METALLURGE SECTOR — DEEP WITHIN EVOLTO CITY — EVENING
In a district of glinting metal and rhythmic hammers, where entire buildings hum with ancient industry, one modest household glows warmly beneath the faint light of the Cerian Sun.
Inside, a family of Metallurges beings once machines, now a proud and sentient people have gathered, their forms glowing faintly with the inner heat of living ore. The air is thick with emotion and the scent of molten copper.
A mother, her hands stained a deep copper-blue, clasps her son tightly, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. Her voice trembles.
Mother: "It's been years… since one of us was chosen to enter the Voidstone Mines... I'm so happy. So proud of you."
Around them, siblings of all ages leap and dance, laughter ringing off the metallic walls. The younger children, their hands still unstained, cheer and play, unaware of the full weight of what has just occurred. The adults and teenagers, hands bearing the traditional stains of copper-blue, look on with pride and reverence. Each stain is a mark of passage, a reminder of their origin as tireless mining constructs before earning sentience and purpose.
Suddenly, the room quiets.
He enters.
An ancient Metallurge, walking slowly but with a dignity that makes even the young stop in awe. His frame is marked with deep, time-worn grooves, and unlike the others… his hands are not copper-blue.
They are stained black, as if dipped in the heart of the Void itself.
The young Metallurge steps forward, uncertain, voice soft:
Young Metallurge: "...Grandpapa?"
The elder says nothing at first. Instead, he reaches into his chestplate and pulls forth a badge, shaped like a cut Voidstone, its surface shimmering with impossible color. It pulses faintly in the boy's hand as he takes it.
Then, the old Metallurge speaks, his voice a low, metallic echo like a hammer against an ancient forge.
Grandpapa: "You have been chosen, child. The mines called to you. Just as they once did to me… long ago."(he rests a heavy hand on the boy's shoulder)"Make us proud… my great-grandson."
With that, the elder turns slowly, deliberately, and walks away. The others part to let him pass, silence following him like a long shadow.
The boy looks down at the badge in his hand. Its glow pulses with possibility... and destiny.
Outside, the wind over the Voidstone mines howls low and distant like a forgotten song echoing through the metal bones of the city.
The sky above the Voidstone Gates pulses faintly, streaked with violet clouds trailing across the artificial horizon. Beneath the sprawling ridges of black stone and molten tracks, caravans of chosen Metallurges march young and old toward the ancient gates that lead into the depths of the mines.
Among them walks the young Metallurge, hope burning bright in his glowing core, the Voidstone badge clipped proudly to his chest.
Beside him, others like him march, chests out and spirits high. Then
A familiar voice.
???: "Hey! I didn't know you got chosen too!"
He turns and his eyes brighten.
It's her. His friend. Another hopeful, her frame slender and newly polished, hands still unstained. Her eyes gleam with excitement.
Young Metallurge: "You too?! That's amazing!"
They laugh, running up to each other, sparks flickering off their feet as they talk and walk side by side exchanging stories, fears, and dreams about what lies within the mines.
As they near the massive obsidian archway of the mine entrance, they both stop.
Standing before the gateway, clad in polished armor and glowing with disciplined energy, is a massive figure.
A Metallurge Exo-Guard, his shoulders broad enough to block the wind, arms thick with reinforced plating, and a proud crest emblazoned on his chest.
But more than that he's familiar.
Their old friend.
Once a fellow miner-in-training, now transformed, having chosen a different path—one of protection and strength.
Female Metallurge: "Hey, man!"
The Exo-Guard turns, visor lifting slightly, revealing a glowing faceplate that breaks into a wide grin.
Exo-Guard Friend:"My friends! It's so good to see you!"
Before either of them can respond, he sweeps them both up in a bear hug, lifting them effortlessly off the ground. The two young Metallurges giggle and laugh, tiny compared to the armored giant.
Exo-Guard Friend (with booming laughter): "Look at you two Voidstone-bound! I'm proud of you both."
He sets them down gently, hands resting on their shoulders, gaze suddenly more serious respectful.
Exo-Guard Friend: "The mines… they're not just tunnels and stone. They're history. Our history. Treat them with reverence… and they'll teach you more than any teacher could."
The young Metallurge nods, gripping his badge tighter.
Young Metallurge: "We won't let you down."
The Exo-Guard grins again and steps aside, saluting.
