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Neo Pandora
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The void swallowed Neo-Pandora's horizon, an endless maw of static and absence. Streets dissolved into prismatic dust, buildings crumbling like sandcastles in a tide. Lila Kane stood atop the Chrono Memorial, her hands trembling as she adjusted the stabilizers.
"Evacuate the eastern sectors!" she barked into her comm. "The void's moving faster than we—"
A scream cut her off. Below, a citizen froze mid-step, their body unraveling into lightless particles.
"It's learning," Kieran whispered, his eyes reflecting the void's hunger. "It's not just eating us—it's adapting."
Jax leaned against a crumbling pillar, his crystalline arm flaking into ash. "Then we're out of time."
---
The safehouse trembled as Zara Voss entered, her form flickering between solid and spectral. The rebels raised their weapons, muzzles glowing.
"Stand down!" Lila ordered, stepping between them. "She's here to help."
"Is she?" Wren snapped, her drones buzzing defensively. "She's got the Compass in her veins. And the void's right outside."
Zara's gaze hardened, Elias's memories sharpening her voice. "The Compass is the only reason the void hasn't swallowed you whole. I can stop it—but I need the Hollow Star."
"Myth," Jax coughed, blood flecking his lips. "A fairy tale for chrono-crazies."
"It's real," Kieran said quietly. "I've seen it. In the void's… memories."
---
Badlands
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Deep in the Badlands, Lysandra Veyra knelt in her spire of fractal bone, the void's energy coursing through her. Her skin had become translucent, veins glowing with stolen starlight.
"More," she demanded, siphoning power from a captured Weaver hybrid. The creature shrieked, dissolving into her palms. "I will be unstoppable. I will be eternal."
A portal ripped open above her, revealing the void's heart—a pulsing, obsidian orb. The Hollow Star.
"Mine," she breathed.
---
Neo Pandora
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Kieran pressed his palms to the safehouse walls, his paradox energy syncing with the void's frequency. Visions flooded him: A starless galaxy, a machine older than time, the Hollow Star—a key, a lock, a bomb.
"It's a failsafe," he gasped. "The Arbiter's creators built it to reset corrupted realities. But the void corrupted it first."
Zara knelt beside him, her hand merging with his in a burst of Elias's memories. "Then we use it to reset the void. But it'll take everything we've got."
"Everything?" Lila asked.
Zara met her gaze. "And more."
---
Void
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The team plunged into the void, shielded by Zara's Compass energy. The air screamed with phantom voices—Elara's last words, Jax's laughter, Lysandra's taunts. Chrono-shadows lunged, wearing their faces.
"Don't look at them!" Zara warned, incinerating a shadow with Elias's eyes. "They're echoes. Lies."
Jax lagged, his crystalline leg disintegrating. "Go… without me."
"Not a chance," Lila said, slinging his arm over her shoulder. We finish this together."
Ahead, the Hollow Star pulsed—a black diamond radiating anti-light.
---
Zara pressed her palm to the Hollow Star, its surface fracturing her skin. "It needs a catalyst. A chrono-signature strong enough to trigger the reset."
"Mine," Kieran said, stepping forward.
"No," Jax shoved him aside. "You've got a future. I've got… this." He gestured to his crumbling body. "Make it count."
Before anyone could stop him, he slammed his crystalline fist into the Star.
Light erupted.
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Badlands
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As Lysandra was to enter the portal.
The void recoiled, howling as Jax's sacrifice flooded it with cleansing fire. Lysandra's spire exploded, her scream merging with the Hollow Star's resonance.
"You fools!" she roared, clawing from the rubble—her body now a nexus of void and flesh. "You've only made it hungrier!"
The Star cracked, void tendrils spewing forth. And within them, something shifted—a silhouette with Zara's face and the void's hollow eyes.
"It's awake," Kieran whispered. "And it's coming."
To Be Continued…
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