Chap 186: Voidmere

Voidmere

The Vergant village profound for its study in dark sorcery. It was an underground settlement where the sky was replaced by distant rock ceilings, glowing veins of magma, and towering pillars that connected the cavern floor to the world above. Rivers of lava flowed through carved channels, casting a constant red-orange glow that served as the village’s sun.

Homes were mostly made of obsidian, black stone, and reinforced crystal, shaped into sharp, angular structures that rose like jagged teeth from the ground. Some dwellings were carved directly into the cavern walls, while others stood on narrow platforms suspended over glowing magma streams, connected by hanging bridges and rune-lit walkways.

The air was thick with ash, heat, and magic. Dark runes glowed faintly on doors, pillars, and streets, pulsing like slow heartbeats. The ground hummed with ancient energy, and shadows seemed to move on their own, as if the village itself were alive.

Despite its ominous atmosphere, Voidmere was organized and disciplined. Sorcerers, scholars, and enforcers moved with purpose, cloaked in dark fabrics and etched armor, their eyes reflecting the lava’s glow. That was not chaos. It was controlled darkness, studied, refined, and mastered.

The grand window inside the library gave a good view of the village. For some reason, it reminded Tee of the underground district where she met Allan, who the Commander said had mutated and died. Her time was ticking.

They stopped marveling at the sight and began their purpose there. Walking through the library, they stood out. Most people wore many layers of dark clothing, their mouths hidden by fabric. Eyes looked them up and down.

It didn’t take long, after seeing black marble statues of the six-winged monster Severin in several places, to know he was adored there. Collages and monuments seemed to praise him. It gave an unsettling feeling, but Tee was not going to let it deter her.

Dark Sorcery

When drained of Ether, coupled with desperation and willpower, came the discovery of dark sorcery.

It was the will disregarding consequence. It came at a price because pulling dark mana energy into the body had side effects unlike Ether sorcery, and it was unpredictable. However, when using Ether energy to perform sorcery, there was a one hundred percent guarantee that something would happen, even if you had no knowledge of what was being done.

Side effects could take the form of changes to the body known as dark mana manifestation.

Note, however, that using Ether energy had no side effects if you didn’t know what you were manipulating. That is, if you have no knowledge of what you were manipulating, it simply wouldn’t work. This led to the problem that you wouldn’t know if the sorcery failed because of a lack of knowledge or because you lacked Ether energy when performing Ether sorcery. You could manipulate anything once there was enough Ether energy, even if there was no knowledge. That was why something like the Omega Stone was so powerful.

Drevarus was a pioneer of dark sorcery, using dark mana to perform sorcery. He was one of those Vergants who were close to studies around the Alpha Seal.

But back to dark mana and its consequences.

Dark Spirits or Vultures

Vultures in the modern world were large flying birds that feed off the dead. However, the ones in the Vergant world were a bit different. From draining Vergants, they had evolved, so they had more unrealistic appearances—ghost-like, flying without wings, and so on. Those ones preferred draining Ether to sustain themselves, which was why they scoured abandoned Vergant villages. Once they tasted power, they could not go back.

Worse, some vultures in particular had been altered from draining dark mana. Sometimes Vergants who were attacked outside their village were forced to use dark means just to stay alive—sometimes that meant using dark sorcery. Vultures that fed on dark mana were more vicious. Those types of evolved vultures—the ones altered by dark mana—were sometimes called Dark Spirits.

Dark Mana’s Alteration on the Body

The more dark sorcery you did, the easier it became. It didn't hurt or affect the body as much. The reverse was also true. Someone who had used Ether to perform sorcery all their life and suddenly turned to dark sorcery would find it very painful, and the side effects could be very dire.

Both dark sorcery and Ether sorcery were like opposites—not compatible. Tee concluded that meant Sade could no longer use Ether to perform sorcery without some dire consequence. It’s as if he could go back to it, and it actually hurt when he tried.

One could only perform dark sorcery after learning to use regular Ether for sorcery, since dark mana was Ether that was lacking. So a beginner in sorcery would never be able to use dark sorcery before even grasping Ether.

The mysterious Ultramana energy—no one knew how to use it to perform sorcery, except that it had to be broken down into Ether. It was still new knowledge.

Tee got to see images of Drevarus and his daughter. She remembered the time she and Lilith confronted him, and she disappeared while Drevarus appeared in her stead. Tee wondered if Aven saw that too when he was in her Verge.