Exo-Guard Friend: "Then go on, siblings. The heart of the world awaits you."
Together, the young Metallurges step forward, crossing the threshold into the blackstone gates, swallowed by the glowing veins of Voidstone lining the walls. The mine pulses with ancient energy alive.
From behind, the Exo-Guard watches them vanish into the deep with a quiet pride.
The moment the young Metallurges step through the obsidian gates, expecting eternal blackness, they are instead met with brilliance.
A massive chamber unfolds before them a city within a mine, glowing with luminous veins of living Voidstone, casting pale blue and amethyst hues across every surface. Instead of silence, they hear the hum of ancient machines, the clank of transformed arms, and the laughter of workers echoing through arched tunnels of crystal and stone.
Metallurges of all shapes and ages move in perfect harmony, some walking, some gliding on conveyor lifts, others clinging to walls like spiders as they work on the ceilings every motion precise, every tool an extension of their bodies.
Young Metallurge (awed): "This… this isn't a mine. It's a whole world."
Female Friend: "And it's ours."
They follow the procession of newly chosen into a massive, spiraling chamber The Crucible Hall.
A colossal voidstone pillar stands at the center, slowly rotating, suspended by invisible force. Master Metallurges in ceremonial plating stand around its base, each with hands long-stained black by generations of mining, their bodies fused with layers of refined voidstone, giving them an almost divine presence.
A low-frequency chime echoes reverent, ancient.
One by one, the chosen step forward and place their hands onto the pillar.
As they do, the pillar pulses, and in a burst of geometric light, their hands transform.
Voidstone residue encases their forearms, solidifying like volcanic glass but alive, shifting with inner constellations. It stains their hands pure black, like ink drawn from the cosmos.
But it's more than symbolic.
Their hands immediately shift morphing into various tools: drills that hum with energy, pickaxes of razor-light, chisels shaped from pure vibration. Then back again. Their minds instinctively know how to use each form.
Young Metallurge hesitates, then steps forward. His badge glows as he places both hands on the pillar.
Suddenly silence.
The pillar stops rotating.
The chamber dims.
Everyone turns.
The pillar begins to glow gold a rare hue.
The residue begins to spread faster, more violently, not just staining his hands, but creeping up to his elbows. When it finally stops, his forearms gleam with golden Voidstone veins tracing through the black.
The Master Metallurges exchange looks.
One Master (softly): "Golden trace… It hasn't chosen one in Centuries."
The young Metallurge stumbles back slightly, his arms trembling not from pain, but from power.
His friend rushes to him.
Female Metallurge: "Are you okay?!"
Young Metallurge (a little shaken, but smiling): "Yeah… I feel… connected. Like the stone is talking to me."
All around them, the others look in awe, and then celebration erupts.
The newly upgraded Metallurges cheer. The drums of the Forge beat deep from the caverns below. A voice speaks from the ceiling, cast from void-conduits.
Void Voice: "Let the new cycle begin."
They are no longer just chosen.
They are true Metallurges now stained by the Void, one with the stone, and ready to shape the future.
Without hesitation, the two newly stained Metallurges plunge their void-infused tools into the jagged walls. The rhythm of work begins immediately drills whirl, chisels vibrate, and the walls echo with the pulse of the Void.
Every strike of their tools sends glowing splinters into the air, the Voidstone singing in harmonic resonance, as though the mine itself recognizes its chosen miners.
Suddenly BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
A deafening series of gunshots rips through the lower corridors. Red warning lights flicker to life above them as a broadcast blares over the tunnel's echo system:
"Corrupted breach in Sector 6 Evacuate non-combat units Exo-Guards deploying."
The two young Metallurges rush to the entrance of the tunnel, where their old friend their giant, boisterous Exo-Guard companion is in the thick of battle. Behind him, a full squad of Exo-Guards is moving in practiced formations.
CORRUPTED VOID BEASTS once-pure Voidstone creatures twisted by unstable resonance hurtle toward the squad with screeches and fragmented forms.
The Exo-Guard fires his twin cannons, rounds singing through the air, and each shot punches holes through the beasts. One lunges too close but his void-enhanced gauntlet crushes it mid-air.
Exo-Guard Friend (grinning wide): "Back to work, you two! We've got this covered!"
