Chapter 30: Void's Embrace
The sky churned.
It wasn't a storm. Not of clouds or thunder. This was something else—like reality itself was unraveling. The Dreamless who had spoken Kazuki's name now reached across dimensions, its voice vibrating through the bones of every living thing.
Kazuki stood upright, despite the pressure trying to force him down.
"I remember you, Kazuki. You are mine."
The words echoed through his mind like a forgotten lullaby twisted by time.
Aria stepped beside him, her hand finding his. "What does it mean? Why does it know your name?"
Kazuki's gaze didn't leave the sky. "Because I wasn't always just me."
Noir's expression darkened. "You remember."
He nodded. "Fragments. Dreams I thought were nightmares. Now I see—they were memories. From a different existence."
---
The Forgotten Life
A vision overtook him, clear as sunlight. Another time, another name. Kazuki was once part of the Old Line—the sacred order meant to safeguard reality's balance. But he had disobeyed, seeking the Infinite Ability to undo a great betrayal. The result had been cataclysmic.
He had faced the Dreamless before. And lost.
But not before binding part of himself into Aetherion, sealing away that power until the time came again.
Kazuki whispered, "This was always fate coming full circle."
---
Battle Begins
From the rift in the sky, a massive tendril formed of obsidian mist slithered down, cracking the earth upon contact. Villages miles away shattered from the tremor. Screams echoed.
Caelus raised his blade. "We fight here!"
Myrr summoned her glyphs. "I will protect the perimeter."
Noir whispered a spell that darkened the air around them, shielding them from the Dreamless' corruptive presence.
But Kazuki didn't move yet.
The Dreamless had taken form—a towering figure of shifting eyes and mouths, one whispering while another screamed. It hovered just above the mountains.
Aria turned to him. "What are you waiting for?"
"I know its name," Kazuki said.
He stepped forward and screamed into the void:
"VELZARYTH!"
The creature paused.
Recognition.
And fury.
"You remember, traitor," it said. "And still you defy me."
Kazuki raised Aetherion. "This time, I don't fight to undo the past. I fight to protect what I have now."
He leapt, blade ignited in celestial fire. Velzaryth met him mid-air. Shockwaves rippled across the sky, turning clouds into light.
---
A World on Edge
The battle lasted seconds, yet each blow distorted time. Aria and the others fought below, trying to stop lesser Dreamspawn from entering through the cracks.
Kazuki was bleeding. Velzaryth had grown stronger with every remembered fragment. Every doubt.
"You cannot win against what you were," it hissed.
"I already have," Kazuki replied, driving Aetherion through one of its cores.
Velzaryth screamed, collapsing—but not dying.
Instead, it split. Into seven smaller entities.
Noir gasped. "We're not fighting one Dreamless... we're fighting its fragments!"
The seven shadows launched toward the corners of the world.
Velzaryth's voice returned. "If I fall, the world will carry my rage. They are seeded now. You cannot reach them in time."
Kazuki dropped to one knee.
"We'll find them," he said. "Even if it takes lifetimes."
Aria ran to his side. "You won't be alone."
He looked at her. "I never was."
---
The New War Begins
That night, under the repaired stars, the team gathered.
Seven new threats. Seven corners of the world. Seven chances to fall—or to rise.
And deep within Kazuki's soul, Aetherion pulsed with something new: Hope.
To be continued...