Anna ascended, the distance between her and Tyler growing with each drawn breath, a silent, vertical flight. She was a solitary speck now, a mote suspended above the shimmering swarm of arrows, hundreds of thousands of them, each point catching the sun's light.

The Archer's Domain, the place where she wielded them, allowing her to shape them into the elements she desired.

But a cold knot of doubt twisted in her stomach, a parasite clinging to her resolve. The arrows... she didn't trust them. A visceral dread told her Tyler would evade them all.

She could still feel the echoes of his aura, a strange, lingering hum that vibrated against her own. He was alive. She knew it. Knew her attack wouldn't kill him. Still, a desperate hope flickered within her: Let it have done something.

The dust, a gritty shroud of their previous clash, began to settle, revealing Tyler standing, utterly unharmed. Frustration, sharp and bitter, spiked through Anna. *Damn it. These things are useless.* A knot of despair formed in her chest. *What is that power he's wielding?* His presence felt alien, wrong, a discordant note in the melody of her existence. Even his fighting style, it was something she'd never witnessed, never even read about, a twisted mirror reflecting back everything she thought she knew about combat.

Despite his overwhelming power, Tyler made no move to attack. Since waking, he had only thrice. The reason for this restraint was a mystery, a maddening puzzle that amplified her frustration.

*Why isn't he attacking?* A thought, sharp as a shard of glass, pierced through her focus.* Am I too up high for him? No. That doesn't feel right. He must be waiting for me to fire the arrows, so he can use them against me.* Even if she did manage to hit him, it seemed they were doing nothing.* I need to find a way to hurt him.*

Her thoughts drifted back to her training. She recalled the fervor she felt, the burning desire to close the distance, to engage in the brutal dance of close-quarters combat.

The Archery class was something she despised. It was a distant, slow style of fighting. But her master, one of the heroes, had found her request not ridiculous, but amusing.

She had trained her, secretly in the way of the sword. The bow was a tool she could use, but she was far more comfortable with steel in hand. She'd learned a technique, a skill her master had taught her. It was a technique that amplified her power, a weapon to be unleashed when she was sure to kill.

This was her ultimate skill. And now, she realized, she'd have to use it. The consequences were clear. The surge of power would leave her utterly drained, even if she could still fly, she'd be slow, vulnerable. She had thought Tyler was not worthy of a skill of that magnitude.

It was something reserved for a dragon, something for those who held power over life and death, not for a human. But... Tyler... He wasn't acting like a human. His power… it wasn't the taint of a demon, the savagery of a dragon, or the precision of a hunter. His power was alien, something she'd never encountered before. She made her decision. She would use it.

She lifted her white bow again. "Fine," she muttered, the word a steel blade cutting through the silence. "If this is what it takes to kill you, I'm going to use it. It doesn't matter what happens next." A single arrow, forged from pure light, shimmered into existence between her fingertips as she pulled back the bowstring. She loosed the arrow, sending it arcing into the vast expanse of the sky.

It sliced through the multitude of arrows already aloft, climbing higher, further into the atmosphere. Then, it split, shattering into thousands more, a constellation of light.

"Again" she muttered, the sound swallowed by the wind. Another arrow launched, joining the first, and then splintering into thousands. The air vibrated with the energy. Again she fired. "More" she whispered.

Her eyes, now glowing a faint, ethereal white. The arrow whistled as it soared upwards, exploding into thousands more, a breathtaking display. Tens of thousands of white-glowing arrows now peppered the sky, a silent, deadly promise.

She looked down at the bow in her hand, watching it shimmer and fade, disappearing into nothingness. She lifted both hands towards the sky above, and a sword materialized in her grip, the cold steel a contrast to the warmth of the light. She whispered the name of her ultimate skill. "Pale skies." She paused, her eyes still burning with that faint white light. "Absorption."

The void entity's hand gripped the sword even tighter as it looked into the sky, the hilt biting into flesh with a dull, grinding pressure that sent fresh waves of phantom pain through Tyler's trapped nerves, and because of this, so did Tyler witness what was going on, his vision hijacked, the world sharpening into unwelcome clarity amid the suffocating haze of his imprisonment.