Female Metallurge (saluting with her drill-arm): "Copy that, rustbucket!"
They exchange nods and return to their mining unshaken. Life in the Void Realm teaches a simple rule: duty continues. The Exo-Guards fight. The Metallurges mine. And both hold the city together.
MESS HALL — LUNCHTIME
A loud, melodious chime echoes across the mines the lunch bell, shaped from the mouth of a melted Voidbeast skull. It tolls once and all activity stops.
The two young Metallurges, tools folding neatly back into their arms, stretch as they follow the crowd up toward the great Mess Hall a vast dome carved into the wall of a massive geode.
Inside, thousands of Metallurges shuffle through glowing conveyor-buffet lines, the food piled high and diverse metallic shards, slabs of plasma-cooked meat, crystal-root stew, and even chunks of ancient alloy from recycled machinery.
Some chomp down on iron ore like bread.Others guzzle molten minerals from reinforced mugs.A few sip liquid light harvested from the Voidstone itself.
The air smells of hot circuits, melted cheese, and burning plasma. Tables stretch endlessly, full of chatter, clangs, and laughter.The young Metallurge takes a bite of a steel-fried veggie patty, and immediately a faint shimmer travels through his arms as his form strengthens.
His friend dips a spoon into a raw alloy soup, sighing in delight.
Female Metallurge: "This is the life. Mining, fighting off corrupted horrors, and steel stew for lunch."
Young Metallurge (smiling): "And I wouldn't trade it for anything."
Their Exo-Guard friend stomps in through the rear gates, armor scorched but smiling, a massive tray in each hand stacked with more food than ten Metallurges combined.
Exo-Guard: "Guess who just flattened a Voidmaw and earned an extra dessert ration?!"
Everyone in the mess hall cheers, raising mugs.
Void Realm life may be dangerous, but here amid steel, sweat, and Voidstone the spirit of the Metallurges is stronger than ever.
After their hearty meal, the trio the two young Metallurges and their massive Exo-Guard friend stand before a gleaming Speeder-Lev-Bike, forged from reinforced Void-alloy and humming softly with gravitational pulses. Attached to the rear are multiple stabilized troughs, glowing faintly with containment fields designed to hold raw Voidstone without corruption or overload.
Exo-Guard (strapping his cannon across his back):"Remember, out this far, the Void whispers louder. Don't listen. Don't wander. And always ping your heartbeat every five minutes."
The young Metallurge nods, eyes wide with both fear and excitement. His friend punches his arm gently.
Female Metallurge:"Hey Voidstone's thicker out there. We're gonna make our family proud."
With a roar of anti-grav thrusters, the Speeder-Bike lifts off, slicing through the dark horizon of the Void Realm. The scenery becomes increasingly surreal giant crystalline veins burst through empty black plains, and shadows drift against lightless skies, shifting like ink underwater.
OUTPOST CABIN – FAR EDGE OF THE VOIDMINES
They land near a series of metal outpost cabins, weathered but reinforced with Voidstone mesh. The cabins pulse faintly, powered by geothermal taps buried beneath the crust.
The three unload their gear, activating perimeter drones tha
t begin hovering in slow circles, scanning for movement or anomalies.
As they unpack, a distant rumble echoes the sound of a deep Void vent breathing. The air here is colder, heavier. The Void is thicker, almost watchful.
Exo-Guard (pointing to the mine entrance): "This shaft hasn't been touched in 12 cycles. Old records say it runs deep real deep. Stay linked."
Female Metallurge: "Deep means rich. Let's go."
SHAFT ZETA-9 — ACTIVE MINING
Descending into the shaft, the walls glow faintly with concentrated Voidstone veins, more vibrant and unstable than anything near the city. The residue clings to their arms, staining deeper, crawling in lace patterns up to their forearms.
As they mine, every strike of their tools reverberates like a bell in the deep. The raw Voidstone here sings louder. Harsher.
The young Metallurge pauses, staring at a segment of the wall it glows a strange color, violet-gold, unlike the usual obsidian-blue hues.
Young Metallurge (quietly): "…That's new."
Female Metallurge (looking closer): "Could be ancient-core grade. Careful, though."
Suddenly, their comms crackle.
Exo-Guard (voice cutting in): "Movement. Echo on the edge of scan range. Stay sharp."
But it isn't hostile not yet. Just the Void shifting, aware that new hands have disturbed its resting heart.
