🌌 Into the Void
Lucien crossed the threshold where the world ended.
It wasn't a place—it was an absence.
Beyond death. Beyond memory. Beyond form.
A starless expanse. Gravity divorced. Time fragmented.
He stood on a narrow path of shattered mirrors, each reflection a broken past. Beneath his feet—nothing.
Among the fractured glass floated glowing sigils: runes pulsing with echoes of the Crown. Each one was an empress: fire, ice, blood, steel… and one empty socket.
He closed his eyes.
And stepped forward.
🧩 Trial of Infinite Reflections
Reality twisted.
Lucien woke in a cavern of mirrors, each reflecting a version of himself: alive, dead, broken, divine.
From the mirrors emerged monstrous copies of him—clad in ghostly crowns, wielding soulblades, howling silently.
Behind each mirror stood a figure: Nerexa.
A slender woman in deep black robes, skin moth-like pale, hair flowing like nebulae. She watched him—eyes drifting like stars.
"You came," she said.
"A throne isn't complete without its dark edge."
She laughed.
All across the void realm, mirrors cracked.
The reflections attacked.
⚔️ Duel in Mirrors
Lucien cleaved.
Every strike shattered a mirror—and with it, a version of himself died. His pain echoed a thousand times. And still he pushed on.
He fought memory—and fear.
He fought regret—and destiny.
He termed the Crown pulsing. His hengar heart faltered—but he endured.
Finally he stood before the countless mirrors, now empty shards floating in darkness.
And only one remained intact.
Nerexa.
🌑 The Binding of the Void
Nerexa extended her hand.
Lucien took it.
The Crown pulsed—then fractured with a star-shattering sound.
He felt the last gap close.
And time refolded.
Suddenly, they stood together in a garden of lightless stars, buds that pulsed with emptiness.
"I am Nerexa," she said, voice cosmic and soft. "At the edge of creation and destruction."
Lucien nodded, breath trembling.
"Bind me," she whispered.
"And let the Void begin."
He knelt. She touched his brow.
The final Soul Oath ignited: ribbons of black and silver, weaving around them like starlight dying.
He saw possibility. Death. Finality.
She rose.
The sixth queen had joined the Undying Court.
⚛️ Revelation at the Crown's Root
Nerexa led him deeper into the void realm—or what remained of it.
They entered a hollow sphere of cracked obsidian. At its center: a throne of bone and glass, crowned with the original Crown: larger, raw, pulsing.
"The first Necroking's throne," Nerexa whispered. "Before the gods forged the Pantheon."
Lucien's palm burned.
She continued: "The Crown creates queens. And kings. It demands balance: Light, Fire, Ice, Blood, Blade—and now Void."
"So when I awakened them… the cycle completed."
"And when the gods tried to erase the throne—he splintered his soul into pieces."
Lucien swallowed. "So the Crown is his soul."
"Wrong," she corrected. "It's his defiance. His ambition made physical."
The throne glowed.
Lucien realized: he didn't control the Crown. He fulfilled it.
🌠Return to Reality
They emerged from the void realm—back at the ruined cathedral of Elyshtar.
Nerexa stood silent as the world reassembled around them—stars blinking back into existence; fire and ice balancing; blood turned to still pools of shadow.
The five queens stood waiting—silent, expectant, powerful.
Lucien felt the weight of six souls intertwined.
Nerexa placed a hand on the Crown's filmy edge.
It shard violently, then healed. A minor fracture—but a proof: the throne yet lived.
She looked at him.
"And now?"
Lucien inhaled.
"Now we rise."
🔥 Aftermath: Bound Court
That night, the camp was quieter than before.
Six queens hovered among Lucien's shadow.
Ardana radiated embers. Velka exuded frost. Thal'Zira played with blood threads. Kaelira sharpened her blades. Serael lit the dark with embers. Nerexa glowed with midnight.
Lucien stood alone before them.
He raised his voice.
"Our court is united," he said. "Our purpose: to conquer, to break, to remake."
Velka spoke first: "But the gods won't fall until they believe we're dangerous."
Lucien's eyes hardened.
"Then we make them fear. Together."
🖋️ End of Chapter 7
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With Void bound, the Undying Court is complete—and the origin of the Crown revealed.
What do you think lies at the heart of its power? Write your theory.
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🔜 Next Chapter: "Defiance of the Undying"
Lucien declares war on the goddesses' domain and leads the first siege of the Divine Bastion.
Expect large-scale necro-army action, metaphysical soul Battles, and the first divergence: one queen asks for autonomy.