A white room, sterile yet made cozy only by the flickering light of a crackling fire. Natural light was blocked by heavy curtains; warm, orange firelight fell on the hooded figure sitting rigid on a lone couch.
The air hung thick, heavy with... silent pain. Shadows danced across the walls as he sat, lost in thought, eyes fixed on the flames, unmoving.
"You know?" Her voice... so sweet, so far away. Only in his head, yet he felt the fading, painful brush of fingers on his cheek.
"No. I don't." The words scraped out, rough and low.
"How come?" Confusion mixed into the echo inside his skull.
"What do you mean?" He fidgeted with his fingers, a nervous tic. The fire crackled. Reflected flames lit his purple irises, devoid of joy, devoid of meaning.
"You've faced rogue Sparks, defeated cosmic threats, even bested Him... and you still don't know?" The voice bit, a cold sting in his mind. A sigh escaped his parted lips.
"No, I don't." Heavy. Slow. He stopped fidgeting. He sensed someone. A presence.
Faint footsteps approached outside. His gaze snapped to the door. Warmth from the flames washed over his face, chased by a cold prickle along his jaw. Then, a knock.
"Come in." E.K.'s voice was quiet, reluctant. He turned his head back to the flames.
The door groaned open, slow and creaking. A familiar, unwelcome presence entered. Stella Kosa stood there, saluting before stepping forward.
"Hello, Kosa. Is there a problem?"
"Yes, sir... there is."
A weary sigh escaped him. "I let go of my position, Kosa. What do you need me for now?"
His gaze remained fixed on the flames, hood shadowing his face. "What's happened this time?"
"Agriel sent me, sir."
The name jerked his head up. Purple eyes met Kosa's. "Agriel?"
Kosa nodded, but his own eyes flickered away, tension tightening his jaw under E.K.'s gaze.
"Why?"
"I don't know, sir. But he was... tense. Demanded to see you immediately."
"Tch." Shot out, bitter. "No choice now, do I?" His eyes darted to the empty corner beside the fire.
"Please don't go," the faint voice breathed.
Ignoring it, he surged to his feet. "Looks like we'll have to hurry, then." A quick, final glance at the fire.
"Sir?" Kosa asked.
"Sorry." They left at once.
"So what is it about?"Kosa shrugged. "He didn't say."
"Hmm, not unusual." They moved swiftly through dimly lit halls, Kosa's footsteps echoing, E.K. moving in utter silence.
"Well, I bet it can't be that bad, now can it?" Kosa's chuckle was brief, nervous.
"What was his demeanor? What was he like?" The question caught Kosa off guard.
"What do you mean, sir?"
He sighed, impatience thinning his voice. "Sad? Happy? Empty? How did he look asking for me?"
Kosa hesitated. "He looked pale and... sad, sir. Like he had bad ne–" Before he could finish, E.K. vanished.
He crossed the structure instantly.
Agriel is never sad. The thought was ice in his gut. Serious. Critical. He forced himself to walk the final corridor. Remain professional. Can't have another lecture from dear Lord Kek about 'sloppy urgency'.
Countless hallways blurred past.
If Agriel's sent, it's bad. Dehmian or Ohan usually handle messages.
A cold tingle raced across his face.
"Bad. Very bad." He shook his head sharply.
Not now.
"Why?"
He ignored it, pace quickening."Damn it, why did we build this place so damn big?"He reached the briefing room doors, pushing through swiftly.
"Agriel? Agr-."
Agriel stood rigid, face somber, but he snapped a salute.
"Hello Sir E.K. Message from Lord Kek... regarding a rogue Spark."
"Lord Kek sent you?" Worry coiled tight in E.K.'s chest.
Kek never used Agriel directly.
Dehmian handled it, slow but reliable.
"What is it?" Urgency sharpened the words.
Agriel flinched. Sadness warped his features, a look E.K. knew was rare.
Words seemed trapped in his throat.
E.K. stepped closer, the air beginning to hum, to crackle faintly around him.
"Agriel." His voice cut like steel.
"Tell me. Now."
Agriel nodded, quick, like a scolded child.
Swallowed.
Voice trembled.
"L-Lord Kek demands your immediate return to the Custodes Dei. To... to reassume Nova. Hunt the rogue Spark. He... he won't accept refusal. If you resist... he'll remove your free will. Force compliance."
E.K. went very still, like a statue.
Frown carved deep.
"Which Spark? I cleared the board."
"Walker of the Lightless. Appeared after you left."
E.K. started pacing, a caged predator.
"You know I resigned. Nova. Everyone knows the rule: two must hold the rank before a former can return."