EXT. CABIN CAMP – NIGHTFALL
After hours of hauling and carefully placing high-grade Voidstone into containment troughs, the team returns to the cabins. The Speeder is already half-filled, humming softly with energy overload protections.
They sit around a heat-core, quiet, proud, and tired.
Female Metallurge (holding up a crystal): "This… this is enough to upgrade a quarter of the city's reactors."
Young Metallurge (looking up at the stars above): "Think the Overseer'll see us now?"
Their Exo-Guard friend chuckles, sipping molten alloy from a canister.
Exo-Guard: "You keep pulling Voidstone like this, and the Overseer won't just see you he'll call you by name."
The Void winds howl beyond the cabin.
And in the distance, something watches not with hunger, but with curiosity.
Because in the Void, everything listens.
They decided to rest for the night, having only managed to fill two of the eight troughs they brought.
SHAFT ZETA-9 — DEEP VEINS OF THE VOID
The two young Metallurges slumped against the cavern wall, shoulders aching, arms twitching from overuse. Their tool-augmented gloves flickered between drill, saw, and gravitic chisel modes, barely holding form. Out of the eight containment troughs they'd brought, only two were filled.
But just as they began to consider calling it for the day they struck something.
It wasn't the usual obsidian-blue Voidstone that absorbed light and gave off that low, humming thrum.
This one glowed.
Not with reflected light, but from within a lavender-gold radiance, pulsing gently, rhythmically… like a heartbeat. The shaft dimmed as if the surrounding energy were being drawn in, swallowed by the stone's hunger.
One of the Metallurges stepped forward, fingertips brushing the surface.
Young Metallurge (softly): "…It's warm."
Female Metallurge (eyes wide): "This… this isn't regular Voidstone. Not even close."
CABIN OUTPOST — MINUTES LATER
They emerged from the shaft with haste, the strange stone now sealed in a containment unit. It still pulsed, visible even through the casing.
Their Exo-Guard companion stood outside the outpost, helmet off, resting a heavy repeater on his shoulder. He raised a brow as they approached.
Young Metallurge (out of breath): "We hit something deep. It was glowing… not like usual. Look."
The Exo-Guard stepped forward, leaned in and went still. His expression hardened.
Exo-Guard: "…That's not normal. Hold up."
He drew his voidlink, scanned the stone, and transmitted the image to his commanding advisor.
ADVISOR'S CHAMBER — VOID MINING HQ (REMOTE CALL)
Inside a chamber of relics and flickering data-screens, a seasoned Advisor sat hunched over, her arms darkened to the elbow from years of Voidstone exposure.
The image arrived.
Her breath hitched.
Advisor (over comm, urgent): "That's a Void Energy Stone."
Exo-Guard: "That bad?"
Advisor: "No. That rare."
She stood, eyes narrowing.
Advisor (cont'd): "You're standing on the aftermath of a multiversal collision where the Physical Void met the Energy Void. Their fusion left behind anomalies like this. We've only ever documented a few. They're reactive, unstable, incredibly valuable... and dangerous."
Female Metallurge (alarmed):"You're saying the whole mine?"
Advisor (cutting in): "Could be a fusion zone. That entire shaft might be layered with these stones. Do not mine further. Do not disturb anything. Keep your team alive. I'm dispatching a containment team. Until they arrive… stay alert."
The call cut out.
CABIN OUTPOST — SECONDS LATER
A low, guttural screech ripped through the mist-drenched treeline. The perimeter drones began to blink red.
The Exo-Guard's helmet snapped into place. Sensors flared.
Exo-Guard (shouting):"INSIDE! NOW!"
From the shimmering shadows of the Voidstone forest, they came.
Corrupted Void Beasts.
Malformed panther-wolf hybrids, stitched together with glitching skin and exposed Voidstone veins. Their eyes gleamed like cracked glass, boiling with madness. Dozens. Then more.
Female Metallurge (terrified): "There's no way we can hold them !"
Exo-Guard (locking and loading):"You're not fighting. You're surviving. GET. IN."
The Metallurges sprinted for the cabin. The Exo-Guard stepped forward, unleashing void-pulse rounds that lit up the fog. The blasts tore into the first wave, shattering creatures into splinters of dark matter but they kept coming, snarling, howling, flickering in and out like broken frames of a corrupted memory.