Tyler gasped mentally, a sharp intake of breath that echoed only in his skull, his thoughts fracturing with panic as he grappled with the impossibility unfolding above, thinking, *How are there so many of them? What is she doing?*

The questions twisted in his mind like barbs, laced with a churning dread that tightened his chest, making each unspoken word feel like a desperate, futile claw at the bars of his cage.

Immediately, all the arrows started moving together, going in a straight line, pouring down to her like a waterfall she stood under, the cascade unleashing a low, resonant whoosh that built into a thunderous roar, vibrating through the air and into Tyler's bones, the rush carrying a crisp, electric tang of ozone that stung his nostrils and coated his tongue with metallic bitterness.

The arrows poured into her sword, and her body, like spectral light seeping into her, like a river of light pouring into her, each and every one of them seeping into her as she closed her eyes.

The absorption sent faint, rhythmic pulses through the air that Tyler felt as warm prickles on his skin, her skin beginning to glow with a radiant light that intensified with every merge, almost as if she became a white miniature sun, a star that blinded the world around her, the heat blooming outward in stifling waves that dried his throat and forced beads of sweat to trickle down his back, causing the ground to cast stark, quivering shadows, causing Tyler's to shorten, shrinking, almost as if it was afraid of the light, clinging on to the soles under his boots with a desperate, huddled intensity that mirrored the terror knotting in his gut.

The arrows still poured into her short hair, shimmering with a white light that hummed softly, like the faint chime of distant crystals, the strands lifting with a silken whisper against her scalp.

It began to expand, no longer a tiny little sword, the metal groaning with a low, resonant creak that echoed as it grew slightly bigger, now double-edged and looking diamond kite-shaped on the end of the tip, the edges catching the glow with a razor-sharp gleam that sent involuntary shivers down his spine.

Her white coat glew even brighter.

Crystalline armor erupted across her body in sharp, elegant plates, the formation accompanied by a series of crisp snaps like cracking frost, light frozen mid-flash, folding over shoulders, ribs, forearms like petals of solidified dawn, the surfaces cool and smooth to the imagined touch, yet radiating a subtle warmth that clashed with the plain's lingering cold.

A helm formed last, sleek and angular, materializing with a faint, glassy chime, a thin visor of translucent ice-light settling over her eyes, turning her gaze into twin slits of cold starfire.

The ponytail came undone.

White hair spilled free, cascading past her shoulders in slow, weightless waves, each strand glowing from within like fiber-optic threads carrying the heart of a supernova, the movement stirring a faint, ethereal whisper in the air, as if the light itself sighed.

She closed her eyes.

Let the last arrow sank into her chest, the final impact sending a ripple through her form that

A pulse of silence swept the plain, so complete that Tyler heard his own heartbeat thundering in stolen ears, each beat a frantic drum echoing his isolation, the quiet pressing in like a heavy blanket, muffling even the faint whistle of wind over the grass.

When her eyes opened again, they were no longer human.

Only white.

Pure, blinding, pitiless white, staring down with an intensity that made Tyler's skin crawl, a cold sweat breaking out along his spine despite the radiant heat, his thoughts fracturing under the weight of what she had become.

The glow then suddenly decreased, dimming with a soft, fading hum that left the air tingling with residual static, and Anna slowly lowered her sword as it was in her right hand, the blade's weight pulling at her arm with a subtle, resonant vibration that echoed through her grip.

She began to descend, her feet brushing the air with a whisper of displaced wind.

She looked like a star that should not ascend, her form radiating an otherworldly warmth that clashed with the plain's cool earthiness, stirring faint scents of scorched grass and lingering ozone into the breeze.

