"Oh no…"
My voice trembled as I saw it move.
The Shard — the one that looked exactly like Blaze — was walking toward us. Each of its steps cracked the ground, its body flickering like a broken reflection of light and shadow.
The Void's endless horizon stretched behind it — a wasteland of fractured terrain and glitching skies, where colors bled into static.
"What do we do?" I whispered. My hands were shaking as I raised my sniper rifle, though I knew it wouldn't matter.
My mind raced. Run? Fight? Hide?
Blaze was kneeling in front of me, his breathing heavy, his left arm bleeding through his torn sleeve. SK stood beside me, clutching her scythe — her long blonde hair clinging to her face with sweat and dust.
None of us said a word. The silence pressed on my chest harder than the fear itself.
Then, a warm hand gripped my shoulder.
"Hey," Blaze said, his voice steady despite his wounds. "I'll buy you two some time."
"What!?" I turned to him instantly, eyes wide. "You can't fight that thing again! You'll die!"
He grinned, even now. "Who said anything about dying?"
He smiled, the kind of smile that made you want to believe him even when you knew you shouldn't. Gently, he patted my head.
The Shard halted in the distance, its cracked visor staring at us. Its blade hummed, blue and fractured, just like Blaze's.
"Listen," Blaze said, still holding my shoulder. "Head for the ridge — the one with the black spires. There should be old shelters there, from before this part of the Void broke apart."
I shook my head hard. "No! I'm not leaving you! After everything you've done for me — I won't just run!"
"Easy there, soldier. I thought you were part of the resistance."
He said it playfully, teasing me just enough to make me calm down — just like always.
"Don't worry," he said softly. "Didn't I promise to explain everything after all this? I keep my word."
My throat tightened. "…Okay then. You better."
He turned to SK next. "SK. You're going with her."
"What? Sir, no—!" SK protested, gripping her scythe tighter.
"That's an order." His voice deepened — commanding, absolute.
SK hesitated, her jaw tightening. "…Yes, sir."
"Good." Blaze lifted his sword again, resting it on his shoulder. Despite his exhaustion, his aura still pulsed faintly, blue light cutting through the Void's dull haze.
Then he added, smirking, "Oh, and try not to kill each other while I'm gone."
"You two go on ahead. I'll catch up once I'm done here."
Even now, he found a way to joke. Typical Blaze.
I wanted to argue, to beg him not to do this — but before I could, he took one step forward. The ground beneath him glowed faintly blue, and his aura flared once again.
The Shard responded immediately — mirroring him, blade rising in perfect synchronization.
I glanced back at him one last time. "You still owe me that explenation you promised," I said.
And then he charged.
"Starborn, move!" SK grabbed my wrist, snapping me out of my trance.
I forced my legs to move, running beside her. The wasteland stretched endlessly ahead — jagged rocks, broken towers, and drifting fragments of old worlds.
Behind us, the world was chaos.
Blue light and glitching static clashed in the distance. Every time Blaze's sword struck the Shard's, the air itself screamed — sending shockwaves that made the ground shatter under our feet.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The force of the fight was unreal.
We stumbled through the dust, finding the remains of an old structure — maybe part of a crashed game world. Broken metal walls, half-fused with black sand. It would have to do.
"Grab whatever's useful," SK said, panting.
I nodded and searched the wreckage — scavenging ammo, rations, and anything that looked like a functioning power cell.
SK leaned her scythe against a wall, tying her hair back with a strip of cloth. Her hands were shaking, though she tried to hide it.
"Is that everything?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said softly, "everything that still works."
A low rumble echoed in the distance.
We both turned toward the sound — the battle still raging beyond the hills.
I could see faint flashes of light through the storm clouds. Each one brighter than the last.
Blaze was still fighting. Alone.
"Do you think he's…?" I couldn't even finish the question.
"He's Blaze," SK said, trying to sound confident. "He'll make it. He always does."
But the tremor in her voice betrayed her.
We kept moving, running further across the wasteland. The ground here was uneven, shards of broken glass rising from the soil like spikes. The air was heavy with digital static — little fragments of sound from other worlds echoing faintly, like whispers of lost code.
For a moment, I thought I heard my old squad's voices. But when I turned, there was nothing. Just the Void.
We reached the ridge Blaze mentioned — a place where the ground rose high above the plains. The view was unreal: shattered floating platforms, the ruins of forgotten worlds drifting in slow motion.
And far behind us, the blue glow of Blaze's battle still burned like a star.
We found a narrow cave carved into the cliffside and ducked inside. It was small, but dry — a safe enough spot to rest.
I collapsed against the wall, my sniper rifle resting across my knees. SK sat beside me, her scythe laid within arm's reach.
For a while, neither of us spoke. The sound of the wind outside filled the silence.
Then SK said quietly, "I don't get it. Why would he stay? He could've run with us."
I shook my head. "Because that's who he is."
She glanced at me. "You say that like you know him better than I do."
"Maybe I don't," I said softly. "But I've seen the way he fights. He doesn't run — not from something like that."
SK didn't reply, just pulled her knees close and stared at the fire we had lit with broken power cells.
The blue flames flickered against her blonde hair. Her face looked calm, but her eyes were distant — searching the dark horizon where Blaze still fought.
"Do you think he'll come back?" I asked.
She didn't look at me when she answered. "He has to."
Hours passed. The battle in the distance began to fade — the flashes becoming weaker, the rumbling quieter.
Eventually, there was nothing.
Just silence.
I stood at the mouth of the cave, staring toward the plains below. The Void was quiet again. Too quiet.
"He did it," SK said softly behind me, her voice uncertain. "He must've finished it."
"Yeah…" I tried to smile. "He must've."
But deep down, I wasn't sure.
Something about the stillness felt wrong — like the Void itself was holding its breath.
I lowered my rifle and whispered to the empty horizon, "Don't you dare die on us, Blaze."
Night fell — though in the Void, night was just a deeper kind of darkness.
SK eventually fell asleep beside the fire, her scythe in her arms like a promise. I stayed awake, unable to close my eyes.
Every flicker of light outside made me think it was him returning. Every echo in the wind made my heart jump.
But no one came.
I looked at the cracked glass floor beneath us — faint reflections of myself shimmering back, distorted and fractured.
"I'll find you," I whispered. "No matter what."
And in the distance, far beyond the mist and broken worlds, a faint blue spark flickered once — then vanished.