LightReader

Chapter 4 - The Day the Void Took Them...

The fire crackled low, throwing sparks into the night air. Kimbachi sat across from me, quiet, arms folded like he was carved out of stone. He hadn't asked questions. He didn't need to.

Because the truth was already burning in me. And I couldn't hold it down anymore.

"You ever wonder," I muttered, staring into the flames, "what makes someone worth saving?"

Kimbachi didn't answer. He just watched. Always watching.

My throat tightened. My chest ached. "I wasn't supposed to be here. Not really. I was supposed to be with them."

And just like that, the memories dragged me back.

We weren't adventurers. We weren't heroes. We were just kids with too much curiosity and too little fear.

Kora. Rin. Lobli.

The three people who made me believe I wasn't worthless.

Kora was the leader. Always. Sharp-eyed, fiery, fearless. She was older than me by a year, fifteen when we went in. She had this fire in her veins, this look in her eyes like the world wasn't enough for her. Like she wanted more.

Rin was the loudmouth. Never shut up, never stopped bragging. He swore he'd awaken his soul first out of all of us. He'd grin, flex his scrawny arms, and claim he'd burn the Void itself to ash. Idiot. I miss him.

And Lobli… Lobli was the quiet one. Gentle. Always caught between Rin's chaos and Kora's fire. She'd roll her eyes, but she never left us. She kept us grounded. She was—she was home.

The four of us. Always together. Until the day we thought we could take on the Void.

It wasn't random. We didn't just stumble into it. We chose it.

There were rumors back then—whispers that if you braved the Void and came back alive, your soul awakened early. You'd skip years of training, skip the waiting. Strength. Power. Recognition.

We wanted that. No—we needed it.

The village never saw us. Not really. We were kids. Extras. Fodder for everyone else's stories. But Kora, she wanted more. She said if we came back awakened, no one would ignore us again. No one would laugh at us again.

And me? I just followed. Because when Kora looked at me and said, "Come on, Nyx," how the hell could I ever say no?

The Void wasn't what I expected.

It wasn't just darkness. It was like stepping into a broken mirror of the world. The ground bent wrong. The air tasted heavy, metallic. The sky wasn't sky—it was shifting shadows, pressing down, suffocating.

But we laughed at first. We told ourselves we could do it. Rin lit a torch and swung it around like he was some hero out of the old stories. Kora led, head high, every step confident. Lobli stayed close to me, her hand brushing mine like she knew I was shaking already.

I told myself we'd make it.

But the deeper we went, the more the world twisted.

The Void wasn't just a place—it was a trial. A domain split from reality, built to test us. Not our strength, not our speed. Our souls.

That's when the Dragon appeared.

Not a real dragon. Not flesh and blood. A shape. A presence. Massive, coiled through the shadows. Its voice wasn't sound—it was pressure, pushing into my bones.

Your souls are dead. Prove they burn. Or be forgotten.

Rin went first. Of course he did. He shouted at the dragon, cursed it, dared it to test him. Fire sparked in his hands—tiny, clumsy flames, but it was more than I could do. He roared and charged forward.

And for a second… it worked. The flames caught. His Dead Soul pulsed bright. I thought—he's going to do it, he's going to make it.

But then the Void pressed harder. The Dragon's voice echoed. Lies burn out fastest.

Rin's fire sputtered. His face twisted. The fear came, and once it did, the Void swallowed him whole. Just like that. Gone.

No body. No blood. Just nothing.

I screamed. Kora grabbed me before I could run to where he'd stood.

Then Lobli broke. She cried out for him, stumbled forward, and the Dragon turned on her.

She didn't even fight. She just clutched at the air where Rin had been, begging for him back. And the Void judged her. Declared her soul unworthy.

Gone.

Her voice still echoes in me.

It was just me and Kora then.

She didn't flinch. She didn't cry. She stepped forward, chin high, fire blazing around her fists. She glared at the Dragon, eyes burning hotter than her flames.

Test me, she said. I'll prove my soul.

And she almost did. The flames roared higher, bright enough to push the shadows back. For a moment, I believed. She was winning. She was going to beat it.

But the Void doesn't lose.

The Dragon pressed harder, voice shaking the ground. Even fire lies.

Kora screamed. The chains of shadow wrapped around her, pulling at her soul. She shoved me back with her last strength.

"Run, Nyx!" she shouted. "If one of us survives, it matters!"

And then—she was gone.

I don't remember how I escaped. My legs just moved. I ran, blind, choking on tears. The shadows clawed at me, the Dragon's voice still pounding in my skull.

I stumbled, fell, crawled. And somehow, the Void let me go.

When I came back out, I was alone.

Rin. Lobli. Kora. All gone.

And me? Still breathing. Still cursed.

The fire in front of me crackled. My throat burned from the words I hadn't spoken in years. My hands shook.

Kimbachi hadn't interrupted. He just sat there, eyes sharp, like he'd known the story before I even spoke it.

"So," he said finally, voice low, "you ran."

My chest tightened. My nails dug into my palms. "I—"

"You lived because you ran," he said, not cruel, not kind. Just stating it. "That's the truth of it."

Tears blurred my vision. "I didn't want to—"

"But you did."

His words cut. They cut deeper than the Void ever had.

Because he was right.

I ran.

And I lived.

And they didn't.

The fire popped, sparks flying into the night.

Kimbachi leaned forward, his face lit in orange glow. "You think that curse makes you weak. You think survivor's guilt means you don't deserve to breathe. But listen to me, boy—"

His eyes narrowed. The fire in his hand flickered, burning hotter than any flame should.

"—those who run and live carry the burden of truth. And one day, that burden will burn you alive… or it will awaken your soul."

The flames hissed. The night pressed in.

And in my chest, I felt it again.

That pulse. That second heartbeat.

The Asptrack.

Alive. Watching. Waiting.

More Chapters