The silence that followed the disappearance of the One Who Brings the Void was heavy. It was not peace—rather, an expectation, a tense calm before an inevitable storm.
Emiren felt something unseen weighing down his body. He had changed the course of Eternity. But what did that truly mean?
Flamen stood beside him, his hands no longer burning, but he was trembling. The fire that had always been his essence was fading. He clenched his fingers as if trying to hold onto the last remnants of warmth, but it slipped away like grains of sand through his hands.
— Something is wrong… — he whispered, his voice hollow, like a distant echo.
The Hollow One was silent. His eyes were fixed on the Heart of Eternity, which, though still glowing, seemed… different. Its light no longer had the same clarity as before. It was a pale imitation of its former power.
— It’s not whole, — the Hollow One said.
Emiren focused. He reached out to the Heart and felt something strange.
The Heart was beating, its energy flowing, but between its pulses, there was something… extra.
A dark tint.
An echo of the One Who Brings the Void.
— He hasn’t disappeared completely, — Emiren clenched his fingers.
Flamen took a step back.
— But we erased him!
— We erased his existence, but not his influence, — the Hollow One looked at Emiren. — Something remains.
And that “something” was slowly seeping into the fabric of the Eternal Garden.
The Dark Fire
Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled.
Flamen gasped in pain, his eyes widening.
— What is this?!
A weak fire burst from his chest, but it was neither red nor golden. It was something else—a flame with dark undertones, shadows intertwining with fire, altering its very nature.
Emiren smelled burning in the air, but it was cold, almost icy.
— Fire isn’t supposed to be like this… — Flamen whispered.
His fire had always been a source of life, warmth that gave hope. But now it was becoming something else.
— The Void hasn’t disappeared. It’s searching for a new vessel, — the Hollow One said.
Emiren looked at Flamen and understood.
It had found him.
The Awakening of a Foreign Voice
Flamen gasped, as if losing control over his own body. His fire began shifting in form, stretching into eerie shapes that resembled shadows more than flames.
— Flamen! — Emiren grabbed his shoulders.
But there was no response.
His eyes had changed.
Before, they were like burning embers. Now, they were black, like bottomless chasms, with only thin threads of fire flickering within.
And then he spoke.
But it was not his voice.
— You cast me out of this world… but I always return.
A dark voice, foreign and deep, echoed through the Eternal Garden.
Emiren froze.
The One Who Brings the Void had found a new way to exist.
And now he was speaking through Flamen.
A Choice Between Two Fires
The Hollow One stepped forward, his hand trembling slightly.
— This isn’t him. This is a remnant. It’s… a deception.
Flamen, or whatever was speaking through him, smiled.
— A deception? Really? Or perhaps just a new form? What is identity if not the sum of choices? My choice… is to live.
His hands rose, and dark fire burst forth, spreading in waves across the ground.
Emiren felt the Heart of Eternity shifting again.
Something was wrong.
Flamen was fighting.
His true self had not yet vanished. The fire burning within him was not only foreign—it was still a part of him.
He had to make a choice.
— You can overcome it! — Emiren shouted.
Flamen wavered.
The dark fire battled against the light, mingling but not yet victorious.
— I… don’t know if I can…
Emiren knew he had to act.
He reached out to the Heart of Eternity and did the only thing he could.
He opened the flow of time.
The Moment That Changes Everything
Time flowed around them, merging moments, possibilities, events that could have happened but never did.
Emiren showed Flamen everything he could be.
His life. His choices. Every possible future.
The one where he triumphed.
The one where he became the new embodiment of the Void.
The one where he ceased to exist.
Flamen saw himself.
And he made a choice.
His body trembled.
The dark fire faded.
But with it, his true fire also went out.
Flamen collapsed to the ground.
Emiren rushed to him, but Flamen’s heart was no longer beating.
He was motionless.
The Eternal Garden stood still.
The Hollow One shook his head.
— We saved him… but what price did he pay?
Emiren didn’t answer.
Because he felt it:
This was not the end.