Second drove a fist through Sylph’s shoulder. She stood her ground, cutting a deep line cross his chest with one of her scythes. The other whipped at Second’s neck, but he dashed back before it could hit him.

Sylph’s wound started to seal, but it wasn’t anywhere near the pace that Second’s did. However, with Sylph suppressing his magic, the acid trickling from Second’s wound showed no signs of stopping.

They dashed t each other again, trading a rain of blows. Cuts sprouted along Sylph’s body like weeds. Despite the number of wounds Sylph did to Second, the man didn’t seem to be letting up.

“You are but an imitation of me,” Second hissed, dodging one of Sylph’s scythes and driving his knee into her chin. She flipped with the blow, landing on her feet several feet and thrusting a hand at his chest.

A blade erupted from her palm, but Second caught it with his bare hands. He jerked it to the side, cutting his own palm open in the process, and threw Sylph into a building. Damien’s hand twitched and a flicker of anger crossed his face.

Second glanced at the rubble where Sylph had fallen, then turned toward Damien and raised his glaive once more. A dark blur shot from the building and slammed into Second.

Acid sprayed through the air as Sylph’s weapons carved deep gouges through Second’s flesh.

“Get off me, you mangy animal,” Second roared, grabbing Sylph with a bandage and ripping her back. He slammed her into the ground with such force that the stone cracked - along with several of her bones.

Second raised her into the air, his features twisting in anger as Sylph’s body started repairing itself. He steadied himself with his bandages and brought her closer. One of Sylph’s scythes shot out, darting past the tendrils Second raised to block it, and cut deep into his right leg.

Second snarled and drove Sylph into the ground once more. He lifted her, then did it twice more. Her limbs slumped, but her eyes fluttered open and she pierced him with a bloody, defiant glare.

Second spat a glob of acid onto the ground. “Your powers are interesting. You’ve done more damage to me than anyone other than Moon, but it will all go away once you die. You should have ran. If you were stronger, you might have actually been the only one to have a chance to defeat me.”

Sylph weakly flexed her fingers. A dagger materialized in her hand and she flicked it at Second, catching him off guard. The weapon buried itself deep into his shoulder. “You can’t take all the Ether away as long as I’m alive.”

“Which won’t be for much longer,” Second said, ripping the dagger free. It vanished as soon as it left his body and he brought Sylph closer while lifting his glaive toward Sylph’s neck. One of her scythes met it, pressing back as hard as she could, but the glaive slowly inched towards her. “You may have stolen my power, but you’re just a mortal. You will die just like everyone else when your head is severed. You were an interesting opponent. We will meet again, once the Cycle has ended forever.”

Damien’s hand clenched into a fist. The shadows behind his eyes receded and they returned to normal.

“This isn’t perfect,” Henry said in Damien’s mind, his words laden with exhaustion. “You’ve only got a few seconds. Use the artifact and seal Herald.”

Damien reached out and grabbed some of the faint Ether at the edges of his senses, yanking it into his body. There was barely anything to work with, but he didn’t have time for more. Sylph was trembling with exertion and Second’s weapon was nearly at her throat.

He weaved a Devour spell, but not one that he’d ever done before. Almost instinctively, Damien changed the runes that made up the circle. He didn’t have time to double check his work. He couldn’t afford to be wrong the first time around, because there wouldn’t have a second chance.

“Damien, what are you doing?” Henry asked, letting out a groan. “Seal Herald! I can’t hold it like this forever!”

What I have to.

Damien cast the spell out and burst into motion. A black disk sprang open behind Second, using every last drop of Ether that Damien had. The Corrupted man turned to Damien, surprise flickering across his covered features.

With a yell, Damien drove his shoulder into Second’s chest. Second, wounded and bleeding acid all over, took a single step back. That was enough.

He pitched into the darkness. His hand shot out and grabbed Damien’s wrist, pulling on him with incredible force. His other caught the edge of the circle, pushing back as it struggled to close.

Time slowed for Damien. Two futures seemed to stretch out before him. The first, where he resisted a few seconds longer and Second climbed out of the spell, killing everyone there. And the second…

Henry. I need your help.

