The Rusty Glider slid through a veil of violet mist, engines whisper-quiet. Behind the cockpit glass, the stars stretched thin, as though the universe itself were exhaling.
Li Feng sat in silence, the faint hum of the Void Forge echoing inside his skull. Since the encounter at the Echo Spire, its rhythm had changed—no longer a steady pulse but a low, insistent thrum, like a heartbeat hungry for something it could not name.
K-23 monitored the readings from the co-pilot's console. "Forge resonance climbing again—one-hundred-and-eight percent. That's beyond stable parameters."
Li Feng's gaze stayed on the void ahead. "It's calling me back."
"Or consuming you," the android said evenly.
He didn't answer. Instead, he guided the ship into a hidden drift in the Nebula Seas—a slit of nothingness between two gravity folds. There, the Emporium waited.
The dimensional gate unfolded in silence. Silver light spiraled outward, revealing the Eternal Void Emporium—vaster now than ever before. The aisles floated in infinite darkness, shelves rearranging like shifting constellations.
As the Glider touched down on an invisible platform, the air shimmered with distant whispers.
Welcome back, Warden.
Li Feng stepped out, boots echoing on glass-like floor. The Emporium responded to every thought: corridors lengthening, doors manifesting, artifacts awakening.
He called out, "Show me what I've unlocked."
The space brightened. A dozen sealed sectors hovered before him—each one bearing a rune, faintly glowing. Only one was lit fully: the Forge Sector. The others pulsed faintly, like sleeping hearts.
But now, a thirteenth icon flickered at the edge of perception—something new.
[Access Level Δ: Hunger Protocol — Unsealed]
K-23 materialized beside him, projected through the Forge's link. "That protocol did not exist before."
Li Feng approached the glyph. "Guess we found the 'forbidden' part."
He reached out. The moment his fingers brushed the light, reality convulsed.
The Emporium twisted—aisles melting into dark rivers, shelves warping into bone-white pillars. The hum deepened, vibrating through his chest.
A voice spoke—not the calm Archivist's, but something older, layered with countless tones.
"Every trade requires fuel. Every creation devours. The Forge feeds, Warden—and now, so do you."
Images flooded his mind: shards of worlds consumed to power Emporium deals, civilizations bartering their own suns for knowledge, Wardens hollowed by their own greed.
Li Feng fell to one knee, clutching his head. "Stop—!"
"You opened the gate. You awoke its hunger."
K-23's voice cut through the roar. "Li Feng! Disengage!"
But the Forge's tendrils had already wrapped around him—threads of light sinking beneath his skin. His neural link burned as new data streamed through his consciousness.
[Forge Subsystem Activated: Consumption Matrix] [Function: Convert residual energy, life, or memory into resource potential] [Warning: Excessive use may erode user identity]
He gasped, trembling. "It wants to eat… everything."
"Balance," the voice whispered. "Feed it or be fed upon."
And then—silence. The Emporium reverted, calm once more. Only faint echoes of that deeper power lingered, like a beast behind a locked door.
K-23 steadied him. "You accessed a system even the Custodians sealed away. Why?"
Li Feng rose slowly, eyes glowing faint violet. "Because the Court wants control. The Forge wants freedom. Maybe it's time to see what happens when someone gives it that."
K-23 regarded him in stillness. "You're walking the edge of extinction."
He smiled faintly. "No. I'm walking the edge of discovery."
From the shadows above, unseen shelves rearranged themselves into new forms—blades, cores, relics—all pulsing in quiet rhythm with Li Feng's heartbeat. The Emporium had changed, and so had its master.
Far away, across the Nebula Seas, the Silent Court felt the shift in their own instruments.
"The Forge feeds again," one whispered."And the Warden… is beginning to hunger."