Chapter 99 Dismantled Prison
LUCA
Arya’s form was flickering and unstable, like she was barely holding herself together. The void was eating away at her slowly.
“Arya!” I ran toward her, the light creating a floor beneath my feet. “I’ve got you!”
I pulled her into my arms, and she solidified and i could feel her fully against me.
“You came,” she breathed against my chest. “You actually came.”
“Of course I came. You’re my everything.” I held her tighter. “Now let’s get you out of here.”
“It’s not that simple. The spell—”
“Can be broken. I’ve got a plan.”
“Luca, the spell is designed to be unbreakable—”
“By people outside the void, yes. But we’re inside. Different rules.” I pulled out the reality anchor Bardon had given me. “This is a piece of the Moonwell. Your family’s power, crystallized. If we can use it to create a large enough bubble of reality inside the void—”
“The spell will have to compensate. Stretch to contain the reality.” Her eyes widened with understanding. “And if we make the bubble big enough—”
“The spell breaks. Reality overwhelms the absence.”
“That’s insane.”
“That’s our specialty.” I pressed the crystal into her hand. “Channel your power into this. Everything you have. And I’ll channel mine through our bond. Together, we create a reality so strong the void can’t contain it.”
“And Mordecai?”
“What about him?”
“He’ll try to stop us. He’s been here for—” She shook her head. “I don’t know how long. But he’s learned to navigate the void and to use it. We’re at a disadvantage.”
“Then we’d better work fast.”
We pressed our hands together, the crystal between them. I felt my immortality flowing through the bond into Arya, amplifying her Moonborne power. She began to glow with silver light, brighter and brighter until it hurt to look at her.
“That’s it!” I encouraged. “Keep going!”
The light expanded until it created a dome of reality around us. In the bubble, physics worked normally. Air existed. Sound traveled properly. We were standing on something solid.
“It’s working!” Arya gasped. “I can feel it working!”
The bubble grew. Ten feet. Twenty. Fifty. The void pushed back, trying to collapse our reality, but we pushed harder.
“Stop this immediately!” Mordecai’s voice boomed through the nothing. “You’re destabilizing the prison!”
“That’s the point!” I shouted back.
He materialized at the edge of our reality bubble, looking furious. In the void, he appeared more solid than Arya had been. He’d adapted to this place, learned to exist as part of the nothing.
“You don’t understand what you’re doing!” He slammed his hands against our bubble, and I felt the reality ripple. “If you break the void spell, you’ll create a cascade failure! This prison isn’t just keeping me contained, it’s containing the absence itself! Release it, and reality will start unraveling!”
“He’s lying,” Arya said. “He has to be.”
But I felt her uncertainty through the bond. And looking at Mordecai’s face, I saw genuine fear.
He wasn’t lying.
“Fuck.” I looked at Arya. “If we break the spell wrong, we could destroy reality itself?”
“Not destroy. Just… fray it. Create gaps where the void leaks through.” Mordecai’s expression was desperate now. “Pockets of nothing randomly appearing across your world. Consuming everything they touch. Is that really worth escaping?”
“He’s right,” Arya said quietly. “I can feel it now. The spell is a containment unit. Break it carelessly, and we unleash something worse than him.”
“Then we don’t break it carelessly. We break it precisely.” I turned to Mordecai. “You’ve been here for eight hundred years. You know how this spell works. Tell us how to open it without causing a reality-destroying catastrophe.”
“Why would I help you?” he laughed, giving me a look like I was the stupidest person he had ever met.
“Because if reality unravels, you have nothing to rule and no world to conquer. No Moonborne throne to reclaim.” I moved closer to the bubble’s edge. “You’re a monster, but you’re not stupid. You want to escape and take power. That only works if there’s a reality left to take power in.”
Mordecai stared at me for a long moment. Then, incredibly, he laughed.
“You know, I actually like you. You’re–” He glanced at Arya pointedly, “much better than your mate, who’d sacrifice everything for compassion.”
“Don’t insult her.”
“It’s not an insult, just an observation.” He pressed his hand against our bubble. “Fine. I’ll help you. But you’ll be indebted to me.”
“How do we do this?”
“The void spell has anchors. Five of them, spread throughout the prison. They’re what maintain the containment.” He gestured into the nothing. “Destroy the anchors in the correct sequence, and the spell unravels cleanly. The void seals itself, and we all walk free.”
“And if we destroy them in the wrong sequence?”
“Reality-destroying catastrophe. Keep up.”
“You’re remarkably cavalier about this.”
“I’ve had eight hundred years to study the spell. I know exactly which sequence works.” His smile was cold. “Question is, do you trust me?”
“No.” Arya and I said at the same time.
“Smart kids. But what choice do you have?” He pulled back from the bubble. “The first anchor is three hundred void-lengths northeast. You’ll recognize it when you see it, it looks like a knot in nothing itself.”
I looked at Arya. “What do you think?”
“I think he’s telling the truth. About the anchors, at least.” She studied Mordecai through our reality bubble. “But I don’t trust the sequence he gives us.”
“Neither do I.” I turned back to Mordecai. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to guide us to each anchor. You’re going to tell us the sequence. And if you lie, if you try to sabotage us, I’ll spend the rest of eternity making sure you suffer.”
“Empty threat. You’re mortal now. Wait—” He looked closer. “No. You’re immortal again. How?”
“Trade secret.”
“Impressive and stupid.” He gestured into the void. “Fine. Let’s go destroy some anchors. But be warned, the void won’t let you dismantle the prison easily. It will fight back.”
“Let it try.”