“No. We aren’t doing that,” Henry said. “Stop. I can’t take control of your body right now. Herald is fighting me!”

Not me. Please.

There was no more time for talk, but nothing else needed to be said. Second’s face started to emerge from the shadows of the disk as he pulled himself free. Damien dove forward, slamming into the man for the second time that day.

Henry shot out of his back, slipping free just before Damien and Second plummeted into the darkness. Second lost his grip on the edge of the spell and the circle snapped shut behind them, severing all the bandages caught in it. The world warped around Damien, shifting and stretching as it shunted him and Second through space.

The two were torn apart and sent careening through the endless dark.

It was impossible to tell how long Damien plummeted in his endless fall. He lost track of time and his mind seemed incapable of forming coherent thought as he spun in the nothingness.

But, eventually, it ended. Gray bloomed in the black, and Damien gently floated down, coming to a rest upon a flat plane of featureless, smooth rock. It stretched on as far as he could see, vanishing into the darkness all around him.

He laid there for several minutes his mind slowly kicking back into gear. He groaned and pushed himself upright.

“Where am I?”

His words vanished into the void around him. And then he knew.

“Oh no.”

The air around Damien warped, miniature stars blinking to life. They grew more numerous, forming into a humanoid form beside him.

“And so, I return to where I started,” It Who Heralds the End of all Light said. “But so has Second. Not the worst result. It will buy more time for It Who Stills the Seas.”

“This is the Void?” Damien asked, glancing around. “It’s… empty.”

“It is the Void.”

“Fair enough,” Damien grunted. “How do I get out of here?”

“You do not. There is no Ether in the Void. You cannot cast magic,” Herald replied. “You will die here and I will be freed from your body.”

The words sent a shard of ice through Damien’s heart, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He was pretty sure Herald could tell he was scared anyways, but he wasn’t about to show it.

“There’s always another option,” Damien said. “Surely you can realize that by now. Didn’t we beat Second my way?”

“You postponed a problem that you caused,” Herald replied. “You have proven nothing.”

“What about Henry?” Damien asked, coughing. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stood up. “You’re all about learning new magic. He’s new. Isn’t that good?”

“He will persist beyond your death. There will be time to discover the extent of what this change has done to him once the Cycle has been restarted.”

“Stop being a hardass,” Damien said, trying to force confidence into his voice. He glanced around for literally anything, but there was only endless gray rock. “There has to be some way out of here. Haven’t you enjoyed everything on the Mortal Plane at least a little? Learning while you’re right next to someone has to be better than watching them from here.”

Herald didn’t respond. It just watched Damien silently, the stars that made up its eyes twinkling.

“How did I get here, anyway?” Damien asked, changing his strategy. “I just meant to make the Devour spell send objects to somewhere very far.”

“I aided while you were making the spell,” Herald replied. “It suited my needs and I was not confident we could defeat Second while limited to your weak mortal body. You cast Void magic - the Void version of what you call the Devour spell.”

“So if I could do that again, I could get out of here?”

“You cannot. Attempt to reach the Ether if you wish.”

Damien reached out with his mental energy, casting the net out like he had thousands of times before. Nothing appeared. Damien frowned, trying it again. There was no response. No golden lines of light met him. He swallowed, then tried to activate the rune circle within his mind to attempt direct casting. It too found nothing.

“Oh,” Damien said in a small voice. “There’s really no Ether.”

“None.”

“Then help me cast the Void magic again.”

“I cannot.”

“Cannot or will not?”

“You used Ether to fuel that spell. I simply twisted it with Void magic. Mortals cannot access the Void directly. Not even with your portion of my - Henry’s - soul. It will tear you apart.”

“That isn’t what Henry told me. He said I wasn’t ready, but it was possible.”

“Henry believed many things that were incorrect. Your human spark corrupted him. Still, he likely meant that you could cast Void magic together with normal magic, not on its own. This is why you are trapped here. There is no way for you to leave.”

“What if you just cast the spell on your own instead of doing it through me?”

“We are bound. Until you die or the contract is broken, I cannot.”

“I’m not breaking the contract. You’ll just destroy the world.”

