Collide: The Memory of Stars

Third Person's POV

The air within the void trembled, thick with unseen power. Deep within the abyss, in a place where light had never touched, the dark matter gathered.

They had no true form, yet they moved like living shadows, shifting and whispering as though the void itself breathed through them.

A presence stirred in the heart of their gathering—a slumbering force, vast and ancient. Vherezoth.

The once-forgotten being of erasure, her very existence sealed away for centuries, now slowly regaining awareness.

The weight of her presence pressed against the void like a heartbeat in the darkness.

The dark entities, those who had long served the abyss, trembled in reverence. They had felt it. A ripple in the cursed world. A power they had long waited for.

One of them, a shade-like figure that slithered through the void, hissed in Eldorian,

"Dos valda miriath… Ezhmora isha."

(The lost key… she has awakened.)

Another, its voice like fractured whispers, responded,

"Selene."

The name drifted through the gathering like a poison, leaving unease in its wake.

"She moves beyond the veil."

From the abyss, a soft breath, almost a sigh, echoed. Then a voice, barely more than a whisper but carrying the weight of the void itself.

"Selene."

The dark matter stilled. The word had not been spoken by one of them. It came from something greater. Something waking.

Vherezoth.

Her voice, though quiet, commanded absolute silence. The abyss around them quivered, as if awaiting her will. A single shape within the darkness dared to move closer, bowing low, its shadowed form kneeling in reverence.

"My Queen of the Abyss," it spoke in Eldorian, its tone reverent yet uncertain.

"What are your commands?"

A pause. Then, for the first time in what felt like eternity, Vherezoth's presence pulsed, shifting through the void like a ripple on the surface of a blackened ocean.

"Find her."

The words sent shudders through the gathering. The dark matter shifted, twisting as they murmured amongst themselves.

They had long awaited the return of their queen's will, but the way she spoke her command—there was something more to it.

Another figure, taller and more defined than the rest, took a step forward. Its shape was jagged, fractured like shattered glass barely holding form. It spoke carefully,

"The key has yet to understand. If we take her now, she will resist. She is still… unstable."

The void pulsed again, and with it came a whisper, cold and smooth, dripping with something unreadable.

"She is mine."

The gathered shadows bowed deeper. The taller figure hesitated.

"Then… shall we retrieve her, My Queen?"

A pause. Then, for the first time, something stirred within the abyss itself. A figure began to take shape in the void. Not just a shadow, but the outline of a woman.

Hauntingly beautiful, yet utterly wrong. Her form was incomplete, shifting between nothingness and existence, but the power within her was undeniable.

Vherezoth's projection.

She lifted her head slightly, her voice almost amused as she whispered in Eldorian,

"No. Let her come to me."

The dark matter hissed and murmured amongst themselves. Some seemed to question, others merely obeyed. But none dared challenge the will of the Queen.

Another voice spoke, hesitant yet calculating.

"She travels beyond the portal. They move towards the forgotten ruins."

Vherezoth let the words linger before she finally moved, the fragment of her form drifting closer, her voice laced with something between curiosity and amusement.

"Then let her see what remains."

The darkness trembled, and the gathering began to dissolve, vanishing into the shadows to carry out their silent orders.

And far beyond the abyss, in the waking world, Selene shuddered, feeling an unseen gaze settle upon her, though she did not yet know from whom.

-----

The air crackled with energy as the group stood before the portal. It pulsed with an eerie glow, swirling with shifting colors that flickered between reality and the unknown.

The remnants of the battle still clung to them—dirt, sweat, and exhaustion weighing heavily on their bodies.

Selene, barely able to stand, was supported by Axel as her breathing steadied.

"We don't have time to waste," Tyra muttered, crossing her arms. Her gaze flickered to Selene, studying her with newfound wariness.

The power that had surged through Selene in the fight was unlike anything they had ever seen, and no one dared to question it.

Aldric stepped forward, gripping his staff tightly as he examined the portal.

"This gateway will take us into the lands beyond, but I must warn you—once we step through, there is no turning back. The dark matter has already begun to break the boundaries. If we hesitate, we might not make it through before the corruption consumes this place." Axel gave a firm nod, adjusting his grip on Selene.

"Then let's move."

One by one, they stepped forward. As Aldric chanted an incantation, the portal's glow intensified, and the energy around them pulled at their forms.

The transition was abrupt—the moment they passed through, the oppressive weight of the world behind them disappeared, replaced by a chilling stillness.

They emerged into a land devoid of life. The sky was painted in muted grays, the ground cracked and lifeless.

An unnatural silence filled the air, broken only by the distant sound of something shifting in the darkness.

There were no animals, no wind—only the presence of something unseen watching them.

Khael rubbed his chest, his fingers twitching.

"Something about this place... it feels wrong." His golden eyes flickered with unease.

"I can feel it—like my fire is reacting to something here." Selene, though still weak, felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity. The ruins around them were not just any remnants of an old world. They were something more.

Her vision blurred for a moment, and then—

A flash. A memory not her own.

