The world around it blurred, the quiet rhythm of waves fading into silence as warmth bloomed deep within its chest.
At first, it felt nothing – only an echoing emptiness. Then, like the gentle drizzle of spring rain, the memories began to fall upon it.
It saw fleeting images: streets lined with flickering lamps on quiet winter nights; the hum of a heater as it lay cocooned in thick blankets, watching the snow fall beyond frosted windows; warm cups of tea cradled in trembling hands; the faint ache in its chest when the world felt too heavy to bear.
It felt the joy of waking up to the scent of pancakes and coffee. The comfort of tired evenings spent curled upon the couch, listening to the muffled laughter of loved ones drifting from another room. It felt sunlight upon its face, the burn of scraped knees, the thundering rush of its heart when it chased friends down endless streets under summer skies. The sting of tears when farewells were said at hospital bedsides, the slow quiet years that followed – empty chairs at a dinner table, rooms filled with dust and silence, its own voice echoing back to it in the dark.
It remembered life. Its life.
It remembered what it meant to be human – its joys and its quiet tragedies. But as each memory anchored it deeper into itself, as each fleeting vision painted the shape of its soul once more, it searched for something vital… its name.
And yet… there was nothing. No name upon its tongue. No voices calling it home. Only the knowledge of what home felt like, the warmth of it, the smell of old wood and sweet herbs, the sound of its own laughter ringing through empty halls.
"I… I was human…" it whispered, pressing a trembling hand to its chest. "I… I am human."
It felt tears gather in the corners of its eyes, but they did not fall. Its heart fluttered rapidly, like a trapped bird desperate for open skies. It felt fragile… unsteady… but resolute.
As the last threads of its human life settled within it, a new memory surged forward. A memory of someone… no, something impossibly beautiful.
A girl. No… not a girl. Something beyond human comprehension, wearing the shape of a girl. It saw her in faint, fractured images – hair as white as moonlit snow, flowing like silk spun from starlight, her eyes glowing like blue comets streaking across a midnight sky. Her beauty was unearthly, but it was not her appearance that struck it deepest.
It was the feeling that came with it.
Longing. Rivalry. Fury. Sorrow. Joy. Love. An eternity of feelings that burned into its soul.
But as it reached for those memories, confusion twisted within it.
These are not mine… it realised, its chest tightening with quiet dread.
They were the Void's.
They were its memories.
Then came a rush of scenes – memories of their first meeting, blazing with brilliance and contempt. She felt the cold clash of their powers, the endless rivalry that spanned beyond time's reckoning, their dances of creation and destruction. Memories of their fights – vast storms tearing reality asunder, silent confrontations beneath forgotten skies, words spoken in anger and left unsaid in regret.
And finally… she saw the memory of her departure.
She saw the Void watching her leave – the small flicker of satisfaction within its vast abyss as it watched the Light drift away. The dark had rid itself of the noisy, bothersome light. Now, it believed, it could return to the silent solitude it knew best.
But as days bled into years, and years into silent eons, the Void found no peace. No solace. Only the gnawing emptiness left behind in the absence of that small, flickering brilliance.
And within these memories, she felt the Void's realization: that silence had lost all meaning, for her voice had taken it along with her when she departed. Where once the Void had longed for stillness, for quiet unbroken by Light's laughter or songs or reckless joy, now it could find no solace in its old darkness.
She felt it now – the quiet ache that lingered within the Void. The yearning. The grief.
Her heart fluttered again, no longer trapped in fear but trembling with a strange confusion. For though she was no longer the Light it once knew, though she could no longer remember the name she once bore, she could not deny the truth etched into the marrow of her being:
They were bound together.
Forever.
And as the wind swept across the quiet beach, carrying salt and wildflowers into the dawning sky, she stood silent and trembling beneath the brilliance of the Erdtree, feeling within her both an unfamiliar emptiness… and a quiet, unknowable fullness.
As the Spark contemplated the memories flowing into it, it saw visions not of its own life, but of the Void's endless existence.
It saw eons pass in silent procession. Worlds born, worlds dying, drifting within a vast sea of nothingness. And in each fragment of memory, it felt a sorrow so profound that even its human grief paled before it. It saw the Void's regret – quiet, infinite, consuming.
It witnessed its frenzied search across the tapestry of creation, seeking something… no, someone. Following faint trails of fading warmth through the cold of endless night. It saw how the Void wandered through countless worlds, tracing the remnants of the Spark's light wherever they lingered. It saw how the Void discovered all of Light's creations – strange, bright, fleeting things – and how it loved them all.
The Void embraced each in its shade, cradling them gently as if they were pieces of the Spark it had lost. It watched over them, guarding their dreams and their endings, but never finding what it sought.
Its voideheart beat with a quiet, mournful rhythm. And in the center of that sorrow burned a single wish – to see the Spark once more, not to claim it or silence it, but to simply… apologise. For its want of silence. For its desire to return to a peace that, in her absence, had become an unbearable emptiness.
The Spark felt those memories settle deep within her being, filling her with a heaviness beyond human grief. For in that moment, she realised that even the Void – the great eternal silence – was not immune to longing.
And she wondered, with quiet trembling within her chest, what it meant to be loved so deeply by something so vast.
As the Spark finished her contemplation, she felt a faint ringing hum through her mind, like the fading chime of a distant bell. Her thoughts felt… strange. Fragmented. Filled with memories of places she had never walked, of feelings she had never carried, and of a face she did not recognise as her own.
She frowned, her chest tightening with an unfamiliar weight.
Her gaze drifted downward, to where the still waters of the shore pooled around her bare feet. There, rippling with the ebb and flow of the tide, she saw her reflection.