CABIN — MOMENTS LATER
The door slammed shut. The young Metallurge clutched the containment box, breathing hard.
The stone inside pulsed faster now.
Brighter.
Almost like it could feel the chaos.
Or maybe...
It was calling to something far worse.
The windows flickered with violent flashes of light Void energy rounds clashing with corrupted hide. Outside, their Exo-Guard friend fought like a titan, void-cannon roaring, tearing down wave after wave of corrupted beasts.
But they kept coming.
One leapt and latched onto his shoulder, digging into the armor. Another pinned his leg. A third lunged for his throat.
Young Metallurge (screaming, fists slamming the cabin door): "NO!!"
The female Metallurge cried out, tears burning hot against her cool metal cheeks.
That's when the Void Energy Stone started to vibrate.
Slowly at first a low hum that shook the metal floor. Then harder, resonating with a strange emotion, as if the stone could feel their despair.
It cracked.
A pulse of energy surged outward pure Void Energy, not corrupted, but ancient and raw. A wave of golden-violet light exploded in all directions.
Outside everything stopped.
The corrupted beasts froze then disintegrated, their bodies folding inward, returning to the very energy they once consumed. The sky above the mine rippled like water, touched by something deeper than reality.
And then...
Silence.
The cabin walls had blown open. Voidstone particles floated through the air like dust motes. The three of them the two young Metallurges and their Exo-Guard friend lay motionless in the center of a crater of smooth black glass, formed by the unleashed energy.
Their bodies glowed faintly.
Their hands, once stained copper-blue and silver, now shimmered with black-gold fractal lines, glowing like constellations of the Void.
They had been fused.
Not corrupted.
Not broken.
But altered chosen.
Their internal cores hummed with new Void energy, the signature of the Energy Void—a place beyond space and time. Even unconscious, their bodies flickered in and out of focus, like ghosts caught between planes.
LATER — SCIENCE UNIT ARRIVAL
The air trembled again as Void-Walker shuttles broke through the veil above, descending rapidly. Scientists in black-enamel exo-suits, their faces hidden behind shimmering blue masks, surrounded the crater.
Lead Scientist (hushed): "…Void Energy signature detected. Confirmed… fusion event."
Another knelt down to scan the glowing trio.
Scientist 2: "They're alive. Readings are... impossible. They're linked to the Energy Void itself. This shouldn't be feasible."
Lead Scientist: "Get containment harnesses, now. Notify Dr. Wagner and the Core Authority. We just witnessed a birth event. These three… they're no longer just Metallurges. They're something new."
They weren't just Void miners anymore.
They were conduits.
MINING CITY – MEDICAL BAY – RECOVERY CHAMBER
The ceiling lights flickered gently, casting cool white light over the metallic walls. Monitors hummed, showing readings no one had seen before Void signature patterns laced with fractal entropy and pulses of energy-based thought-waves.
The three friends lay on reinforced medical beds, covered in containment sheets laced with Void-insulating mesh. Their eyes fluttered open.
Young Metallurge blinked as the world came into focus everything looked sharper. He could see the subtle magnet lines tracing the room's ceiling. His chest rose and fell slowly, and when he looked down...
His hands were black. Not stained fused. Lines of golden energy pulsed from his knuckles to his elbows, humming in sync with something deeper, internal.
Next to him, his female friend sat up, her body trembling slightly, her voice a whisper.
Female Metallurge: "…We're back? What happened?"
Before either could answer, a hologram flickered to life at the foot of their beds an old but sharp-eyed scientist, eyes glowing softly beneath a half-lifted visor.
Dr. Andel Veris – Head of Void Phenomena Research Unit.
Dr. Veris: "You three are fortunate… and cursed. You've been altered by something very few beings have survived. You were hit by a pure Void Energy pulse from an Energy-Void-Stone, something that forms only when the two aspects of the Void the Solid and the Energy collide."
The Exo-Guard friend grunted, pushing himself up.
Exo-Guard (confused, frowning): "I should've died. I felt everything… then nothing. Now I feel like I'm floating even though I'm on solid ground."
Dr. Veris (calm, clinical): "You didn't just survive. You absorbed it. Your AI cores have been… overwritten in places. Rewritten in others. Your consciousness is still yours, but it now echoes with signals we've only seen in deep-energy anomalies."