The images showed Drevarus as a regular human being. He did not have the red skin, orange dragon-like eyes, or fangs as when she had last seen him in the flesh.

But other images of his monster form—Severin—looked like the words from history textbooks. There were many versions. Some with eight wings instead of six, some with metal and gold horns, some with crowns growing from the head. She didn’t know which one was truly accurate.

Engel spoke. “Some Vergants say that Drevarus saw something greater coming, a horrible doomed fate for our world, and he believed destroying the planet was the only way to save us.”

Aven butted in. “Nonsense. He’s actually trying to end the endless cycle of pain he calls life. He failed to become a god, and it all backfired on him. Whatever his problem, he wants to bring the world down with him. That was until Eon stopped him. But he got people to believe him before he went out, and that is why the Harbingers are trying to destroy the planet for him—since he can no longer.”

Most of the knowledge about the Xenogene was clouded by Severin and the Creator’s coming. Tee already knew the Xenogene came with the First Apocalypse, which also gave the planet Ether energy. But there was little known about the Xenogene beyond that it was a manifestation of dark mana and connected to corruption leaked from the Alpha Seal.

After their studies in the library, they decided to roam the village. The looks of disapproval they received throughout the village were sharp. Before long, a small group of what appeared to be missionaries with fancy crowns on their heads—making them appear taller than the rest—surrounded them and began speaking about the Creator’s coming and the pain they would bring. Essentially, they said Tee and her friends should worship the coming Creator so they would be spared also.

Tee shook her head, making it clear she was not interested.

One of the missionaries made a loud, shriek-like cry and pointed to the sky. The others hissed at them as they stepped back. Then villagers began spitting lava at them. Tee and her friends cloaked themselves with energy shields and fled back to the library to teleport away.

A week passed, and Tee could not stop thinking about her time in Voidmere. The memory of the villagers spitting lava clung to her, bleeding into another moment she wished she could forget—the acid attack during an outing with Kie. And just like that, her thoughts circled back to him.

She remembered how safe she had felt at his side, even while wearing a crest. He hadn’t flinched. He hadn’t judged her. He hadn’t treated her like something broken or dangerous. He hadn’t stigmatized her at all. Was he never truly a Xenogenist, as she had once believed? The thought unsettled her in a different way. Less fear, more confusion, more longing.

She wondered how he was doing. The last time they met, he hadn’t seemed to harbor any resentment toward her. If anything, he’d been gentle. He had even mind-linked with her. That connection lingered, quiet but persistent, like a thread she couldn’t bring herself to cut.

Her thoughts of Kie twisted into anxiety when a hologram flickered to life before her, the Commander’s face replaced by a stranger’s. Red warning lights pulsed around the frame meaning another Harbinger mission. Her heart tightened. Instead of focusing on the unfamiliar face, her mind jumped to something else entirely. Legion’s death. The weight of it settled in her chest, heavy and unresolved, as if the past refused to stay buried.

Aven was quick to get her to Primus HQ. Like before, she was the last of her teammates to reach the mission base. The strange man from the hologram—wearing a long green jacket much like the Commander and Lieutenant—stood waiting. Near him, three other Primus workers in green uniforms maneuvered floating hologram tabs, their fingers moving in quick, practiced motions.

Tee stepped into line and formed a circle with her teammates. Her puzzled look at the man did not escape Kie. He spoke to her in a short telepathic blast.

“Junior Lieutenant. The Commander and Lieutenant’s replacement while they’re on vacation.”

That information briefly slipped from her mind as she found herself thinking more about Kie using her mind-linking again. He didn’t have to tell her that and certainly not that way. What did it mean?

They teleported, and the new surroundings flashed around them in a rush of light and motion. There were no monsters, no immediate dangers to seize their attention. Instead, they found themselves staring upward. 

The sky held no stars, no moon, no sun—yet there was enough daylight to see clearly. A strange feeling twisted in their gut as they looked into the deep blue above their heads, as if they were submerged underwater inside some massive, hollow orb.

With the use of sorcery, Tee revamped her foreseeing, stretching it wider and faster than before. At the same moment she found something, Saeda finished her aura-sensing.

“The fragment’s there,” they blurted in sync, pointing in the same direction.

The creepiness of their synchronization was unmistakable. Saeda would rather it be anyone but Tee. She would never forget that witch for what she did to Snickers. Tee, meanwhile, realized her foreseeing wasn’t as useful now that Saeda’s aura-sensing was working.