Her new armor gleamed with a crystalline sheen, each plate shifting with a faint, glassy creak against her movements; her new helm framed her face in sharp angles, the visor casting a pale glow over her features;

She looked like a completely different person that radiated pure power, an aura that pressed against Tyler's senses like an invisible weight, making his trapped heart race with a mix of unwilling awe and gnawing fear, his thoughts swirling in helpless turmoil: *What has she become? This isn't her... or is it?*

"Come on, move!" Tyler urged the void entity as if he expected it to listen, his voice sharp and edged with desperation, a raw edge that cracked slightly on the wTyler

"We can't handle that thing. Why aren't you doing anything?" he muttered, the words low and gravelly, laced with a bitter frustration that tightened his throat. "If we don't get out of here, she's going to kill us."

The mutter hung in the air, heavy with unspoken panic, his breath coming in quick, uneven puffs that fogged faintly in the cooling aftermath of the glow.

Instead, the void entity moved step by step, its boots crunching against the brittle grass with deliberate, unyielding thuds that sent faint tremors up Tyler's legs.

The hot wind hit against Tyler's chest like a dry, insistent gust carrying the acrid tang of disturbed soil and distant smoke, only feeling slightly warm against his skin, a teasing brush that did little to thaw the icy knot of dread coiling in his gut, his mind screaming silently in futile protest: *No, stop, don't go toward her, you idiot! This is suicide!*

Immediately, Anna shot like a bullet from the sky, the rush of her descent whipping the air into a howling vortex that tugged at Tyler's clothes and stung his eyes with grit, her white hair whipping behind her in wild, silken strands that trailed a luminous haze, her expression serious, brows furrowed, lips pressed into a thin line of focused intensity.

She left a streak of white behind her like a comet's tail, shimmering and fading with ethereal sparks.

She immediately appeared in front of Tyler as her sword arced towards him to strike him down, the blade slicing through the air with a high, keening whistle that raised the hairs on his neck.

The void entity raised its own black shadow sword, the movement swift and mechanical, the hilt's oily texture slick under the grip that Tyler felt as a distant, nauseating pressure in his own fingers.

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The swords clashed with a resounding ting, the impact jarring through Tyler's bones like a thunderclap, metal on metal vibrating in his teeth and sending sparks of shadow and light scattering like embers; an explosive, invisible shockwave ballooned out from between them with a resounding bang that followed, a deafening crack that pounded in his ears and left them ringing, the force slamming into his chest like a physical blow, stealing his breath in a gasp he couldn't voice.

It caused the ground beneath them to erupt into a crater, earth crumbling with a deep, rumbling groan, chunks of soil and grass flying upward in a gritty spray that peppered Tyler's face with damp clods, the scent of fresh-turned dirt thick and loamy in his nostrils; the grass peeled away in ragged strips, whispering as it tore.

The ground itself vibrated as if it feared the power those two wielded, the tremors buzzing through Tyler's soles and up his spine, amplifying the terror surging in his imprisoned mind, a whirlwind of panic and rage: *This hurts, everything hurts! Get out of my body, damn you!*

The void entity stared right into Anna's eyes, its gaze piercing like a cold blade through fog.

Then, the entity's eyes changed from blue to complete black, the shift happening with a subtle, inky bleed that Tyler felt as a deepening chill in his own sockets, like ink pooling in water, drowning out the light and leaving a hollow ache behind.

And then suddenly, Tyler's world turned black as well, a blinding darkness that seared his vision with stark, emptiness, the abruptness hitting him like a slap of icy wind, "What the hell? What just... what just happened?"

His voice echoed faintly in his mind, raw with confusion and a bubbling frustration that tightened his throat, even as the words dissolved into the void without resistance.

He could no longer hear anything, or see anything, the silence pressing in like a heavy, suffocating blanket that muffled even the phantom thrum of his heartbeat, leaving only the faint, internal hum of his own blood rushing in his ears; the blindness wrapped around him like endless cotton, disorienting and absolute, stirring a clawing panic in his chest that made his breaths come in shallow, mental gasps.

He was now standing in a black void, the ground beneath his feet, or what felt like feet, yielding slightly like soft, endless tar, cool and sticky against his soles, the vast emptiness carrying no scent but a faint, musty nothingness that clogged his nostrils and amplified his isolation.

