began to loosen, a purplish sheen spreading over its surface with a sizzling popping sound. Immediately dropping Kalex, Zalfyds focused his myst directly on Kalex, intensifying the pressure. Kalex’s knees buckled, threatening to collapse, until his new, more powerful myst blasted out, rippling space in every direction.

  Zalfyds redoubled his efforts, gaining hold once again.

  Kalex stood up straight and looked the man directly in the eye.

  “NO.”

  Zalfyd’s myst evaporated.

  A lot happened in the next fraction of a second. Zalfyds fell unconscious, over forty hidden Enforcers rushed towards Kalex, Wren covered everyone other than Kalex in the strongest barrier she could muster, and Kalex’s eyes glowed a menacing purple.

  Eyebrows scrunched with effort, Kalex stared into the sky at the oncoming group of the highest-level people living on Karthis.

  —

  High above the planet, Balun silently clapped at what was unfolding.

  “Better than I could’ve expected.”