Chapter 103 The Fifth Layer — The Forgetting of Flame
The fifth layer of the Void was not silent.
It was hollow.
A place where echoes went to die, where memories faded like breath on glass. The stars here were dim reflections of things that never happened. The ground was made of broken promises. And the air—if it could be called that—was thick with the weight of things left unsaid.
I walked alone. Well, at least in the physical sense, but I knew that everyone was walking with me in their hearts. We all wanted to save Milo, and while they couldn’t be here, I know that they were with me.
Before I left, each member gave me something to help along the way. All the gifts were tattered now, but they were still there, well, just anyway.
The glyphs Ellira and Lira had etched into my skin were fading. Yuel’s anchor spell was fraying. Aine’s silver flame flickered weakly in my palm. I was running out of time.
And Milo was running out of self.
I found him in a clearing of shadows.
He was sitting on a throne made of nothing, his body wrapped in black flame, his eyes closed. Around him, fragments of memory floated—his laughter, his pain, his love, his fear. Each one flickered, then vanished. Becoming screams on the wind that whispered and taunted at every opportunity. Encouraging the doubts, self-hate, and feeling that he isn’t good enough and never will be.
“Milo,” I said. Trying to gain his attention.
He didn’t move.
I stepped closer. Hesitant but determined. Courage was the only way I could reach Milo.
“You’re still here. This doesn’t seem like a nice place.”
He opened his eyes.
They were void.
“You shouldn’t have come. Why did you? No one asked you to come. You aren’t welcome here, and this is no place for a Flameborn, Emberleaf, and a Princess.”
“I had to. You have to fight a little longer. Once we leave this place, we will be able to fix you.”
“FIX ME!” Milo screams, the void shakes, and the ground beneath me rolls, almost knocking me off my feet.
“Milo, that isn’t what I meant.” I am quick to say. But Milo’s anger continues to grow, making the place more and more hostile.
“FIX ME! What is wrong with me NOW!” Milo shouts. His voice hits me like a punch to the face, and I am knocked back a few steps before I can regain my footing again.
“Milo, please.”
“I don’t want to be found.”
“That’s not true, of course, you want to be found.”
“LEAVE! Leave this place and leave me. I don’t want you here.”
“Milo, please.”
“LEAVE! I DON'T WANT YOU”
The words hit harder than any spell.
“I don’t believe that” I said. Shaking my head, I tried to keep my tears to myself, but they fell without my permission. His words were breaking me.
“You should. After all, it was all your fault that we are in this position. Mom died because of you. We had to leave our home and leave my friends. Since being Aeloria, we have had never-ending battles. This is all your fault.”
He stood.
The black flame surged.
“I’m tired, Mo. Of being afraid. Of being broken. Of being less.”
“You’re not less.”
“I’m not anything.”
“You are, you are my brother.”
“I am the son of the void. This is me, the real me. This is where I belong, this is where the bad thoughts, the failures, and the loss go to be whole.”
“Milo, this isn’t you. This isn’t what you believe. Stop it, stop letting the void taint and tarnish your memories and who you are.”
The Void whispered around us.
“Let go. Let go. Let go.”
I reached for him.
He stepped back.
“I remember everything,” he said. “Every mistake. Every failure. Every time I wasn’t enough.”
“You were always enough.”
He laughed.
It was hollow. Scary and filled with every disappointment there is.
“I was a shadow pretending to be light.”
“You were my light. My brother. My friend.”
The throne cracked.
The memories faded.
And Milo began to change.
His form shimmered, stretched, darkened. The shadows around him became darker, thicker, and heavier.
He was becoming something else.
Something beyond.
Something I wasn’t sure I could fight; he wouldn’t listen to reason. He was consumed with darkness.
“I can’t fight it anymore,” he said.
“You don’t have to fight alone.”
“I don’t want to fight at all.”
I stepped forward.
The flame in my chest pulsed.
The Forgotten Flame surged.
“Milo, please.”
He looked at me.
And for a moment—
He was mine.
Then—
He turned away.
“I’m sorry, I have already chosen,” he said.
And the Void swallowed him.
I screamed.
I begged.
I pleaded.
But the Void didn’t care.
It folded around me.
And spat me out.
I landed in Aeloria.
Hard.
The sky was wrong.
The stars were dim.
The ley lines were fraying.
The Rift was pulsing.
And Milo was gone.
Thessa found me first.
She didn’t speak.
She just knelt beside me and hugged me.
Kael arrived next.
He offered a joke.
It didn’t land; he also didn’t put much effort into it.
Zeke brought Gerald.
Gerald bleated softly.
Quacknor perched on my shoulder.
Ellira and Lira held my hands.
Yuel whispered, “We’ll find him.”
Aine stood behind them with Talon.
Her flame was steady.
“What happens if we find him? How do we find him? How do we help him?”
“We stand together and fight.”
“How can I save my brother? Can I save my brother?”
I stood.
Broken.
Burning.
Determined.
“We have to get him back,” I said.
“Even if he doesn’t want to be saved?”
“Especially then.”
“He is a part of us.”
The Rift pulsed. Shook and rolled
The Void whispered. Gloated and laughed.
And the stars began to fall.
Aeloria was changing.
Milo already had so why wouldn’t Aeloria?