The new voice laughed, a quiet exhale that scraped against her bones and cemented itself into her future; inexorably entwined as they would ensure this reality felt the sting of her bite. Her subconscious went quiet, a terrifying lull that lasted for long minutes as she stayed still in fear of what she’d done.

“The pretender is dealt with.” The whispering voice said with a sated hunger, nipping at the same place that her thoughts came from. “Now I offer you this; we are equals. You are the destruction, and I am the quiet that follows. We will bite into this pathetic excuse of an existence and never let go. Can you accept that?”

Sechen wanted to say more, but she realized there was nothing. “You don’t accept the truth.” She said, feeling the gold squeeze her arm harder. “The truth simply is, whether people accept it or not.”

“Ah, to work with someone who understands.” The voice sighed, contentment washing over Sechen as she felt something stirring in the emptiness that was her headspace. “I offer my form to hold your power. You offer your mind to hold my power. In this duality, we are made whole. I am the quiet between realities, the greedy maw that devours everything that used to be. You are the bringer of teeth, to drag the endless quiet free of nothing and into the light of harsh reality. Tell me your name.”

Her mouth was dry, and as she licked her lips, she tasted the raw potential of everything. “I am Sechen.”

“I am Naught, the voice of teeth.” Naught whispered, and Sechen felt a bite deep in her being. It tore away a part of her, and in that wound whispered their existence. “Together, we will be remembered forevermore.”

The door shattered as Thana burst into the room, her hand grabbing Sechen’s neck and shoving her against the other wall. Sechen clawed at her impossibly strong grip as threads of gold pushed themselves into her skin, weaving themselves into her damaged pathways and down towards the void where her container once laid.

“What have you done with her?” Thana stated, staring deep into Sechen’s eyes with the most emotion she’d ever felt from the woman. “Speak.”

“I’m still me.” Sechen croaked, feeling a sharp edge on the underside of her voice that hadn’t been there before. Like her words were running a knife over existence when she spoke. “I just did something really stupid, and now I’m paying the price for it.”

Thana’s eyebrows shot up and she quickly removed her hand from Sechen’s neck. Sechen coughed and rubbed at her sore flesh, her eyes locked on Thana’s as she backed up a step. “Thanks for coming, though. I thought I was about to die when I called for you.”

“What have you bonded?” Thana asked with curiosity, kneeling down to inspect Sechen’s arm. “It does not feel like a wisp, and yet it feels exactly like a wisp. How peculiar.”

Sechen let Thana toy with her arm for a dozen seconds before pulling it away awkwardly. “It called itself Naught…” She started, but felt a sharp whisper warn her against saying any more. “It offered to take the place of my container, since I just did something to destroy it, and I just kind of let it.” She shrugged. “Call it a lapse of judgment.”

“No, if your container was destroyed, finding a replacement wherever you can is not a lapse of judgment.” Thana said seriously, taking Sechen under the arms and helping her stand. “A practitioner cannot live without their container. Just ensure that you are the one setting the terms for your partnership.”

Too late, Sechen thought, but she nodded nonetheless. “Of course. How’s Paui’s training for tomorrow coming?”

“She will not be done for a long while. Take this time to reestablish a connection to your headspace and container, and I will ensure that you are there in the morning.” Thana brushed off her suit and turned away, stopping with a hand on the doorframe. “Goodbye, Naught. And thank you for finally being honest with me.”

A whispering laugh echoed in the back of Sechen’s mind as she grimaced at Thana’s misunderstanding, crossing her arms and considering going after Thana. But she knew she would never catch her.

“She thinks that I’m actually you.” Sechen stated into the air with a sigh. “That can’t be good.”

“Technically, we are both Sechen and Naught now.” Naught whispered with amusement. “Though you are Sechen, and I am Naught, we are intertwined in the eyes of existence.”

“Neat.” Sechen grumbled, walking over to the meditation rug and plopping down. “I’m going to put my container back together now. Don’t take over my body while I’m inside.”

“That isn’t how our bond works.” Naught chided, their voice following Sechen as she visualized herself in the blank space that housed her container. “You are not merely my vessel; you are my prophet. My representative in this existence. But if you stop being you, then everything will have been for… naught.” They chuckled, and Sechen felt their influence slip away as she opened her eyes.

Her container was in ruins. Her halos were misshapen and half-melted, and the pillar which they stood around fared far worse. It was a puddle. Nothing remotely salvageable about it. She sighed and reached out to touch her Issi, and felt a tug of Naught’s strength on their newfound bond. It was bizarre to say the least, like someone tapping on the inside of her skull with an electric feather, but understanding shot through her as she reached in and began shaping her Issi just as she’d shaped the crystallized greed. Her hands twisted and pulled her Issi until it was shaped into something similar to what she’d had, except as she let go it was quickly contained by a lattice of golden filigree. She felt her connection to her Issi reattach, and as she worked her halos back into shape, they too became cradled with beautiful golden accents. Then the gold lost its luster, aging and dirtying itself until it was a tarnished mirror of its previous self.

“Your pull is stronger than I anticipated.” Naught whispered, and Sechen felt their focus settling on the golden casing around her container. “You’ve managed to taint my Issi by simply existing near it.”

Sechen looked over her container, built up exactly how she remembered it, but now cradled in golden filigree. “Is that going to be a problem?” She warily asked. She didn’t want another Revel or Ensche situation.

“It will not.” Naught answered. “Come; I’ve planted the seeds of our headspace. They need your touch to flourish.”

With a nod to no one, Sechen closed her eyes once more and felt her mind slip to her headspace. She opened her mind to a vast expanse of darkness, countless small golden seeds scattered across the emptiness. Her one flower stood strong against the backdrop, a glow that cut through the darkness like a beacon.

“What do I need to do?” Sechen asked.

Naught’s presence cut through the nothing seconds before they spoke. “You must flood this plane with your Issi. It will transform it into something that is truly ours, not a relic of regret like your old headspace.”

“Alright.” Sechen said, feeling at her container and funneling her Issi into her headspace. Cool Issi splashed around her legs, then submerged her completely. She heard Naught murmur in surprise, then held her breath just in case she couldn’t breathe her own Issi.

“I can feel the seeds taking root. Just a moment longer.” Naught said, then paused as if they were holding their own breath. “It is done. Recall your Issi, Sechen.”

She nodded and reconnected her container, willing her Issi to flow back and take its rightful place. It obeyed without any struggle. “Alright. I’m…” Sechen trailed off, her headspace stealing her voice away as she took it in.

It was about the size of her old headspace, but everything else was different. Her flower had disappeared, but the halos hadn’t. They’d simply… grown. Grown and migrated to three monolithic claws that reached towards the empty sky, the dim glow of early evening pervading everything. Small orbs of light drifted through the air, a pulsating glow that slowly spread to the claws, lines of light shooting up the dark monuments until they pooled at the tips. After a moment the light began to drip, splattering to the ground in the middle of the claws, then burst free as if a stopper had been removed, filling a basin under the three monuments that she hadn’t noticed before.

“Wow.” Was all she could say, watching as the halos began cracking apart, gold flaking away until all that remained were filigree accents, showing a core of murky light beneath. “It’s breathtaking.”

“An ethereal beauty.” Naught agreed. “The seeds have taken root deep in your mind, and will sprout as you grow this place. The rings are the first step towards cementing ourselves in this existence, but they are far from the last.”

Sechen felt complete. Her headspace and container were finally fully under her control, and as she felt at her container, she noticed it was also full. Almost instinctively she grasped the halos around her container and forced them to contract, squeezing her container smaller and smaller until it wouldn’t compress any more.