The Grey Wilds lived up to their name. The trees here weren't made of wood and sap; they were calcified husks, their leaves like shards of rusted tin that chimed in the wind. The air was thick with a fine, silver dust—the remains of magic that had long since burned out.
"Keep your head down," Xylo hissed, his hand shoved firmly against the small of my back to keep me within the three-meter safety zone.
Above the canopy, the low, rhythmic hum of the Prime Seeker vibrated through the air. The blue scanning light swept through the gaps in the branches, turning the grey forest into a surreal, strobing nightmare.
"I can't... breathe... as well," I whispered. My lungs felt tight.
"The forest is a vacuum," Xylo explained, his voice barely a breath. He pulled me into a hollowed-out trunk of a giant ironwood. "It was drained during the first Great War. There is no natural essence here for your core to feed on. If we don't move quietly, your hunger will start eating us."
I looked at the Tether. Usually, it was a vibrant violet-gold. Now, it was turning translucent, flickering like a dying bulb. Every time it flickered, a sharp, cold ache bloomed in my chest.
"We need a distraction," I said, my violet eye scanning the dim forest. "The Prime Seeker is tracking our heat signature and the Tether's resonance. If I can find a pocket of residual magic, I can 'throw' a ghost signal."
"In this graveyard?" Xylo scoffed, leaning his head against the rotting interior of the tree. His wings were tucked tight, his golden scars dimmed to the color of tarnished brass. "There hasn't been a spark of life in the Wilds for a century."
"Wait." I closed my eyes, reaching out not with my hands, but with the hollow space in my soul.
Being a Null meant I was sensitive to what wasn't there. And right now, about fifty meters to our north, there was a "cold spot" that felt different. It wasn't just empty; it was wrong.
"There," I pointed. "A Wither-Root. It's a parasitic plant that survives by hoarding tiny scraps of Aether from passing travelers. If I can crack its shell, the release of energy will be like a flare to the Seeker."
Xylo looked at me, a grim smirk touching his lips. "And how do you plan to reach it? It's fifty meters away. If you walk that far, your soul will be torn in two."
"I don't need to walk," I said, looking at the silver ring on my finger. "I need you to throw me."
Xylo stared at me for a long beat. "You're insane."
"I'm a Devourer," I corrected. "Now, pick me up."
He didn't argue further. The sound of the Prime Seeker was getting louder, the blue light now lingering directly over our hiding spot. He grabbed me by the waist, his massive muscles coiling.
"On three," he whispered.
"One."
I gathered every scrap of energy I had left, focusing it on my hands.
"Two."
Xylo's golden eyes flared with a desperate light.
"Three!"
He launched me. I flew through the air like a silver-haired bolt, the tether screaming as I hit the five-meter mark. Six. Seven. Eight.
The pain was unimaginable. It felt like my ribs were being pulled out through my skin. My vision went white, and for a second, I heard Xylo scream—a raw, guttural sound of shared agony.
I slammed into the base of the Wither-Root just as the Tether hit the ten-meter limit. I didn't have time to feel the pain. I plunged my hands into the black, thorny bark of the plant.
"Eat!" I roared.
My Void Core didn't just consume; it detonated. The tiny pocket of Aether inside the plant was ripped out with such violence that it created a localized explosion of silver light.
I felt the tether reel me back. Literally. As the explosion went off, the recoil of the soul bond snapped me back toward Xylo like a rubber band. I flew backward through the trees, crashing into his chest with enough force to knock the wind out of both of us.
We tumbled back into the hollow of the tree, huddled together as the Prime Seeker's massive shadow drifted toward the explosion fifty meters away.
A boom shook the earth. A beam of disintegration vaporized the Wither-Root and everything within a twenty-yard radius.
We sat in the silence, the dust of the forest settling over us. My head was resting against Xylo's collarbone, and I could feel the frantic, heavy thud of his heart. The Tether was pulsing rhythmically now, stabilized by the proximity.
"That," Xylo panted, his hand resting almost tentatively on my hair, "was the stupidest thing I have ever seen anyone do."
"It worked," I wheezed, my eyes drifting shut from exhaustion.
"It worked," he conceded. "But don't ever do it again. When the Tether hit the limit... I felt your fear, Vespera. I felt the moment you thought you were going to snap."
I pulled back slightly, looking up at him. The "Fallen Star" looked less like a monster now and more like a man who had forgotten what it felt like to care if someone lived or died.
"We're tied together, Xylo," I said softly. "My fear is your fear. My hunger is your hunger. That's the deal."
He didn't pull away. He looked at me, his golden eyes searching my face in the dim light. "Then we had better find that altar quickly. Because I don't think my heart can take another fifty meters of you."
"What's Void-Step? " I asked, seeing the notification flicker in my vision.
Xylo groaned, leaning his head back. "It means you're learning how to move through the space between breaths. It's a high-divinity skill, Vespera. If you're already unlocking that at twelve percent..."
"Then I'm getting stronger," I finished.
"Then we're becoming more dangerous," he corrected.
A low, guttural howl echoed from the depths of the forest. It wasn't the Prime Seeker. It was something organic—something that lived in the Grey Wilds and had just been woken up by our little explosion.
"The Scourge-Wolves," Xylo said, his hand finding the hilt of his sword. "They hunt in the vacuum. And they've smelled the Aether you just released."
I stood up, the violet fire dancing in my palms. The exhaustion was still there, but the hunger was louder.
"Let them come," I said. "I'm still hungry."