He stopped, pinned Agriel with his gaze.
"So why drag me back? Ytoia's Nova. Why can't she handle it?"
She'd better be handling it.
Agriel's expression shifted. Sadness drowned by raw fear. E.K. saw it.
"What?"
"Uh... Y... Ytoia..." Agriel's voice hitched, hands clenching.
"Speak."
"Sir... Ytoia. Went after Walker. Took three high-ranking Stella, two others... Didn't all come back."
E.K. stopped pacing.
Locked eyes.
Dread poured off him like a wave.
Agriel visibly trembled. E.K.'s voice dropped, heavy as stone.
"'Not all' means what?"
Agriel gulped, muscles rigid.
"W-Well... the two lesser Stella... dead. And... one of the high-ranks, Alpha..."
He trailed off as E.K. took another step.
Agriel shrank back.
"And...?"
"Chronos and Omega survived, but... Ytoia... MIA. Missing."
The words tumbled out in a rush.
E.K. froze. A cold void opened where his gut should be.
"Where is Kek?"
"Main command center... Hortus Dei."
E.K. vanished.
Agriel crumpled to his knees, gasping, face white with terror.
"Damn it, Agriel... He wouldn't hurt you," he whispered into the empty room, shame burning his cheeks.
---
The infinite expanse between his quarters and the command center vanished in an instant.
He reined in the storm of his aura, smoothed the raw edges of his power, before reappearing.
Outside the towering doors.
Looked around.
Unchanged.
Custodes bustled, a familiar hum. A ghost of a smile touched his lips, vanished just as fast.
"A lot of new faces... so many..." The murmur was bleak.
"Yes, there are; you know why..." The voice spiraled, words like cold ice on his neck, breath warm on his ear.
"It wasn't my fault."
E.K.'s pulse hammered.
Skin prickled.
Sweat beaded on his brow, breath catching as his mind scrabbled against the memory rising like floodwater–
A custode slammed into him. Snapped him back.
"Sorry, sir! Didn't see you–" The young man looked up.
Eyes widened, jaw slack. "Y-you... The Eternal Knight?"
The custode practically vibrated, awe and joy radiating off him.
E.K. felt none of it.
"Yes." The word was flat.
He scrawled his signature on the offered pad with a brusque motion. "Go." His gaze hardened, a silent, undeniable push.
The custode nodded, scrambling away, eyes glued to the signature.
E.K. barely registered it.
His goal was clear.
He moved on.
Each step through the halls felt heavier.
The walls seemed to press in, whispering his past.
He wasn't Nova.
That weight was shed.
But its ghost clung.
He reached the command center doors.
Two guards, high-ranking by their insignia, snapped to attention.
Their eyes locked on him, then flicked away as he met their gaze.
He didn't pause.
Didn't acknowledge.
Walked past.
Through the doors.
The air shifted.
Thickened.
Solidified.
His boots hit the floor, the sound instantly swallowed by an oppressive, absolute stillness.
At the head of the table, in the Nova's chair:
Kek.
Silent.
Unmoving.
His presence wasn't felt; it was law.
Space around him warped, folded.
The room didn't contain him; it strained to exist around him.
The walls didn't just stand; they quivered.
E.K. froze.
His mind recoiled.
Instinct screamed.
He'd met Kek only a handful of times.
It never got easier.
Not a god.
Not a force.
The foundation.
The first concept.
Before it, he was dust.
Less than dust.
His heart staggered, skipped, seemed to stop.
His power, his infinite adaptability, stilled.
Paralyzed.
Kek didn't move.
Didn't need to.
The pressure suffocated, not from weight, but from truth.
A truth that made E.K. feel like a dying echo in eternity.
Then, like a switch flipped, the pressure eased.
But the imprint remained, scorched into every cell.
He stepped forward, mind reeling.
Deeper into the room.
His eyes scanned the seated figures.
High officers.
Elite Custodes.
Solemn.
Silent.
The air vibrated with expectation, thick with dread.
Kek's gaze snapped to him.
Sharp.
Observant.
A beat of silence.
Kek stood. The simple act bent the light, warped perspective.
His crown gleamed.
Robes shimmered through impossible colors, containing everything and nothing.
He walked towards E.K. Dozens of eyes tracked him.
He smiled.
Wide.
Radiant.
Unsettlingly joyful.
He moved closer.
"Well, well! Look who's here!" Kek's voice boomed, clashingly bright against the room's atmosphere.
E.K. suppressed a sigh.
Ice coated his words.
"Hello, sir."