She waved her hand, and a holographic readout of their internal systems appeared.
Dr. Veris (pointing): "This is your fusion pattern. See that core spiral? You three are now linked to the Energy Void. Not physically inside it… but tethered. That's why your systems haven't shut down from overload."
Another screen showed their transformed hands, now permanently encased in Voidstone residue, yet flexible and alive with tool-transform sequences. Their mining appendages were evolving into something more dynamic phase tools, gravity drills, entropy picks.
Dr. Veris (quietly): "You are the first of your kind. Void-Bonded Metallurges. The Mining Council is... divided. Some see you as miracles. Others as accidents."
The young Metallurge looked at his hands, then to his friends.
Young Metallurge (quietly): "…Are we still us?"
The female Metallurge reached out, grabbed his arm with a faint smile.
Female Metallurge: "We're still us. Just... more."
Dr. Veris (nodding):"Yes. You are still you. But you are now also something Evolto has never seen before."
At that moment, the room's lights flickered again, and a void shimmer passed through the air.
Dr. Veris glanced to the monitors.
Dr. Veris (half-smiling): "And… the Energy Void knows you're awake."
Dr. Veris stood straight, hands behind her back, eyes sharp as ever as she delivered the directive. Several other scientists, still murmuring over the three Metallurges' unprecedented condition, fell silent as she spoke.
Dr. Veris: "You will be cleared to return to mining... under supervision. You've shown stability. But in two weeks' time, all three of you will be transported to Evolto City."
She paced slightly, activating a new screen displaying an ID badge — stern-faced, bespectacled, and grim.
Dr. Veris (serious): "You will report to the Medical Department. Specifically... to Dr. Dietrich Wagner's personal lab."
At that name, the Exo-Guard sat up straighter. Even he had heard of Wagner.
Exo-Guard (concerned): "The Combat Doctor? That guy's a myth. I heard he dissects anomalies while they're still conscious."
Dr. Veris gave a rare smirk.
Dr. Veris: "And yet you'll be quite conscious when you meet him."
She turned back to the three.
Dr. Veris (firm): "This is not a punishment. You were touched by something outside of design. Wagner is the only being in Evolto who understands the interaction between biological function, Void constructs, and Energy resonances."
The young Metallurge shifted in his bed, brow furrowed.
Young Metallurge: "…Are we dangerous?"
Dr. Veris didn't answer at first. Then, with a voice that was both gentle and absolute:
Dr. Veris: "You are uncharted."
She leaned forward, eyes narrowing just slightly.
Dr. Veris (softly): "And Evolto City does not ignore uncharted things. It prepares for them."
She pressed a tablet into the female Metallurge's hand. It held their permissions, logs, and a glowing symbol of the Evolto City seal.
Dr. Veris: "Until then, return to your duties. Dig. Learn your new limits. Stay together. And when the day comes, walk into Wagner's lab without fear…"
She paused. "…Because if he wanted to dissect you, you'd already be in pieces."
The three Metallurges stared at each other, hearts pounding filled with a strange mixture of pride, anxiety, and a growing sense of destiny.
Outside the medical bay, the sound of drills and gravity picks echoed again. The Void called to them.
[A large classroom somewhere in Evolto City. The lights dim. A spotlight hits the front of the room. Standing at the chalkboard cloak fluttering for no reason is Vidarath, pointer stick in hand, grinning like a chaotic professor.]
VIDARATH
"Hello, everybody! I'm Mr. Vidarath scholar of nonsense, speaker of truths, and currently standing between you and your next existential crisis!"
He spins the chalk in his fingers and dramatically slams it against the board where the word "VOID" is scrawled in massive, jagged letters.
VIDARATH (cont'd): "Today's lesson: The Void. That place your soul flinches at when you stare into the abyss? Yeah we bottle that."
[He claps his hands. A floating illusion appears, showing two overlapping spheres labeled "PHYSICAL VOID" and "ENERGY VOID".]
1. The Physical Void
VIDARATH (pointing): "This is the spooky one. The Physical Void is a vast, silent, dark expanse filled with warped geometry, ancient pressure, and the screech of existence folding in on itself."
A monstrous silhouette briefly flickers across the display.
