Page 40 of Echoes From the Void (Shadow Locke Shifters #3)

Chapter 39

Frankie

“It has to start with you,” I tell my father, watching his massive form shift between shadow and corruption. Even here, in this space between realities, I can see how the void’s poison has worked into his very essence. Veins of void-purple pulse through his shadows, marking millennia of standing guard, of containing what would have destroyed everything. “You’ve carried this weight alone for too long.”

The Eredar’s ancient eyes fix on mine, carrying depths of understanding that make my shadow essence stir with recognition. His corrupted form towers over me, large enough to swallow reality itself, yet every movement carries careful grace. The cost would be great, his voice resonates through spaces that haven’t known sound since the first shadow fell. No child should have to bear their parent’s burden.

“And no father should have to watch his children suffer,” I counter softly, reaching up to touch his corrupted form. My shadows brush against his, feeling the familiar echo of shared essence beneath layers of ancient poison. “You’ve protected us all this time. Let me protect you now.”

Through our distant bonds, I feel my pack working similar healing above—Matteo’s new understanding of corruption, Leo’s gift for gentle shadows, all of them finding ways to restore rather than destroy. Their energy pulses like anchors to reality, reminding me I’m not alone in this impossible task.

My wolves gather close as I prepare myself, their forms adapting to void-space with ancient instinct. The alpha female presses against my leg, lending strength for what’s to come. This won’t be like healing Leo’s corruption or absorbing void essence. This is older. Deeper. The original corruption that all others spawned from.

Daughter , my father’s voice carries millennia of love. My shadow. My hope. Are you certain?

Instead of answering, I let my power rise. Let my shadows reach for his corruption with the same instinct that helped me find Finn’s light—not fighting, but accepting. Not forcing, but choosing.

The first wave of corruption hits like arctic fire in my veins.

The pain is beyond anything I’ve experienced—worse than Valerie’s “treatments,” worse than the breeding experiments, worse than separation from Finn. This isn’t just corruption—it’s primal entropy, the original darkness that existed before shadow had meaning. It burns through my essence like cosmic fire, threatening to unmake everything I am.

My wolves howl as ancient memories flood through the connection, their voices carrying harmonics that shouldn’t exist in void-space:

The first shadow falling across newly formed realities.

The void’s hunger awakening.

My father’s choice to stand guard, to become corruption’s keeper so others wouldn’t have to.

Centuries of lonely vigil as the poison worked deeper into his essence.

The moment he met my mother and first understood there could be another way.

Through our pack bonds, I feel their distant response to my wolves’ cry. Matteo’s predator nature rages against the barriers keeping him from me. Leo’s sunshine tries to pierce the void, while Bishop’s Guardian magic searches for ways to reach us. Dorian’s frost patterns attempt to stabilize corrupted space.

Stop , my father’s voice carries desperate fear as my shadows absorb more of his corruption. His massive form trembles as void-purple poison flows between us. It’s too much. You can’t ? —

“Watch me,” I grit out, letting another wave of entropy burn through me. My wolves press closer, their forms blurring at the edges as they lend me strength. The alpha female’s eyes gleam with fierce determination as reality itself seems to shudder around us.

Through our distant bond, I feel Finn’s light pulse with recognition. Feel him understanding what I’m attempting, even as he continues his own vital work with the frozen light shifters. His power reaches for mine across impossible space, offering balance even here in the depths of primal dark.

Not alone , his voice whispers through our connection. Never alone again.

The third wave brings visions that steal my breath:

Our mother’s face when she first realized what our father carried—not fear of his form, but grief for his burden.

Her determination to find another way, poring over ancient texts while her belly swelled with twin life.

The moment she understood that willing sacrifice could replace forced corruption, her light pulsing with desperate hope.

The love that created us—perfect balance born from shadow and light, prophecy written in twin heartbeats.

The truth that was never about destruction, but about healing. Never about power, but about choice.

My father’s massive form trembles as more corruption flows from him into me. His essence begins to shift, centuries of poison finally releasing their hold as his shadows remember their original grace. But the pain...

The pain threatens to tear me apart. Each pulse of corruption burns hotter than the last, entropy itself trying to unmake my very atoms. My wolves’ forms waver as they fight to anchor me, their ancient power barely holding against forces that predate shadow itself.