For a moment, she did not understand what she saw.
Long, white hair fell like spun moonlight around narrow shoulders. Her eyes, no longer dull with human fear, glowed softly with that same blue comet-light she had glimpsed in the Void's memories. Her skin was pale as starlight, her features delicate and unfamiliar. Feminine.
Something was wrong.
Her heart fluttered violently, panic rising in her throat.
Why… why do I look like this…?
Her mind raced, fragments of the Void's memories flashing behind her eyes – memories of Light, of her, of that bright, fierce presence it had searched for beyond all ends. And in those memories, that face… this face… had been hers.
Her breath quickened, ragged and shallow.
"What the hell…?!?! Why God Why!?!?"
She stumbled back from the water, gripping her chest as if she could tear free the confusion lodged within. She felt something within her pulse with a distant, ancient recognition. A knowing without memory.
Her reflection rippled in the disturbed water, gazing up at her with the same wide-eyed confusion. And for a fleeting instant, she thought she saw the faintest smile play upon those lips – a smile filled with sorrow, wonder, and something like fate.
As she cursed at the reflection glaring mockingly back at her, she let out a long, ragged sigh.
"Great. Just… great," she muttered bitterly. "First I wake up with no memories, then I find out I'm some kind of cosmic spark, then I have to deal with an eldritch Void entity, and now this—" She gestured wildly at her reflection. "—this… moon princess makeover nonsense!"
She pressed a palm to her forehead, closing her eyes as frustration rippled through her chest like a storm-tossed sea. "What's next, huh? Come on, world. Hit me with your worst."
In the far distance, a faint rustling echoed through the trees.
Her eyes snapped open.
There, emerging from the misted tree line beyond the shore, came dark, low shapes. Dozens of them, moving with silent purpose. The Spark's gaze sharpened as her mind caught up to what her eyes saw.
Wolves. Massive, muscled, and bristling with silver-grey fur, their eyes glinting with primal hunger. Their lips curled back in silent snarls, revealing yellowed fangs.
"…I take it back," she hissed under her breath. "Murphy, you absolute bastard."
The largest wolf let out a low growl, vibrating the air like distant thunder, before breaking into a swift, predatory lope. The others followed instantly, paws thudding against moss and sand in a deadly chorus.
"Oh shit oh shit oh shit—"
She spun on her heel, white hair whipping around her as she sprinted across the beach, the Void's lingering warmth pulsing faintly within her chest. Behind her came the baying chorus of the wolves as they surged forward in pursuit, their shadows flickering like darting knives across the dying light of dawn.
And thus began her afternoon – fleeing for her life through the wilds of Limgrave, cursing Murphy's law with every ragged, desperate breath.
As she ran, her breath tore raggedly from her lungs, each exhale curling into mist before vanishing behind her. The wolves were fast – faster than she had ever imagined. Their pounding footfalls grew louder with each desperate stride she took across the plains.
"Shit… they're gaining…!"
Her mind whirled through every half-remembered survival instinct her human life had taught her. Don't outrun predators. Outsmart them. Her eyes darted ahead and caught the looming shadows of the Mistwood forest.
"Trees… branches… roots… yes. I can lose them in there."
She pivoted sharply, boots tearing up dirt as she sprinted into the dense treeline. Shadows swallowed her at once, moonlit strands of hair whipping behind her like silver banners. She weaved between the towering trunks, feeling the ground crack slightly beneath her feet whenever she pushed off to dodge around gnarled roots or low-hanging branches.
There was strength in her legs that she had never known before – each movement felt powerful, almost inhuman. This body… it's stronger than before… faster too…
Behind her, the wolves snapped and snarled, their bodies weaving deftly through the underbrush in relentless pursuit. The Spark's chest heaved with burning breaths as her eyes scanned desperately for anything – anything – that could tilt the odds in her favour.
That was when she heard it: a deep, guttural roar that shook the mist around her. She skidded to a halt just beyond a ridge, eyes widening at the sight below.
Two massive rune bears were locked in a brutal battle, claws raking against each other's thick fur, their jaws snapping with bone-shattering force. The ground trembled beneath them, trees creaking and shedding leaves under the weight of their rage.
The Spark's lips curled into a fierce grin.
"Well… talk about a distraction…"
As the wolves closed in, she gathered her strength, then sprinted downhill straight towards the brawling giants. The bears didn't even register her presence until she was already between them, ducking low and sliding across the torn earth as their claws missed her by mere inches. The wolves, hot on her trail, weren't so lucky. Their momentum carried them directly into the rune bears' space.
A thunderous snarl erupted behind her. She glanced back just in time to see one bear swipe a wolf clean off its paws, hurling it into a tree with a sickening crack. The wolves yelped and scattered in panicked chaos as the bears turned their fury upon this new intrusion.
A laugh burst from her lips, wild and triumphant, as she dashed away from the frenzied brawl.
"Haha… oh God, that worked… that actually worked!"
Heart still hammering in her chest, she continued running until the sounds of battle faded into the mist behind her. Eventually, the trees parted, and before her stretched a vast, glimmering lake – its dark waters rippling gently under the pale morning sky. She stumbled to its edge, collapsing to her knees upon the cool grass, her entire body trembling with exertion and adrenaline.
Lake Agheel lay silent before her, the distant cries of eagles echoing across its still expanse. For a moment, there was only quiet.
She drew in a deep, shaking breath, then let out a ragged laugh.
"Okay… okay, Murphy… I surrender for now…"
She gazed into the lake's shifting surface, watching her moon-pale hair drift upon the breeze like silver mist.
"But if you throw a dragon at me next… I swear I'll scream."