“Are the Harbingers here?” Kie asked.

Saeda replied, “I can’t tell. They most likely have a block like what was on Tee.”

Saeda’s eyes flicked over Tee briefly, scanning her from head to toe, before she looked away.

“Then we head toward the fragment. Let’s hope they’re there and that Legion doesn’t show his ugly face again.”

“Yeah,” Zod said determinedly, punching his fist into his palm. “Let’s destroy some Harbingers.”

Like five bullets, they shot forward at super-fast speed in the direction of the fragment. But the closer they got to the source, the more crowded the land became—jagged formations, towering statues, and what appeared to be the skeletal remains of massive beasts littering their path.

The five Sentinels felt the danger before it fully revealed itself. All around them, the monster statues began to glow from deep within, their inner cores lighting up before the stone shells cracked and came alive. It was clear Sade was not done deactivating the Sealed Bond. But where was he, so they could rearrange his face?

The monsters were strange and bizarre ranging from massive dragon-like creatures to twisted amalgamations of many fast-moving limbs, like something straight out of hell. Though unique in their forms, they all seemed to be made of living rock. From their glowing inner cores came the ability to attack with elemental powers like lightning, frozen ice, earth, and powerful winds.

The Sentinels were quick to defend themselves.

Zod created a small, board-like energy construct beneath his feet, and by blasting from both hands, he zipped off. It was just like hoverboarding, except he used the sharp edges of the construct to deliver lethal strikes, decapitating one of the flying monsters he collided with.

Miko flash-stepped through the air, appearing and disappearing around her targets, before sending energy discs to slice and dice. One long monster was cut into several pieces, crashing into the ground in chunks.

Saeda trapped monsters inside large energy orbs, then shrank them before impaling them with flaming swords she hurled through the air.

Kie created several Ultramana crystallized swords and, with the movement of one hand, sent them tearing through any obstacle like an army of powerful bullets—all without moving from his spot.

Tee decided to use the creatures’ powers against themselves. She redirected lightning back into the mouth of one beast, causing it to explode from within. A long wave of water surged toward her, but she bent it around herself, sent it back with triple the force, and froze the creature solid. When a blast of fire came at her, she shielded herself with an Ether energy orb glowing bright white. Then she opened her mouth and blew a furnace of fire back at the monster, obliterating it to ash. She sent bullets of light energy to sever heads, bent the earth to swallow monsters whole, and lifted massive objects with telekinesis to crush them like bugs.

Meanwhile, Sade and Lilith watched the Sentinels from afar. Sade didn’t even bother wasting a second trying to deactivate the Sealed Bond. It was already clear the Omega Stone was not with that fragment—but it was not time to leave yet. Better to enjoy the show.

Sade was very amused seeing Tee use sorcery. His face cracked into a small, almost overlooked smile. He remembered well the time she had damaged his face. The other time he dared to get close was when she was bound after delivering the message from the Dark Lord. If he could do it again, he would.

Tee was able to get closer to the fragment, hovering high in the air. She wondered what information she could get from it. Though it wasn’t living and had no Verge, she had to try something. Or better yet—could she deactivate a Sealed Bond?

Remembering that she could control low-intelligent creatures, something not common for Vergants, reminded her that she was a prodigy. She was an Ether source. To do the impossible, you had to be willing to break free of your reality.

She reached for the fragment and shut her eyes. The aura of the fragment was so strong and vast, so mind-consuming, it was like nothing she had ever felt before. Being consumed by it, she was unable to act when a blast erupted from the fragment and shot straight toward her.

Her life flashed before her eyes, remembering Aven’s warning not to break her Balance Seal.

Sade saw what was about to happen. Based on what had happened to a past member, he knew the vessel couldn’t take a blast from that Seal Defense. He pushed her away with a fast-moving purple energy wall, shoving her out of the way. That action was seen as an attack and made the others aware the Harbingers were there.

Still, there was no monstrosity of Legion.

Tee stopped rolling across the harsh ground. Blood spewed from her mouth. She was never trying that again. She pushed herself up, only to be met by thick black boots visible beneath the slit of a long dress. Sade.

She got up quickly to face him, meeting his black-filled eyes behind white strands of hair. The wind began to blow harder, and a tornado formed around the fragment—but it didn’t distract her focus from Sade’s face—emotionless.

With both hands glowing white and ready to blast, Tee and Sade began walking in slow circles around each other, eyeing each other down, both hands twitching with the urge to strike.

