Chapter 31
The Voidspire's core loomed—a obsidian monolith etched with Liangu's runes and Aria's name, pulsing like a frozen heartbeat. The air thrummed with oppressive order, every footstep echoing too loud, every breath regimented. Lian trailed his fingers along the cold stone, Aria's memories whispering through him:
"This is where she screamed. Where she became more."
Kian's crystallized arm flickered crimson, its light warring with the Voidspire's static gloom. Jin Yue walked stiffly, her skeletal gold arm hanging lifeless, while Liangu leaned on her, his aged frame trembling.
"The Fractured's cults are close," Jin Yue muttered. "I can smell their ash."
"Let them come," Kian said. "We end this here."
Lian paused, his scarred palms pressed to the monolith. Symbols flared—Aria's plea, the Voidspire's demand.
"She's waiting," he said.
The Fractured Crusade
They came at twilight—the Weeping Hierophant leading a procession of glass-masked devotees. The Hierophant's voice boomed, no longer a child's but a distorted chorus:
"The Discordant Symphony will rise! Burn the false song!"
Jin Yue stepped forward, her dead arm clanking. "You first."
The cultists surged, shards of Voidspire-energy crystallizing in their hands. Kian fought with desperate precision, his crimson flames fraying at the edges. Liangu hurled vials of smoldering ash, buying seconds, not victories.
Lian stood apart, the Voidspire's pull rooting him to the monolith. The Hierophant approached, glass mask cracking into a grin.
"Little palimpsest. Let me remake you."
Lian's scars blazed. "I'm already unmade."
He grabbed the Hierophant's wrist—and pulled.
The Shattered Prophet
The Hierophant screamed as Lian's touch unraveled them. Glass melted into flesh, gold threads into sinew, until a familiar face emerged—Liangu's daughter, Aria, but younger. The cultists froze, their masks shattering as they clutched their heads.
"What… what am I?" the girl whispered.
"A reflection," Lian said. "Aria's regret. My failure."
The girl dissolved into ash, and the cultists fled, howling.
Jin Yue stared at Lian. "Since when can you do that?"
"Since I stopped being just Lian."
The Core's Lure
The monolith split, revealing a staircase of floating hexagons. At its apex hovered a sphere of liquid shadow—the Voidspire's heart.
Liangu collapsed at the base, his breath rattling. "Aria… tried to warn me. The Voidspire wasn't her prison. It was her gift."
Kian hauled him up. "Save your breath."
"No," Liangu rasped. "The heart—it doesn't crave control. It craves purpose. Aria thought she could give it one. But it needs… a soul."
Lian ascended the stairs, drawn like a compass needle.
"Lian, wait—"
"It's why I exist," he said, not turning. "To be the bridge."
The Trial of Echoes
The heart's chamber was a hall of mirrors, each reflecting a shard of Lian's patchwork soul. The Voidspire's voice vibrated through the air:
"CHAOS. ORDER. CHOOSE."
Aria's shadow materialized, her hand outstretched. "Merge with me. Together, we'll weave a song that lasts."
The Fractured's echo emerged beside her, molten and snarling. "Burn it all! Let the Discordant rise!"
Lian closed his eyes. "I choose… neither."
He slammed his palms together. The mirrors shattered.
The Unmade Song
The heart shuddered, cracks spreading across its surface. Kian burst into the chamber as Lian's body began to dissolve, his soul seeping into the fractures.
"Stop! You'll die!"
"No," Lian smiled. "I'll finally be."
The heart exploded.
The After
Silence.
Then—a single note, clear and fragile.
The Voidspire's monolith crumbled, its gridlines fading. Kian crawled through the debris, finding only a poppy—crimson and gold—where Lian had stood.
Jin Yue cradled Liangu's body, his aged face finally at peace. "He's gone."
"Not all of him," Kian said, lifting the poppy. Its petals hummed with a familiar rhythm.
Above, the sky bled dawn's first light, unshackled and imperfect.