“That is correct. I understand this much of you, after being trapped within your mind. This is what led me to my conclusion. You will die. When you do, I will consume your soul to ensure that it does not become one of the Corrupted. This is the only service I can offer you unless you change the contract to free me before your death.”

“I won’t,” Damien said, steeling his nerves. “I’m not going to destroy the Mortal Plane.”

“You would not. I would.”

“Same thing.”

“Even if you don’t, It Who Stills the Seas will,” Herald said. “The Cycle will be restarted. You may feel pride that it lasted as long as it did.”

“Henry and Sylph are still there. They won’t let it happen.”

“Henry’s senses are gone. The mortal lacks the ability to locate one of my kind. There is nothing they can do. Henry also lacks access to your magic, so he cannot reach you. Every factor has already been accounted for, Damien Vale.”

Damien slumped down, crossing his legs. His stomach knotted s he fought down the fear that the rest of life would be spent starving to death in the Void. Damien tried to access the Ether several more times, straining his mind to its limits and bringing on violent head ache in the process. He found nothing.

Slowly, he closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. There was nothing else he could do.

***

It was hard to keep track of time in the Void. There was no sun, no wind. There was nothing. His mind buzzed with boredom, and he occupied himself by running in circles or fiddling with the ring Sylph had given him back in Ardenvale. He suspected he would have gone insane long ago - if such a concept even existed here - had Herald not been standing with him.

The Void creature wasn’t much for conversation, but at least he wasn’t alone.

“How long has it been?” Damien asked. “I don’t feel very dead.”

“You are not dead,” Herald replied, its voice coming out in a slightly higher tone than usual. After a moment, he realized what the emotion it felt was. It was confusion.

“How long has it been?” Damien repeated.

“Eight days, by your mortal terms.”

Damien blinked in surprise. “Eight days? That’s not possible. I’m not even thirsty.”

“There has not been an observed mortal in the Void before, only your soul. It appears that you might not experience the passage of time while you are outside of the planes.”

“Then…”

“You will be trapped here. For eternity,” Herald said. “Until you are killed. Or until you change my contract.”

“Well, I’m not changing the contract.”

“Then we will remain here until the end of time,” Herald said. “We have all the time in the Planes. Eventually, your mortal mind will break and you will free me - or another of my kind will find us and end you for me.”

“Ah. I forgot there were more of you,” Damien said, pressing his lips together. Somehow, his new situation didn’t feel much better than the old one. “Is there at least anything to do here? How do you watch the Mortal Plane?”

“Void magic and a viewing well,” Herald replied. “One surrounded by my kind. You’re welcome to seek them out if you are prepared to die.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Damien asked. “I would have thought it would be smarter to just not warn me, then let me die when we showed up.”

Herald took several seconds before replying. “I have not studied any life form as extensively as I have you. I will admit a degree of interest in your activities. Not enough to betray my role, just as you would not betray yours, but enough to allow you death on your own terms.”

“Huh. Thanks, I think,” Damien said. “If I ever do feel like there’s absolutely no way out of here, I’ll let myself get offed then. But, until then, I’m not going to give up.”

“There is no point. You cannot escape the Void without Void magic, and you have no Ether.”

“Then you can keep me company until I figure that out myself,” Damien replied. “Now how does one get anywhere within the Void?”

“You walk,” Herald replied. “My kind can fly, but you cannot. Once you have visited a place in the Void, you may return to it by visualizing it. However, you have not been to anywhere here, so you cannot go anywhere that you cannot walk to. I believe that Henry would say that you are torturing yourself.”

“You aren’t Henry. I don’t want to hear what he would have said from you,” Damien replied. He picked a direction and started off. Herald walked with him.

Damien’s thoughts drifted as they continued through the Void. They went to Second. Then to his mother, and to all the other students at Blackmist. A smile flickered across his face at the idea of Mark being stuck in the Void. He probably would have tried to cut his way out of it.

But, mostly, his thoughts went to Sylph. Damien’s chest ached and he clenched his hand around the ring on his finger. In the endless chill of the Void, it was a tiny mote of warmth.