The lower halls of the Crystal Spire, whose obsidian walls were scarred from centuries of gatekeeper vigils, flickered with starlight. Imprisoned within Marcus Reed's body, Ethan Cole strode toward the patrol muster, his acolyte tunic stiff from the blood and perspiration of the Ashen Veil's navigation trials. The surge and navigation runes caused a fire to burn in his veins, and his gatekeeper sigil gave off a faint glow on his wrist as his wounds—arm, chest, back, and side—pulsed beneath the bandages. The decoded clue from the journal—the shrine holds answers—clashes with Marcus's recollection of a covert meeting in which gatekeepers whispered about a Council traitor. Lirien's tenth gate theory, Valthor's stare, "Are you… stable?" and Torren's warning, "The traitor's near," all contributed to his paranoia. With her trust eroding, Sylra's doubt—You're not you—remained after leaving the Sanctum. With the unseen watcher's blade colder at his neck, Ethan clutched his starlight blade, assigned to search the outskirts of Aetherion for void-energy spikes.
At the gate of the Spire, Sylra Varn waited with her silver hair bound and her starlight blade sheathed, her eyes sweeping over Ethan, Lirien, and Taryn, a wiry gatekeeper in his late 20s with ashen skin, a shadowed eye, and a cloak that blended into the darkness, her smile scarred. "Void's stirring," Sylra interrupted sharply. Ichor breaches are reported by obelisks. Marcus, hold on tight. Lirien's hesitation was evident since her Zorathys warning, as her hands trembled and her eyes darted. With the starlight crackling, Taryn spun his daggers. "Are you up for a scrap, Marcus?" he asked with a broad smile. Nodding, Ethan felt guilty because Taryn's friendship belonged to Marcus, not a stranger who had moved here. Nullvox's whisper became more audible as the patrol left, the outskirts of Aetherion looming, a wasteland of starlit dust and obsidian crags.
The plains extended beneath the twin moons of Aetherion, their runes faltering and the starlight obelisks dimming. With black veins snaking across obsidian and ichor pooling at its base, Sylra paused at one. She muttered, "Fresh tracks," with her blade out. "Voidspawn, close." Lirien's eyes were wide, her blade was half-raised, and her breath caught. Ethan's suspicions were aroused: pawn or traitor? With two starlight daggers at the ready, Taryn scanned the crags. "Too damn quiet," he remarked, his smile waning. With void-ichor erupting like a geyser and obsidian shattering, the ground trembled. The air was split by a roar as thirty Voidspawn emerged from the darkness, accompanied by winged shriekers diving, eyeless brutes with shard-limbs, and two Star-eaters towering, their void-maws consuming starlight, Nullvox's hunger unleashed.
As Sylra's blade flashed, her yell cut through the confusion: "Formation! Marcus, shield rune!" The shield rune, which consisted of three crescents and a central arc, was barely grasped from the Sanctum as Ethan's heart raced. Marcus's wounds were seared with pain, and his memory crashed: runes twisting on the hands of an elder stained with ichor. He retaliated when Sylra glared at him. "Marcus, follow it!" Ethan fell to one knee and etched the rune on the obsidian with his fingers. With his sigil burning and a translucent dome flaring over the group, starlight surged. Spiderwebbing cracks as voidspawn claws screech against it. With her voice urgent, Sylra slashed a brute, ichor spraying: "Taryn, left flank! Lirien, attack!" Taryn sprang forward, directing her dagger's starlight into quick, shadow-filled blows that impaled a winged creature and caused blood to flow from a grazed claw. With a trembling blade and a lunging Voidspawn, Lirien froze. Ethan moved the shield, covering her with blinding pain.
Taryn's smile was defiant as his dagger danced, taking down two Voidspawn. He dodged the maw of a Star-eater and yelled, "Marcus, like the Ninth Gate!" Ethan's chest constricted—Taryn's undeserved trust was painful. Ethan's vision blurred as the first Star-eater slammed the shield, causing void-energy to fracture it. Sylra's command was sharp, and she stunned the beast by weaving a rune-lattice: "Reinforce, Marcus!" Ethan went back to the rune, pain in a furnace, starlight flooding. Lirien trembled and broke her voice, saying, "I… can't." She drew three more as she swung late, and her blade touched a Voidspawn. A winged shrieker dove, shard-limb piercing his shoulder, blood streaming, but Taryn leaped, dagger thrusting, saving her. With another claw cutting his chest, he staggered, his smile wavering. "Taryn!" With the shield flickering and the pain overwhelming him, Ethan roared.
The brute was struck by Sylra's lattice, causing ichor to flood, but Taryn fell, his daggers dimming and blood pooling. It was my fault when Ethan's shield fell, the starlight dimmed, and the guilt shattered. Lirien dropped to her knees, sobbing, her blade clattering, her hesitation a betrayal's shadow. With her face hardened, Sylra cleaved two Voidspawn with her blade. "Marcus, rune, now!" With a new dome forming and starlight surging, Ethan scurried to trace the "Vardis" shield rune. The second Star-eater surged forward, cracks spreading as its maw tugged at his light. Marcus roared in memory, "Valthor's snarl—you'll never speak," but Ethan held his ground as his nose bled and his vision turned black. When the first Star-eater's core was struck by Sylra's lattice, ichor exploded. With her eyes empty and the starlight gone, Taryn's body lay motionless.
The void-energy-splitting obsidian and ichor rivers surged in a chasm yawn. With their claws slicing, five Voidspawn leaped across. Ethan pulled out his blade, ichor splashing as he cleaved a brute, surge rune igniting. With a fierce cry of "Lirien, move!" Sylra battled next to him, her blade a silver storm. Lirien stood up, her blade trembling, and took down a Voidspawn, but her hesitation attracted another screamer. Ethan lunged, his side tingling with pain as his shield rune faltered and his blade deflected its claws. With its maw dimming, Sylra grounded the second Star-eater with her lattice. "Obelisk, Marcus!" she yelled, avoiding the shard-limb of a brute.
Ethan ran to the obelisk, fingers tracing the shield rune on its base as the void-chasm widened. His nose was dripping blood as the starlight roared, the pain blinding. Ichor recoiled as the obelisk's runes flared, sending a shockwave that repelled Voidspawn. The second's core was struck by Sylra's lattice, causing ichor to flood as the Star-eaters roared and cracked the ground with their void-energy. As the obelisk hummed, the swarm dispersed, and their cries faded, Ethan's rune remained in place. Lirien's sobs were the only sound in the plains as Nullvox's whisper faded away.
With her eyes wet and her hand on Taryn's forehead, Sylra knelt aside. Her voice cracked as she whispered, "Rest, friend." Ethan stood shaking, the toll of the shield rune weighing heavily on his heart. Lirien steered clear of his gaze, her hesitation a blade in his trust—betrayal or fear? Sheathing her blade, Sylra stood up, her face grim. "Marcus, you held. Hardly." Her icy gaze shifted to Lirien. "We'll talk shortly." The darkness of the plains was heavier than nothing as they carried Taryn's body to the Spire. Ethan was crushed by his own guilt over Taryn's passing and Lirien's hesitancy, and his wounds screamed. When Zorathys was bound by the High Gods in Nullvox, the journal's clue—the shrine contains answers—referred to a path to reveal the traitor and was connected to Serathys's Dawn War legacy. A noose was woven by Marcus's recollections of a void-tainted elder, Valthor's shadow, and Lirien's treachery, making the blade of the invisible watcher sharper.