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But Aether's words echoed through me again. Fighting. Fighting against the temptation to take the easy path. Against losing myself to power that promised everything but would cost more. Because it was a lie.Thiswas the test. The Void wasn’t offering me power, it was trying to consume me.

The shadows pressed harder, trying to force their way deeper into my essence. My web sparked against my spine, no longer yielding to their invasion. Each tendril of darkness that tried to corrupt it was met with fierce resistance.

You're weak, the shadows snarled.You could be infinite.

"I'd rather be myself," I whispered, and felt the truth of it burn through my veins.

The darkness recoiled, but only for a moment. It surged back stronger, determined to break me. But now I understood—this was the real test. Not whether I could survive the Void, but whether I could survive it without losing myself.

I held onto that truth as the shadows raged around me, as they tried to tear me apart, as they showed me every horror that would come from my refusal. I held on, and I fought.

I slammed into the dead grass, every muscle screaming in agony. The ground felt wrong beneath my fingers—brittle and sharp as I clawed my way forward through the darkness. My arms trembled as I pushed myself up, willing my legs to work, to run, to get away from the shadows still reaching for me.

I ran. For hours, maybe days—time had no meaning here. My throat was raw from screaming, though no sound emerged. Just endless silence and darkness stretching in every direction. My legs burned, my lungs ached, but I kept moving. Had to keep moving.

Something solid caught my foot and I pitched forward, landing hard. My hands found fabric, then flesh—a body. Ice shot through my veins as I tried to make out who it was in the darkness. A wet, gurgling cough broke the silence.

"Lael?" My voice came out strangled. "Lael!"

He coughed again, the sound thick and wrong. Something in me snapped. I grabbed him under his arms, trying to drag him with me, but my strength was gone. Tears streamed down my face as I pulled harder, desperate to get him away from here.

"If you take him, you'll owe me a debt, dear child."

The voice thundered through the nothingness. Deep, guttural, and terrifying. It wasn't like the whispers from before. This was something else entirely.

"Everything has its price," the voice boomed louder, making the very darkness tremble.

"I felt you the moment you stepped into my realm." The voice seemed to press against my skin, making my ears ring. "You're not like them, you know. Not like the others. Not like him."

It felt like something yanked Lael from the darkness, but I held on tighter, my fingers digging into his arms.

"I passed your test!" I finally screamed, my voice breaking through the suffocating silence. The words tore from my throat, raw and desperate.

"Test?" The voice held something like amusement, though the sound made my skin crawl. "That was merely an introduction, dear child. The real question is—what would you sacrifice for him?"

My heart stopped.

I clutched Lael tighter as invisible forces tried to tear himaway. I had just avoided the pull of the darkness—just escaped its grip on me, despite their temptations. I looked down at Lael, feeling the rise and fall of his chest—shallow, labored. He was a child, fighting in a war that had taken everything for him. I thought of his parents. Thought of how he longed to see life return to the realm.

I couldn’t let him wither into nothing in this place, consumed by darkness.

"Anything," I choked out.

"Dangerous words." The darkness seemed to pulse around us. "To offer such things to forces you don't understand."

"I don't care what it costs me." My voice cracked. "Just let me save him."

"And there it is." The voice grew heavier, pressing in from all sides. "The truth of you. So willing to bargain with darkness to save someone you barely know. It will suit you well for what's coming."

"Who? Suit me—what's coming?"

"Accept my bargain, dear child. Owe me a debt to be collected when I choose. And you may keep your precious charge."

My arms ached from holding onto Lael. Everything in me screamed that this was wrong—that making deals with ancient, unknowable things could only end in tragedy. But I couldn't let him go. Couldn't leave him here in this endless dark.

"I accept," I whispered.

"One last scene for you, dear. I think this is one you've been waiting to see, perhaps, for your entire life."