The world darkened.
Not a shadow, not nightfall—a devouring of light.
The snow beneath Shan Wei dimmed.The cold stopped feeling cold.Sound itself evaporated, leaving a ringing silence that crushed the soul.
Xueya grabbed Shan Wei's arm instantly.
"Shan Wei—?!"
But she could no longer see his face.
His outline flickered, dissolving like sand in black water.
The Observer's voice ripped out sharply.
"NO! That's not darkness—IT'S A FATE-EATER MANIFESTATION!HE'S BEING PULLED FROM THIS REALITY!"
Jin Wei thundered forward, planting his colossal hands into the ground—
KAAA-THUUUM
A prismatic barrier erupted around Shan Wei—
But the darkness ate it.
Not shattered.
Not resisted.
Ate, like a mouth swallowing glass.
The Empress screamed, frost blooming instinctively around her as Yue Lian staggered back.
Drakonix shrieked—a terrified, primal, bone-deep cry that came from a beast remembering something older than worlds.
1. Inside the Devouring Void
Shan Wei stood alone.
A black expanse stretched endlessly, with no sky, no earth, no direction.He tried to summon his qi—
Nothing responded.
He tried to breathe—
The void swallowed the breath before it left his lungs.
Then—
"Ahh…"
A whisper grazed the back of his neck.
Not sound.Not thought.Something between the two.
"…So this era's prism has finally opened…"
Shan Wei spun—
His shadow moved before he did.
Yet nothing existed around him.
The voice continued:
"You smell like him."
Shan Wei's pulse thundered, but he forced his voice steady.
"…The First Emperor?"
A soft laugh, low and cold.
"No.Not him.The one beneath him."
Shan Wei froze.
"What does that mean?"
"Hmmm…Even you do not know what sleeps inside your spine."
A claw-like pressure touched his shoulder.
Shan Wei jerked away—
But there was no hand.
Only a distortion in space, like invisible teeth forming and dissipating.
"Prism child…"the voice murmured.
"You awaken too quickly."
Shan Wei glared into the darkness.
"What do you want from me?"
Silence.
Then the air folded inward—sharply, violently, hungrily.
"I want…what you are becoming."
A ripple tore across the void.
Shan Wei felt a violent pull in his chest—as if something inside him was being tugged free.
His prismatic spark.
No.He clenched his teeth.
He would not let this thing touch—
"Stop resisting."
The void tightened around his ribs.
His bones vibrated.
His blood stilled.
His soul felt like it was being peeled.
But Shan Wei roared:
"I DON'T BELONG TO YOU!"
2. The Devourer Shows a Fragment of Its Form
The darkness rippled.
A mouth opened—
Not flesh, not teeth—a hole in reality, shaped vaguely like a devouring maw.
Thousands of whispering voices spiraled from it:
"You will.""You must.""You are mine.""You are me.""You are unfinished."
Shan Wei staggered backward.
He had fought beasts, cultivators, spirits, illusions—but never something that spoke in multiple timelines at once.
The Devourer leaned closer—and reality bent around its approach.
"Your spark tastes…more complete than the last."
Shan Wei snarled.
"You won't get it. You won't get me."
Silence.
Then a soft whisper, almost amused:
"…Then let me have your fear instead."
The mouth extended—reaching not for his body, but his mind.
3. Outside: Xueya Breaks
"SHAN WEI!"
Xueya collapsed forward, her frost moon shattering as she pounded against the devouring veil.
Nothing.
Her hands passed through empty space.
"SHAN WEI—COME BACK!!"
She choked.
For the first time, true panic surged in her eyes.
The Observer's face hardened.
"He is inside a fate-consumption field.Only a beast with the blood of primordial defiance can reach him."
Drakonix screamed again—
Then—
FWOOOOM—
His new runes lit up.
Time-light cascaded from his body.
A tiny, trembling dragon-phoenix cub stepped defiantly into the darkness—
and vanished inside.
4. Drakonix Enters the Void
The void shuddered as a small glowing creature burst into existence beside Shan Wei.
Drakonix roared—weak, broken, terrified—but he roared anyway.
The Devourer paused.
"…You."the voice murmured.
Shan Wei gasped.
"Drakonix—?! How—"
The Devourer whispered:
"You dare intrude, little anomaly?"
Then something… unexpected happened.
The time-light runes on Drakonix's body burned with impossible brilliance—
and the void stuttered.
Froze.Restarted.Glitched.
Shan Wei realized something:
Drakonix wasn't resisting the void.
He was breaking it.
The Devourer's voice grew sharp.
"Impossible… you obtained…"
It hissed.
"…the Immunity of the Lost Cycle…"
Shan Wei narrowed his eyes.
"Lost Cycle?"
But the Devourer's whisper changed.
More furious.More unstable.
"NO MATTER.THE SPARK WILL BE MINE."
5. Shan Wei Awakens a New Forbidden Trait
The void lunged again—
And Shan Wei felt something inside him snap.
Not break.Not tear.
Unlock.
A whisper rose from his own chest.
A whisper that was not the Devourer.Not the First Emperor.
But something older.
"…Do not kneel to it."
A prismatic sigil ignited behind Shan Wei's heart.
Seven lines.One circle.A central core.
His veins blazed with color.
His shadow writhed—
and grew eyes.
The Devourer recoiled.
"WHAT—WHAT IS THAT?!"
Shan Wei felt power swirl through him—a terrifying, ancient, sovereign force.
Drakonix roared again, adding his flame-light to the awakening.
Shan Wei stepped forward.
His voice was deeper.
Resonant.
Layered with something more than himself.
"Get out of my soul."
The Devourer shrieked, the void collapsing inward—
"NO—NOT AGAIN—NOT THE FORGOTTEN CORE—NOT—"
The darkness imploded—
blinding light searing through the world—
and Shan Wei was hurled back into reality.
6. Return to the Frozen World
Shan Wei collapsed onto the ice, gasping.
Xueya caught him before he hit the ground, trembling as she held him close.
"Shan Wei—Shan Wei—look at me!"
He looked up.
Her eyes were wet.
Her frost moon flickered like a dying star.
Behind her, Drakonix lay unconscious, exhausted but alive.
Jin Wei stepped forward, scanning him with ancient runes.
The Observer exhaled slowly.
"You awakened something you should not have."
Shan Wei forced out the words:
"What… was it?"
The Observer looked at him for a long, heavy moment.
Then:
"A power even the First Emperor feared."
Everyone froze.
Shan Wei coughed, breathing hard.
"And the Devourer?"
The Observer's voice was grim.
"It will return.But now… it's afraid."
Shan Wei's eyes widened.
Afraid?
Why?
The Observer whispered:
"Because it saw something inside you…that does not belong to this universe."
The Empress shivered.
Yue Lian covered her mouth.
Xueya pulled Shan Wei closer, as if shielding him with her presence.
Shan Wei clenched his fists.
Whatever awakening had begun—
it was only the start.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.