The storm rolled in without warning.
One moment, the campus was bathed in gold evening light.
The next, clouds—thick, black, and twisting—choked out the sun.
Bibxy stood in the middle of the east courtyard, rain beginning to fall in cold, stinging sheets. Her wrist burned hotter than it ever had, the light spilling from it now almost blinding. She clutched it, her breath coming fast.
A voice—not Elyon's, not Josh's, not Sleek's—curled around her mind like smoke.
You're tired, aren't you?
You've carried this pain long enough.
Come to me… I can make it stop.
She shook her head, but her feet moved anyway, step after step toward the far wall—
and then the wall wasn't there.
It had melted into a swirling expanse of black and silver mist. Shadows with long fingers reached out, not grabbing but inviting. The Void pulsed with a dark rhythm, pulling at her heartbeat.
Sleek hit the courtyard at a dead run, rain plastering his hair to his forehead. Josh was right behind him, his sword already drawn, eyes on the churning wall of darkness.
"She's in the pull!" Elyon's voice rang out as he sprinted up from the other side, a flash of silver light spilling from his hands. "If she crosses fully, she's gone."
Sleek didn't wait. He charged forward, but the ground under him cracked open with dark light, forcing him to leap aside.
The Void noticed him. He felt it—its attention was heavy, suffocating, like an ocean pressing against his chest.
Josh grabbed his arm. "If you go in without anchoring yourself, it'll take you too!"
"I don't care!" Sleek tore free, his hand blazing to match the glow on Bixy's wrist. "She's mine to save."
Bixy was only a few steps from the mist when Sleek's voice cut through the storm.
"BIBXY! Look at me!"
She turned—slowly, like moving through water—and her eyes were glassy, distant.
He can't save you, the Void hissed in her mind. He will fail. You will fall. Let me catch you.
Sleek stepped closer, every muscle in his body screaming against the pull. "You think this thing cares about you?" he shouted over the roar. "It wants you empty. I want you alive."
Josh moved to his other side, slashing through the reaching shadows. "If you're going to choose, Bibxy," Josh called, "do it now!"
The air between her and Sleek shimmered—and the bond mark on both their hands flared bright enough to burn.
For a moment, she saw it all: Sleek's fear, his stubbornness, his unshakable need to keep her in his world.
Her foot slid backward. Away from the Void.
The mist screamed. The pull tightened. The next second, a shadow surged forward—grabbing her wrist
And Sleek leapt straight into it.
The world went silent.
The rain, the storm, even the sound of his own heartbeat — gone.
Sleek's boots hit ground that wasn't really ground, a black glass surface stretching in every direction, reflecting faint glimmers of silver light. Above him, the "sky" swirled in slow, hypnotic spirals, endless and hollow.
Bibxy was there, only a few feet ahead, but she wasn't herself.
Her eyes were pale silver, her skin cool, and shadows crawled up her arms like veins of ink.
"Bibxy," Sleek said, stepping forward. His voice was swallowed almost instantly by the darkness.
She tilted her head, and the thing inside her smiled.
"You came for her," it whispered, but the voice didn't belong to her.
"You'll leave without her."
The shadows thickened, stretching into humanoid shapes, their eyes glowing faint white. They circled, moving like predators waiting for the kill.
Sleek's mark burned against his palm. "You don't own her."
The creature wearing Bixy's face stepped closer, almost gliding. "She is already mine. Every fear she's ever had, every doubt, every lonely night she's hidden… she gave them to me willingly. I keep them safe."
"That's not safety," Sleek growled. "That's chains."
A sharp, cutting wind swept through, carrying more whispers — promises of rest, peace, the end of pain.
Sleek grit his teeth. He could feel the temptation, like warm water pulling him under.
The bond mark on his hand pulsed again, harder this time.
He reached forward. "Bibxy, if you can hear me… fight it."
For a moment, her expression flickered. Her brows knitted, and the silver in her eyes thinned.
The Void hissed, and the shadows struck.
Sleek moved before he thought. His hand caught one of the shadow's arms, the glow from his mark searing straight through it. The creature shrieked and dissolved into mist.
Another lunged — and this time, Bibxy moved. Not the Void's puppet, but Bibxy. She lifted her own glowing wrist, and the light lashed out, slicing the shadow clean in half.
Her chest heaved. "Sleek…" Her voice was raw, trembling.
"I've got you," he said, catching her hand.
The bond mark flared — and the darkness reacted. The glass ground cracked beneath them, spider webbing with lines of light, and the spiral sky above collapsed inward.
The Void's voice was no longer calm. It roared, shaking the very air.
If you take her, you will pay.
Sleek pulled her close, their joined marks burning like fire. "Then send me the bill."
The light exploded — and the Void shattered.