Kek, either oblivious or ignoring the frost, pulled him into a crushing hug.
E.K. stiffened, endured it.
Resisting was pointless.
Futile.
Way too happy for someone threatening to lobotomize me, E.K. thought, annoyance a sharp spike.
"Come, come!" Kek gestured expansively towards the Nova chair. "Much to discuss!"
E.K. didn't move towards the chair.
He planted his feet.
"Sir Kek. Agriel relayed your... demand. My answer stands. I resigned as Nova. The rules–"
Kek's smile didn't waver. "You will go, Eternal Knight."
E.K.'s jaw clenched.
"Send Pzeo. Send Steronu. They could end this before it began. Why drag me back? Why break the rules?" His voice held an edge, a challenge he knew was futile but couldn't swallow.
Kek's smile widened, chillingly bright.
"You. Will. Go." The words were soft, final.
Absolute.
E.K. met that impossible gaze for a long moment.
Saw the immovable will.
Resignation, bitter and cold, washed over him.
He moved then, slowly, sinking into the Nova chair.
The weight wasn't physical; it was the crushing burden of inevitability.
The room held its breath.
Every eye burned into him.
Curiosity.
Fear.
A desperate, hungry hope.
Legend.
Myth.
The slayer of Rogue Sparks, the outrunner of time's collapse, the conqueror of Heliterna.
He was their symbol.
Reanimated.
E.K. snapped his fingers, sharp and loud.
The staring eyes instantly darted away.
But the whispers started, hushed, fervent, as if his mere presence ignited a spark in the dead air.
"Black Sun..."
"...outran the end..."
"...beat Heliterna..."
The murmurs blended, adding weight, pressure, until Kek raised a hand.
Silence fell like a blade.
"Enough." His voice cut clean.
"The Eternal Knight will hunt the rogue Spark, Walker of the Lightless. The current Nova failed."
That bitterness, the same as when Agriel spoke of Ytoia, flooded E.K.'s mouth.
Acid.
Kek's eyes turned to him, deceptively soft.
"Anything to add, dear Knight?"
E.K.'s jaw tightened.
"No."
Flat.
Final.
Satisfaction glinted in Kek's eyes.
The room tensed.
The hunt was real.
"We know little," Kek began, pacing slowly.
Expression unreadable.
"He erases. He hides within Desolace. That is all."
E.K. looked up sharply.
"Desolace? That 'haven'? It devours souls. Why go there?"
Kek paused.
"Unknown. Perhaps it draws him. Perhaps shields him."
E.K. felt the collective gaze, the pressure mounting.
But a spark flared inside.
"I know you know his power, Kek. You know... but you won't say."
His voice was low, accusatory.
"Send Pzeo. Send Steronu," he thought, the bitterness a poison.
They could crush this like nothing. But no. You wouldn't want that solved easily, would you, Kek? Or is it... fear?
Kek turned.
Smiled.
Focus sharp as a scalpel. "You will go. You will end it."
The eyes around the room lit up.
Hope flared, desperate and bright.
He was their champion.
Again.
E.K. wasn't sure if it was hope or more pain forming in his gut.
Faces blurred.
Thoughts drifted.
"Last time... they counted on me," he muttered, the words almost lost.
A soft touch on his shoulder.
Ghostly.
The familiar, warm voice. "It will be okay."
A fleeting embrace, hollow comfort against the void in his chest.
He didn't want comfort.
He wanted oblivion.
Kek spoke, but E.K. was gone, lost in faces, memories, missions, moments of light swallowed by darkness.
He sighed. Ragged.
"So. Clear?" Kek's voice sliced through the fog.
The assembled Custodes stood.
"Yes, Lord Kek." The response was unison.
They filed out, footsteps echoing, leaving only stillness and Kek's overwhelming presence.
Kek turned back.
His expression shifted, almost... warm.
Paternal.
It felt like a trap.
"You'll be deployed in 3..."
E.K. blinked, surfacing.
"Wha-? Just like that? Let me prepare! Let me-"
"2..." Kek continued, smile fixed, cheerful. Unnerving.
"Kek! Damn it! I can go-"
"1..." Kek raised a finger.
The air thickened, pulsed.
Reality bent towards that finger.
E.K. braced, power instinctively flaring- a futile spark against the sun.
But was it?
Kek snapped his fingers.
E.K. vanished.
Not with a pop, but with the sound of reality cutting.
Silence.
Absolute.
The command center held its breath.
Kek stood alone.
The smile remained.
Unchanged.
Unreadable.
The stillness deepened, heavy with the echo of forced departure.