Page 109 of Echoes From the Void

Father, I whisper into that endless light.I need to find him. Need to find Finn.

His power shifts around me, ancient and certain.Yes. But first...understand. See what your mother saw. What she tried to prevent.

The memory changes one final time.

The vision crystalizes into perfect clarity: Hundreds of light shifters, suspended like stars in eternal twilight. Their power pulses with the rhythm of reality itself—each frozen form acting as an anchor point, holding the realms together through sheer force of will and sacrifice.

But it’s not peaceful stasis.

They’re aware. Conscious. Trapped between moments with only their thoughts and the weight of existence for company. Their light flickers with desperate messages, trying to communicate across the vast distances between their frozen forms.

Listen, my father’s voice guides me.Hear what they’re trying to say.

I reach out with my shadows, letting them twine through that ancient light. The messages hit like physical blows:

so tired

how long

can’t hold it

someone please

help us

“They’re suffering,” I whisper, the words catching in my throat. “All this time, they’ve been suffering.”

Yes. The Eredar’s grief wraps around me like a physical thing.Your mother saw this coming. Tried to warn them that using their power this way would trap them. That there had to be another way.

One light pulses brighter than the others, drawing my attention. As I move closer, I recognize the violet eyes, the determined set of her jaw—my grandmother. Our grandmother. She hangs suspended between heartbeats, her power feeding directly into one of the major anchor points between realms. Through our bond, I feel Finn’s recognition, his light reaching for hers across the void.

She chose this?I ask, reaching toward her frozen form.They all chose this?

They thought they were saving everything. My father’s presence shifts, becoming more solid as he remembers.Your mother begged them to wait, to look for another solution. But they were so certain. So sure that their sacrifice would be enough.

“But it wasn’t.” The truth settles into my bones like frost. “The realms are still failing. They’re suffering for nothing.”

Not nothing,he corrects gently.They bought time. Time for your mother to find me. Time for us to understand what true balance could be. Time for you and your brother to be born.

A flicker of familiar light pulses in the distance—Finn. Still alive. Still waiting. The mate bonds hum with renewed strength, our pack’s energy reaching through the void like anchors toreality. But there’s something else too, something about this place that calls to my shadows in a way I don’t quite understand.

Father, I start, an impossible idea forming.These anchors they created... they’re made of pure light essence. But what if...

His power surges with sudden understanding.Yes. Now you see what your mother saw. What she tried to tell them.

“Light and shadow in balance,” I breathe. “Not sacrifice. Not forced stasis. But willing partnership.”

Yes, he says, and this time his pride fills the spaces between realities.My daughter. My shadow. My hope.

Around us, the frozen light shifters’ essences pulse faster, as if responding to this new possibility. Their messages shift, hope threading through their eternal light:

please

help us

release us

balance

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