Ascendant Beasts : The Voidcrest Prophecy

### **The Scarred Earth**

The battlefield was silent, save for the whisper of snow settling over the fissure's jagged scar. Crystalline shards jutted from the ground where the relic had shattered, their glow fading like dying embers. Thalia knelt beside Zane, her hands trembling as she pressed a cloth to the gash on his temple. His skin was cold, his breaths shallow.

Vyrthax limped closer, a deep wound across his flank still oozing starlit blood. **"The wolf smells poison in the air. This place is not safe."**

Thalia nodded, her violet eyes dimmer now, the Veilwalker's light flickering uncertainly. "We need to move. But where?"

The Grand Marshal's absence hung heavy. His broken spear lay half-buried in the snow, a grim marker.

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### **Thalia's Vision**

That night, as the others slept, Thalia dreamt.

She stood in a vast, hollow void, the ground beneath her feet cracking like eggshell. Her brother's ghost materialized, his form flickering. *"The chains are breaking,"* he warned, voice frayed. *"The Devourer's roots go deeper. You severed one, but the tree remains."*

A shadow loomed—a towering figure with her father's void-rotted face and the Devourer's thousand eyes. *"You cannot outrun blood, little Thorn."*

Thalia woke gasping, her nose bleeding violet. Across their makeshift camp, Zane stirred, his eyes snapping open—amber, but flecked with black.

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### **The Heart's Whisper**

"You're different," Thalia said, handing him a waterskin.

Zane drank deeply, avoiding her gaze. Shadows coiled under his sleeves, restless. "The Heart's quieter now. But it's… *digesting*. Biding its time."

"Can you control it?"

He flexed his hand; tendrils of darkness spiraled around his fingers before dissolving. "For now."

Vyrthax growled suddenly, ears pricked. **"Elite scouts. Close."**

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### **Lysandra's Gambit**

Commander Lysandra Voss stood aboard the Elite's flagship, her reflection warped in the polished steel walls. Before her, suspended in a containment field, pulsed a shard of the Covenant Stone—stolen from the battlefield, still humming with the Heart's essence.

"The corruption is stable," a technician droned. "Weaponization is feasible within forty-eight hours."

Lysandra's smile was razor-thin. "Good. Let the monsters tear each other apart. We'll clean up the remains."

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### **The Hollow Refuge**

The group trekked north, following rumors of a Primal sanctuary. They found it nestled in a glacial valley—a crumbling temple overgrown with bioluminescent moss. Inside, murals depicted Primals and humans forging the First Pact, their joined hands bleeding starlight.

"This place reeks of death," Zane muttered, shadows bristling.

Thalia touched a mural; the stone warmed beneath her fingers. "It's a tomb. Their last stand."

A low rumble shook the temple. From the shadows emerged a figure—a survivor, cloaked in tattered voidspun silk. Her face was hidden, but her voice was hauntingly familiar.

"You shouldn't have come here."

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### **The Traitor's Face**

Thalia froze. "Lira?"

The cultist lowered her hood, revealing a face half-consumed by void rot. "Hello, Thorn. Miss me?"

Zane's shadows surged, but Lira raised a hand. "I'm not your enemy. Not anymore." She gestured to the temple's depths. "The Devourer's cult splintered after your father's death. Some of us… woke up."

Thalia's dagger stayed raised. "Why trust you?"

Lira's gaze fell to the relic's remnants in Thalia's satchel. "Because I know how to kill what's coming."

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### **The Ticking Clock**

As night fell, Zane's skin began to itch.

Beneath his shirt, black veins spread like cracks in glass. The Heart's voice returned, smug. *"You feel it, don't you? The decay. Without me, you'll crumble to dust."*

Zane stumbled outside, retching. Thalia found him hunched in the snow, his breath steaming.

"How long?" she asked quietly.

He didn't look up. "A week. Maybe less."

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### **The Fractured Sky**

At dawn, Thalia stood at the temple's peak, staring north. The horizon shimmered—not with auroras, but with dozens of tiny fissures, each leaking tendrils of devouring darkness.

Vyrthax joined her, his growl uneasy. **"The wolf fears this hunt may be his last."**

"We don't have a choice," Thalia said, tightening her gloves. "We end this. Today."

Below, Lira and Zane prepared for battle—one with a dagger forged from Covenant shards, the other with shadows that no longer obeyed.

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### **Cliffhanger: The Heart's Ultimatum**

As they descended into the valley, the ground trembled. A new fissure tore open, wider than any before. From it rose not tendrils, but a *hand*—skeletal, colossal, clawed.

The Devourer was evolving.

And in Zane's mind, the Heart laughed. *"Now, little hero… let's make a deal."*

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