The Voidspire was not marked on any star chart, yet it had always existed.
It hovered in the hollow between Realms — a monolith of obsidian and anguish, rising endlessly into a black sky streaked with crimson veins. It had no orbit, no sun, no flame. It was where broken realms bled into the abyss — the place where failed timelines were buried.
The Nightingale pierced the veil of shadows encasing the spire, engines dimmed to avoid attracting more Riftborne. As the ship approached, the temperature dropped to a freezing stillness — not cold, but the absence of flame.
Kaelen stood at the helm, eyes scanning the structure "This place feels wrong."
"Because it is," Vaelion said softly "Voidspire is the grave of the first Flamebearers."
As they landed on a jagged outcropping of crystalized shadow, Lyra adjusted the Ember Key at her chest. Its glow was barely visible — muted by the overwhelming aura of the spire.
Riven's sensors flickered with static "No signals. No energy traces. Not even time fluctuations."
"Because Voidspire devours it," Kaela whispered "It's not dead. It's hungry."
They stepped onto the platform. The air grew thicker, pressing in with each step. The walls of the spire pulsed slowly, like a sleeping god breathing.
They moved in silence until they reached a vast gate carved with runes unlike any seen before — half-formed, writhing, never still.
"These runes," Lyra murmured, tracing them, "they're written in Unflame."
Vaelion tensed "The language of the Abyssborn."
The gate creaked open, not by mechanism, but by recognition. The spire knew them.
Inside, they found a temple lost to time.
Stained glass depicted scenes from the origin of the Realms — the First Flame, the Starborn's rise, and… a betrayal that ended the dawn. At the center of the chamber floated a black crystal, surrounded by spectral rings.
The Starflame Fragment.
Lyra stepped forward — but the moment her foot touched the inner circle, the chamber lit with violet fire.
From the shadows emerged a figure clad in living void — his cloak a cascade of screaming whispers, his eyes two pits of inverted stars.
"I am Astraen, the First Abyssborn," the voice echoed in their minds "And you tread upon forbidden memory."
Kaelen raised his blade "We don't want a fight."
Astraen chuckled, the sound like glass shattering in reverse "You seek to reclaim the Starflame? You seek to rebuild that which should have never been born?"
"We seek balance," Lyra said, stepping forward "We seek to undo what Serian has corrupted."
"Serian is not your enemy," Astraen said "He is your future."
The floor cracked. A dome of pure void rose around them — trapping the team in an arena suspended between past and present.
"Then we'll fight our future," Kaela growled, raising her staff.
The duel began.
Kaelen's blade met Astraen's void-formed spear, sparks of flame clashing against entropy. Lyra flared her aura, twin streaks of Starfire swirling in orbit around her as she struck at Astraen's flanks.
But Astraen was faster.
He moved with premonition, reading their strikes before they came. He whispered truths into their minds — visions of failure, of death, of endings yet to come. Kaela faltered for a heartbeat, nearly consumed by a memory that wasn't hers.
Riven launched a shockwave that shattered the void floor, forcing Astraen back. "Can't let him get into your head!"
Lyra took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Her flame dimmed — and then surged with newfound clarity.
She saw it.
Not the future. Not the past.
The thread.
She reached for the Fragment with her mind — and it responded. A spark of silver-gold burst from her chest, wrapping her in a star-born cloak of radiant energy.
Astraen roared "You are not ready!"
"Maybe not," Lyra said "But I never asked for permission."
She flung the flame forward — not at Astraen, but into the fragment.
The crystal shattered — releasing a wave of pure starlight that banished the void walls, casting the Abyssborn into shrieking retreat. Astraen screamed as he faded.
"You have lit the second flame," he whispered before vanishing "But the third… the third will burn you."
Silence returned.
Lyra fell to her knees, exhausted.
Vaelion stepped forward, lifting the shard of the Starflame, now bound with the Aether Key.
"The second piece," he said "Only five remain."
Kaelen looked to the distant edge of the spire — where a hidden stairway now revealed itself, leading into the lower sanctum.
"We're not done here," he said grimly.
Lyra stood, steadying herself "Then we keep going."
Beneath them, in the deepest chamber of Voidspire, something woke.
And far above, across Realms, Serian opened his eyes.
"The Starflame burns again," he murmured "It's time the stars remembered… who lit them first."