The air in the Voidforge Citadel tasted of molten metal and scorched ozone. Veythar's boots crunched over blackened bones as he led the way through the towering obsidian gates, his Void Core pulsing like a caged star in his chest. Behind him, Thalion's breath came in ragged bursts, the cursed vines on his arm now coiled up to his shoulder, their thorns biting deeper with every step. Rune walked between them, her golden eyes flickering uneasily in the citadel's eerie glow.
Sylviaris's words haunted them: *The Citadel isn't just a forge. It's a cage.*
And Valenor had the key.
The citadel's central chamber yawned before them-a cavernous space dominated by a massive, pulsating altar. Chains of liquid shadow tethered dozens of Void Cores to its surface, their light siphoned into a swirling vortex above. At the vortex's heart stood Valenor, his obsidian armor drinking in the stolen energy.
But it was the *thing* behind him that froze Veythar's blood.
The Devourer.
A silhouette of jagged edges and dying stars, its form flickered between realms, its twelve eyes burning with ancient hunger. It wasn't fully free-not yet-but the chains binding it were fraying.
"You're late," Valenor sneered, turning to face them. His gaze locked onto Veythar's Core."But you brought the final piece."
Thalion's sword hissed free. "We're ending this." Valenor laughed.
"Oh, you will."
The altar *screamed*.
The vortex convulsed, lashing out with tendrils of corrupted energy. Rune staggered, clutching her head as violet fire erupted around her hands.
"He' s-*inside* my mind-"
Veythar lunged, pressing his Void Core against her palm. "Fight it!"
Gold and violet light clashed, the force of it sending cracks spiderwebbing across the citadel's floor. For a heartbeat, Rune's eyes cleared.
"The altar she gasped. "
It's not just siphoning Cores-it's *refining* them. Purifying their energy for the Devourer."
Thalion's cursed arm twitched. "So we destroy it."
"No." Veythar's Core flared cold. "We *use* it."
The realization struck like lightning. The altar wasn't just Valenor's tool-it "No," Veythar's Core flared cold. "We *use* it." was a mirror, just like the primal Core in the Darkreach Chasm. It reflected The realization struck like lightning. The altar wasn't just Valenor's tool-it what was fed into it.
And Veythar had a choice. Valenor struck first.
His corrupted blade arced toward Thalion, but Veythar intercepted, dagger flashing. Metal shrieked as the two hunters clashed, their movements a blur of shadow and light.
"You're a thief," Valenor spat, his grin feral. "Just like your father.
The words hit harder than steel. Veythar faltered-just long enough for Valenor to land a kick to his ribs, sending him skidding across the chamber,
Thalion roared, charging, but the vines on his arm *exploded*, thorned tendrils lashing out uncontrollably. He collapsed, writhing, as the curse consumed him.
Rune screamed, her gold light flaring-but the Devourer's gaze snapped to her.
*Help..*
The whisper wasn't Rune's. It was *Flicker's*.
Veythar's breath caught. The juvenile Void Beast's remnant-its dying wisp of smoke-still clung to him. And in that moment, he understood.
The altar needed a Core.
But not his.
"Rune!" Veythar tossed her his dagger-the one nicked and dull, the one that had tasted rust and rot in the Shadowed Abyss.
"Channel the light!"
She caught it, gold energy surging down the blade.
Thalion, half-consumed by the vines, met Veythar's gaze.
"What are you-?"
Veythar didn't answer. He sprinted toward the altar, Flicker's remnant uncoiling from his neck like a sigh.
Valenor realized too late. "NO!"
Veythar slammed his palm onto the altar-and *pushed* Flicker's wisp into the vortex.
The citadel *shuddered*.
Flicker's form materialized-not as smoke, but as *light*, pure and defiant. The altar's chains shattered. The Devourer *howled*, its form flickering as the vortex reversed, its stolen energy surging back into the Cores.
Valenor lunged, but Thalion-his vines receding-intercepted, driving his sword through the hunter's gut.
"For my sister," he growled.
Valenor's laughter was bloody. "You think... this ends with me?"
Then the vortex *collapsed*.
---
Silence.
The citadel lay in ruins, its obsidian spires cracked and lifeless. The Devourer was gone-sealed away, for now. The Cores, freed from the altar, pulsed weakly around them like dying embers.
Rune knelt beside Thalion, her hands glowing gold as she pressed them to his cursed arm. The vines crumbled to ash.
Veythar stood over Flicker's final wisp-now a shard of crystallized light. He pocketed it, his Core aching.
Sylviaris emerged from the shadows, her violet eyes unreadable. " You stole fire from the gods," she murmured. "And paid for it in blood."
Veythar met her gaze. "What now?"
She smiled. "Now, Core-bearer, you learn what you *really* are."
Somewhere in the Void, the Devourer stirred. Power had a price.
And the reckoning had only begun.