Enough , my father’s voice shakes the spaces between realities. Void-purple light bleeds from his form as more corruption transfers between us. You must stop. The corruption will destroy ? —

“No,” I manage through clenched teeth, my wolves bracing my failing body. The alpha female’s eyes meet mine, carrying understanding older than time. “It won’t destroy me. Because I’m choosing this. Like Mom chose you. Like you chose to protect us. Like we’re all choosing something better than what came before.”

The fourth wave brings understanding that cuts deeper than pain:

All this time, the void’s corruption wasn’t just poison. It was loneliness. Isolation. The weight of standing guard alone for so long that entropy itself became preferable to solitude. Each pulse of corruption carries echoes of endless vigil, of watching others fall while maintaining his post, of choosing again and again to bear this burden so others wouldn’t have to.

But my father isn’t alone anymore.

My shadows surge stronger, wrapping around his ancient form as I take more of his burden. Each pulse of corruption burns through my essence, but now I understand what I’m really absorbing:

Millennia of silent vigil.

Centuries of watching others fall to darkness.

The desperate hope when he found my mother.

The fierce love that made him let her go to protect us.

The weight of every choice that led to this moment.

“You can let go now,” I whisper as his form begins to stabilize, void-purple corruption fading from his edges. Through our connection, I feel him fighting his protective instincts, struggling against millennia of bearing this alone. “Let me carry this. Let me show you what willing sacrifice can do.”

Through our twin bond, I feel Finn’s light pulse with fierce pride. His power reaches for mine across impossible space, helping stabilize the corruption as it transfers. Through our pack bonds, I feel their distant work echoing what I’m attempting—healing through choice, restoration through love.

My father’s essence shifts again, corruption flowing faster now as he finally, finally begins to trust. To let go. To believe that his daughter might be strong enough to bear what he’s carried alone for so long. His massive form shimmers as ancient poison releases its hold, shadows remembering their original purpose.

My shadow , his voice carries wondering love. My hope. My impossible child.

The final wave of corruption hits like a supernova of pain.

For one eternal moment, I am everything and nothing—shadow and void, beginning and end, corruption and hope. My wolves’ forms blur as reality itself bends around the transfer of power. The alpha female’s howl carries frequencies that shake the foundations of void-space.

Then...something changes.

The corruption flowing into me begins to transform. Not like the gentle healing my pack performs above, or the balanced merging Finn and I managed before. This is something older. More fundamental. This is entropy remembering its first purpose.

Through the searing pain, I see truth:

The void wasn’t meant to be corruption. It was meant to be possibility. The space between moments where change could happen. Where choice could matter. Where endings could become beginnings.

My father’s form solidifies as the last of his ancient burden flows into me. His shadows no longer writhe with poison, but move with their original grace. He is magnificent—power and protection and love made manifest. Starlight gleams through his darkness like the first dawn breaking across reality itself.

Daughter , his voice carries millennium of wonder. What have you done?

“Reminded corruption what it was meant to be.” The words come from somewhere deeper than thought as my body absorbs the transformed entropy. My wolves press close, their forms shifting to accommodate this new understanding of shadow’s purpose. “Showed it that willing sacrifice creates something different than forced burden.”

Instead of feeling heavier, damaged, consumed, I feel...expanded. Like my shadows have learned new ways to move. New purposes to serve. The void around us pulses not with hunger now, but with possibility.

Through our twin bond, I feel Finn’s fierce joy. His light reaches for my transformed shadows, showing me glimpses of the frozen light shifters beginning to stir with new hope. Through our pack bonds, I feel their distant recognition of what’s happening. Above us, reality itself seems to shiver with potential.

“Ready?” I ask my father, reaching for his restored form. The alpha female raises her voice in ancient song, calling to everything that forgot its first purpose. “There are others waiting to be reminded what they were meant to be. What we were all meant to be.”

His ancient eyes meet mine—no longer carrying corruption’s weight, but shining with transformed purpose. Together ?

“Together,” I agree. “As family. As choice. As love.”

My wolves raise their voices in songs older than time, calling to light shifters still frozen between moments. Calling to shadow beasts still fleeing corruption. Calling to everything that forgot its original purpose.

Calling them home.

To choice.

To change.

To willing sacrifice that transforms rather than destroys.

My father’s restored power wraps around me like living armor as we prepare to continue our work. Through all our various bonds, I feel love pulse stronger than any corruption:

Finn’s light reaching across impossible space.

The pack’s fierce determination above.

My father’s transformed protection.

My own shadows, carrying new purpose.

“Time to remind everyone,” I whisper into spaces between realities, “what we were always meant to be.”

Together.

In shadow.

In choice.

In love.

Forever.