VIDARATH (grinning): "From here, we get Void Corrupted Beasts, those adorable horrors that like to eat your face... and then your past. This is also where we find Voidstone, a precious material that, when refined, becomes Voidsteel which is, if I may say so, nearly indestructible unless you really want it gone."
[He taps the chalkboard again and the next slide flickers into view showing a Destroyer scooping a swirling chunk of darkness.]
VIDARATH (mocking a documentary voice): "The Destroyers, our friendly cosmic demolitionists, visit this realm regularly. They grab a handful of the void like grabbing cookie dough and squish it into reality-devouring monsters called Consumers. Each one uniquely designed to munch on universes with class."
2. The Energy Void
VIDARATH (turning to the other sphere): "Now this one? This is where it gets weird."
He waves his hand, revealing rivers of glowing violet and golden fractal lines flowing like veins.
VIDARATH: "The Energy Void is pure metaphysical energy. It's not a place you go to it's a place that is. Think raw magic, raw emotion, the very breath of consciousness. It's the origin point of every idea, every dream, and every Warframe's power set."
[A diagram flashes briefly showing Warframes, minds, and echoes all touching this shimmering space.]
VIDARATH: "No living organic creature survives here long. But consciousness? Artificial minds? They drift through it like whispers. The Energy Void is also where the spark of awareness in the multiverse was first lit."
TL;DR:
PHYSICAL VOID = Monsters, metal, death, Destroyers' playground.
ENERGY VOID = Power, consciousness, dreams, origin of thought.
VIDARATH (leaning forward): "And in some very special cases like Nyxia or the Void Energy Stones these two voids touch, creating anomalies, miracles, or catastrophes depending on how lucky you feel."
[He tosses the chalk over his shoulder and it explodes into glitter. He bows dramatically.]
VIDARATH: "That concludes your orientation into madness! Class dismissed unless you want to stay after for Void Whispering 101. Bring your own safety helmet."
[Location: Zalthorion's Office – Evolto City Citadel]
A few feet away from where Vidarath is enthusiastically lecturing to a classroom that somehow materialized out of nowhere, Zalthorion sits with a calm demeanor, legs crossed, sipping an ethereal tea that glows faintly like starlight in a porcelain cup shaped like a dying star.
Dr. Wagner, on the other hand, is watching Vidarath like a scientist watching a highly unstable test subject dance on a landmine.
Dr. Wagner (leaning in, confused and whispering): "Who… exactly is he talking to?"
Zalthorion (without looking away from his tea, gently raising a finger to Wagner's lips): "Ssshhhh…"
[Zalthorion tilts his head slightly toward Vidarath's animated gestures at a blackboard that didn't exist five minutes ago.]
Zalthorion (serenely): "As teaching assistants, it is our solemn duty not to interrupt the Professor while he educates the dear readers…"
[Dr. Wagner blinks. Once. Twice. Then glares at Zalthorion.]
Dr. Wagner: "There are no readers. That's not even a real chalkboard. It's a projection made of narrative fluid and delusion."
Zalthorion (still smiling): "Exactly. Isn't it wonderful?"
[Suddenly, Wagner's earpiece buzzes. A secure line. The emblem of the Evolto Medical Division glows it's Dr. Veris.]
His demeanor changes instantly from skeptical academic to sharp operative.
Dr. Veris (through comm): "Wagner. It's urgent. Come to the lab. The Void Resonance readings from the Metallurges just spiked it's happening."
[Wagner stands up, sharp as a blade. His coat sways as he turns to leave. He's all business now except Zalthorion catches it. The faint flicker in Wagner's eyes not fear. Not worry. Excitement.]
Zalthorion (smirking, speaking softly as Wagner leaves): "Run fast, old friend. Destiny tends to reward the curious…"
[Back in the suddenly-appeared classroom, Vidarath throws a handful of chalk dust into the air, forming the shape of a Consumer eating a galaxy. Somewhere, somehow, the sound of distant applause echoes.]
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(A/N: Hey everyone!
I'm really sorry it took a while to update I had a major test to prepare for, and it ate up a lot of my time and energy. Thank you so much for being patient with me. I truly appreciate every single one of you who's been reading and enjoying the story so far.
We're diving back into the chaos, emotion, and multiversal madness so buckle up!
As always, feel free to share your thoughts, feedback, or theories in the comments. I love hearing what you all think your support means the world. 💬💖
Now, let's get back to the story.)