A city once magnificent, its towers gleaming under a golden sun. Laughter, voices, a thriving kingdom. And then, the fall. Darkness swallowing everything, screams fading into silence.

Her breath hitched, and her knees buckled. Axel caught her just as shadows began to twist and form around them.

A low, echoing voice filled the air—a voice that made the very land tremble.

"Selene..."

A shudder ran through her spine as the name was spoken. It was not a whisper of the wind, nor the murmurs of the dark matter—it was something else entirely. The others tensed, their hands instinctively gripping their weapons.

The shadows coiled together, shifting until they took the form of a woman—a hauntingly beautiful yet terrifying figure. Her presence was suffocating, her very existence warping the space around them. Dark eyes locked onto Selene, and a smile, both knowing and cruel, curled upon her lips.

She spoke in the Eldorian tongue, her words laced with an unsettling gentleness.

"My lost one… come home."

Selene's breath caught in her throat. For the briefest moment, she saw something—an image buried deep within the void. A woman, before she became this entity. A life long forgotten, yet still lingering beneath the corruption.

Tyra stiffened, her expression unreadable, but there was something in her eyes—something close to recognition.

"No... it can't be..." she whispered.

The woman—Vherezoth—tilted her head, as if amused.

"You remember, don't you?" she purred. "You all will. Soon."

The shadows surged forward, and the battle began anew. After that the five of them proceeded with caution.

The wind did not stir.

The sky loomed over them in an endless shroud of gray, broken only by the cracks of eerie violet light that pulsed faintly in the distance. The air smelled stale, thick with the weight of something ancient and forgotten.

A suffocating silence settled over the land as the five figures stepped forward, their boots pressing against blackened, crumbling stone.

Selene exhaled slowly, her breath visible in the unnaturally chilled air.

Her fingers unconsciously brushed against the hilt of her sword, but there was no need to grip it yet. Instead, she focused on the scenery before her—a once-thriving kingdom now reduced to lifeless ruins. Towering structures, some half-collapsed, stood like the skeletal remains of an empire long devoured by time and darkness. Shattered stained-glass windows lay in broken fragments across the cracked pathways, their dulled colors whispering of a past that no longer existed.

"This… was Eldoria?" Khael's voice broke the silence, his golden eyes reflecting the broken world around them.

Aldric nodded solemnly, his gaze distant."Once, long ago."

Tyra took a step forward, her fingers grazing the surface of a fallen stone pillar.

"More than just 'long ago'," she muttered.

"Centuries have passed, but the echoes remain." Her voice was laced with something unreadable—was it sorrow, or was it bitterness?

Axel remained silent, his eyes scanning the ruins with a look of deep thought. Though he did not remember everything, there was something about this place that made his chest ache.

As if something was missing—something he should have known.

Selene reached out and touched a wall covered in old carvings, her fingers tracing the remnants of a language she could barely recall but still understood.

"Did I… live here?" she whispered, her voice uncertain.

Tyra turned sharply to look at her, something flickering in her cold eyes.

"You don't remember?"

Selene shook her head. "I feel… something. A sadness. A longing. Like I'm seeing something precious taken away, but I don't know what."

Aldric's voice was heavy. "That feeling is what remains of this land. Eldoria is lost, but traces of it still call out."

Khael bent down and picked up a piece of what looked like an old emblem, the metal rusted and nearly broken beyond recognition.

"Was there anyone left?" he asked. "Did anyone survive?"

Tyra hesitated before answering, her voice unreadable.

"Not in the way you're thinking."

The weight of her words hung in the air. No more questions followed.

Axel finally spoke, his voice lower than usual.

"This place is dangerous. The dark matter may have consumed most of it, but I doubt it has left completely. We should keep moving."

Selene, however, couldn't move just yet. Her gaze locked onto a statue in the distance—weathered and broken, yet still standing tall amidst the decay.

It depicted a woman, draped in flowing robes, her face half-eroded, but her eyes… her eyes were familiar. Something in Selene's chest tightened painfully.

The image of Eltharia , carved into the stone with such grace that even time's cruelty had not fully erased her presence. The remnants of her expression—calm, resolute, yet sorrowful—made Selene's pulse quicken.

"…I know her," Selene murmured, stepping closer.

Aldric's gaze followed hers, his expression unreadable. "That is the statue of the one I spoke of in my tale."

Selene swallowed hard, reaching out to touch the cold stone, her fingertips barely grazing the surface. A faint whisper drifted through her mind, distant yet familiar. A memory she could not fully grasp. The ache inside her deepened.

"…We were never meant to see this."

The voice was her own, yet it wasn't. A whisper in the back of her mind, a feeling crawling beneath her skin. It was not fear—it was grief.

Something inside her stirred, something deep and aching. The ruins of Eldoria were not just ruins. They were memories, long buried, now resurfacing in jagged, painful pieces.

And something was watching.

Selene's breath hitched, and for a brief moment, the shadows around them seemed to shift—almost as if responding to her presence.

Tyra's grip on her weapon tightened. "We need to move. Now."

To be continued.