Then he spoke. His mouth barely moved, but his voice was as clear as if it echoed inside her head. It was just like before, when he used to visit her.

“It seems my Seal on you is gone. What a shame.”

Tee’s brows knitted. She had figured it was he who placed the mysterious Seal on her. She remembered one of their past encounters, when he told her so many things about her history. She assumed that many years ago he had hijacked her Verge to place the Seal, and she had lost that battle—why she didn’t remember it ever happening.

“Look at you. Now an Ether source.” He raised both hands.

Tee’s brows twitched with the movement, anticipating an attack.

“I have watched you over the years and crafted you into the perfection that you are now,” he added.

“What? That sounds like grooming,” Tee said, her voice edged with concern.

“You are the key,” he said.

Tee stopped circling to face him directly. “The key? To what?”

“To—” was all he managed before she blasted a powerful Ether ounce at him.

White light flickered in his black eyes. He swung one hand, but the energy shield that formed between him and the deadly assault was too weak. He was pushed back and crashed into a coarse structure. His mouth opened to yell in pain but no sound came.

Tee moved closer, her hands glowing with Ether energy. She had only lifted them to waist height when he spoke in a quick mumble, stopping her in her tracks.

“Tettra! Don’t you want to know what happened to Tetra?”

The name of her dead guardian—the angel with the large round glasses—struck straight at her heart. Flashbacks rushed through her mind. She remembered how she never found out about the large footprints, or how Tetra really died.

Before she could question him—or torture the truth out of him—Sade vanished through a red vortex.

“Dammit!” She kicked a pebble so hard it created a large web of cracks in the surface where it struck.

With black blood streaking from his forehead, Sade stepped out of a red vortex. He appeared beside Lilith, who had never left her position. 

He hissed, “She’s not ready.”

The strengthening wind merely brushed the hair on one side of Lilith’s face. She showed no emotion. They both disappeared through another red vortex.

The monsters started coming from everywhere, crowding even the air itself. It didn’t take long before Saeda informed them that the fragment had disappeared. With no signs of the Harbingers, they decided to leave as well.

When their feet touched the white, glowing tiles of the mission base once more, they let out heavy breaths.

“Well, at least we didn’t see Legion,” Zod said.

“Hey, Tee,” Kie said. “You got blasted by a Harbinger—”

Tee brushed off her shoulder. “Yeah, it was Sade, but it was nothing.”

“Did you take him down?” Miko asked.

“I said no heroics,” Kie blurted.

Tee stepped back, seeing all eyes on her.

“He escaped before I could do anything.” She looked at Kie. “And I wasn’t really in the position to let my guard down and speak through my telecom. Not all of us have telepathy. Yeesh.”

Kie swallowed his words. “Affirmative,” he said, ending the subject.

While the others left, Kie told Tee to wait up before she could separate into another direction. She turned around to face his beautiful red eyes. She gasped.

“The last time I had a mission brief with the Commander, I realized I didn’t get your input because you were never at our strategy sessions.”

Tee got over herself and scratched her head. “Not much happened besides what I just told you.”

Then silence fell, and they both avoided each other’s eyes. Kie glanced at the telecom on Tee’s hand and found a question to fill the gap.

“Your telecom. Is that the same one you’ve had since last month?”

Tee raised her hand as if she needed to see it herself. “Yeah. My Vergant pal gets it charged for me.”

“Oh,” he said.

The silence returned, so Tee decided to break it.

“Well, I’ll get back to my studies. See you around, Kie.”

He nodded. Again, he didn’t throw that telecom in the chemical basket. However, when he left the changing room, his heart spiked at the sight of the Lieutenant standing above him. Luckily, he didn’t scream.

“Kie Reuben,” she said, shaking her head.

Kie scratched the back of his head. “Lieutenant, you’re back from vacation already?”

She pushed her glasses up her nose and folded her arms. “I knew you were hoarding the telecoms. I just didn’t know why.”

Embarrassed, Kie brushed her off. “It doesn’t matter. I’m investigating something.”

Then he walked off with both hands shoved into his pants pockets.

That night, Kie dreamed of his older self coming home from work, and a younger version of himself running toward him the second he opened the door. He ripped his eyes open in the dark, remembering his future plans—how they had all failed. After that, he found it hard to fall back asleep.

Eventually, he turned on his holomap to check Tee’s location tag. She was a good distance away, in the Primus Vergant village.