The world didn't just feel different; it felt heavy.
As Xylo leaped from the smoking ruins of the Execution Square, his massive wings snapping once to catch the thermal updraft, I felt my stomach drop into my boots. But it wasn't just the height, it was the cord.
The violet-gold energy connecting my chest to his heart tightened, vibrating with a high-pitched hum that made my teeth ache.
"Don't... drop... me," I wheezed, my fingers digging into the hard, scarred muscle of Xylo's shoulders. My Void Core was still churning, trying to digest the massive influx of starlight I'd swallowed from the Priest, and the sudden movement was making the "meal" want to come back up.
"If I drop you, I die, little shadow," Xylo growled. His voice was like grinding stones, vibrating through his chest and directly into my palms. "I can feel your soul pulling on mine like a hook in a fish's mouth. What did you do to us?"
"I saved us!" I shot back, my violet eye flashing.
He didn't answer. He banked hard to the left, narrowly avoiding a volley of ballista bolts fired from the palace walls. We soared over the jagged rooftops of the Upper District, the wind whipping my silver hair into a frenzied cloud. Below us, the city of Aethelgard was waking up like a kicked hornet's nest. Signal fires were erupting atop every watchtower, their green flames signaling a Tier-1 breach.
Xylo landed with a bone-jarring thud on the slanted roof of a clocktower three miles from the square. He didn't set me down gently; he practically dumped me onto the cold slate tiles.
"Stay," he commanded, his wings shivering as they folded back. "I need to see if the Seal's dampeners are still active."
He took five long strides toward the edge of the roof, his golden eyes scanning the horizon.
"Xylo, stop!" I lunged forward, my hand outstretched.
He didn't listen. He took one more step.
The reaction was instantaneous. The Tether snapped taut, turning from a shimmering mist into a solid, glowing rod of violet iron. I let out a choked scream as a sensation of white-hot needles pierced my heart. Across the roof, Xylo buckled, his knees hitting the slate with a crack. He clutched his chest, his golden scars flaring with an angry, blinding light.
"Back!" he gasped, his face contorting in agony. "Get... back... in range!"
I scrambled toward him on my hands and knees, the pressure in my chest easing only when I was within three meters of him. The Tether relaxed, turning back into a soft, pulsing light. We both lay there for a moment, gasping for air, the smell of burnt ozone hanging between us.
"Ten meters," I panted, looking at the violet cord. "That's the limit. If we go further... it rips our souls out."
Xylo looked at me, and for the first time, the fury in his eyes was replaced by a cold, calculating dread. He reached out, his large hand hovering over the Tether. He tried to grab it, but his fingers passed right through the light.
"I am a Fallen Divinity," he whispered, more to himself than to me. "I have leveled mountain ranges. I have stood before the Creator and refused to bow. And now... I am leashed to a Null-class scavenger."
"I have a name," I snapped, pushing myself up and dusting off my torn execution robes. "It's Vespera. And I'm the only reason you aren't a pile of ash in that cell right now."
Xylo stood up, his height looming over me. He was beautiful in a terrifying way—like a statue carved from a nightmare and dipped in gold. "You didn't save me, Vespera. You hijacked me. You needed an anchor for that stolen power, and you chose the strongest thing in the room."
He stepped closer, forcing me back against the stone gargoyle of the clocktower. "Tell me. That 'System' voice I hear in the back of my mind... the one counting our 'Synchronization'... what happens when it hits one hundred?"
I looked down at the glowing runes on my skin. I didn't know. The Void Core had awakened something ancient, but it hadn't come with an instruction manual.
"I think we become one," I said softly. "Or we both disappear."
"Did you hear that?" I asked.
Xylo's jaw tightened. "I heard it. It seems the universe has a sense of humor. It wants me to take you to the Wastes—the very place I was cast out from."
Suddenly, the roof beneath us shuddered. A low, mechanical hum began to vibrate through the stone.
"The Seekers," Xylo hissed, pulling me behind the gargoyle.
I peeked over the edge. Hovering in the air were three silver spheres, each etched with a giant, unblinking eye. They were the Emperor's personal hounds—Aether-constructs that could track a soul's resonance from miles away.
"They've already found our frequency," I whispered, the violet lines on my arms pulsing in rhythm with the spheres. "The Tether is like a beacon. We can't hide."
"Then we don't hide," Xylo said. He grabbed my waist, his grip firm and uncompromising. "Hold your breath, Vespera. And try not to eat the wind."
"Wait—"
Before I could protest, he vaulted off the tower.
This wasn't a graceful flight. Because of the Tether, he couldn't get the distance he needed for a full glide. Every time he tried to flap his wings, the weight of our connection pulled at his center of gravity. We were falling—fast.
"Wings!" I screamed. "Use the wings!"
"I can't balance the weight!" he roared back over the rushing air. "The Void in you is too heavy! You have to push! Give me your essence!"
I didn't know how to "push," but I knew how to let go. I reached into the swirling darkness of my Core, grabbing the starlight I'd stolen from the Priest, and shoved it through the Tether.
The violet-gold cord turned into a blinding white. Xylo's wings didn't just flap; they exploded with a halo of golden fire. The tattered feathers seemed to knit themselves back together in mid-air, fueled by my raw power.
We leveled out just feet above the cobblestones of the slums, the force of our passage shattering the windows of the nearby hovels. Xylo banked into a narrow alleyway, his wings skimming the brick walls, sparks flying as the silver tips scraped the stone.
"Better," he grunted, his breathing heavy.
We wove through the labyrinth of the lower districts, a streak of shadow and gold. I could feel his heartbeat through the link—it was steady, like a war drum. And for a second, the fear vanished. I wasn't the "Null" girl anymore. I was a part of something that could fly.
We reached the city's outer wall—a massive barrier of white stone reinforced with anti-magic wards.
"I can't fly over that," Xylo said, slowing down as we approached the gatehouse. "The wards will strip my wings the moment I touch the perimeter."
"Then we go through the gate," I said, looking at the approaching guards.
"There are fifty of them, Vespera. And they have Null-spears."
I looked at my hands. The violet fire was dancing between my fingers again, hungry and restless. "They have Null-spears," I repeated, a dark smile crossing my lips. "But I am the Void. Let them try to poke a hole in the dark."
I slipped out of his arms, landing lightly on the ground. I didn't run away—I couldn't. I stood exactly three meters in front of him, the Tether humming between us like a drawn bowstring.
"Stay close, Fallen Star," I said, the violet glow in my eyes drowning out the morning sun. "I'm going to open the door."