And he looked at his hands, the motion deliberate yet surreal, his fingers flexing with a tentative creak of joints he could feel but not fully trust.

"I can move, but no, this isn't it. I must still be trapped." The words tumbled out laced with bitter doubt, a knot of hope twisting painfully in his gut only to unravel into deeper despair, his skin prickling with the eerie sensation of being both free and caged.

Suddenly, at the corner of his eye, Tyler saw something move, a subtle shift in the darkness like a ripple in oil, the motion sending a jolt of adrenaline surging through him, his pulse quickening with a sharp, electric buzz.

He immediately turned around to look, the pivot swift and instinctive, his neck muscles tensing with a faint burn against the void's resistance.

And he saw it. It was.... himself? The sight hit like a punch to the sternum, stealing his breath in a silent whoosh, the duplicate form standing there with an uncanny familiarity that twisted his stomach into nauseous knots.

*What the hell?* he thought, the question scorching through his mind like hot ash, laced with a raw edge of disbelief and creeping horror.

"Who are you?" he muttered, the words low and gravelly, vibrating in his throat with a mix of defiance and fear, the sound swallowed by the void but echoing back in his skull like a taunt.

His other self was staring down, the posture rigid and unnerving, shadows pooling around its feet like spilled ink, the air around it humming faintly with an oppressive weight that pressed against Tyler's chest.

And then he looked up, the motion slow and deliberate, lifting his gaze with a smoothness that sent a chill skittering down Tyler's spine, the shift stirring the void into subtle, whispering currents.

Its eyes were a deep, hollow black, abyssal pools that sucked in light and reflected nothing, the sight igniting a primal revulsion in Tyler's core, a sour bile rising in his throat as recognition dawned like a cold dawn.

And he immediately knew, this thing, this was a void entity, the certainty crashing over him like a wave of frigid water.

"You, give me back my body, right now," he said, the demand sharp and forceful, edged with a desperate fury that burned in his veins, his voice cracking slightly on the last word as frustration boiled over.

The soul entity tilted its head in response, the gesture curious and mocking, a faint creak echoing in the silence like twisting bone, and it walked forward, the steps silent as if mute against the vast darkness, each advance sending invisible ripples through the void that Tyler felt as subtle vibrations under his skin, like distant thunder without sound.

He froze, looking at it, his muscles locking with a rigid tension that ached in his limbs.

It stepped closer and closer, the proximity building an electric charge in the air that prickled Tyler's arms with gooseflesh, the entity's presence radiating a cloying chill that seeped into his bones.

Tyler instinctively got in to a fighting stance, his body shifting with instinctive fluidity, fists clenching until his knuckles throbbed white-hot, the pose grounding him amid the disorientation, a faint metallic tang of fear coating his tongue.

"What is it that you're trying to do?" The question came out steady but laced with underlying venom, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm against his ribs

The void entity was now a few feet away from him, close enough that Tyler could feel the subtle displacement.

It spoke in a deep voice that didn't sound like his, resonant and gravelly, vibrating through the void like echoes in a cavern: "Your body, but I thought this is our body, don't you remember? I am a part of you."

Tyler then replied, his voice hardening with resolve, the words pushing past the lump of betrayal in his throat: "Then if you're a part of me, why are you resisting? Why aren't you letting me take control?"

"Because you're weak," the void entity said, its voice echoing through the blackness like a distant rumble, low and resonant, carrying a chill that seeped into Tyler's core and made his phantom skin crawl with unease.

Tyler said, "What? Why is it that you think that I'm weak?" His words came out sharp, laced with a defiant edge that masked the tremor of doubt twisting in his gut. " Am not week, why won't you just lend it to me and see what happens? Let me use it. Let me use the shadow armor."

The void entity tilted its head again, the motion slow and deliberate, a faint whisper of shifting shadow brushing against the void like silk on stone, and repeated the words, "Shadow armor...." The repetition hung in the emptiness, drawn out and mocking, stirring a faint, acrid bitterness in Tyler's throat as if tasting the entity's disdain.

Tyler nodded, the gesture firm despite the disorienting weightlessness, saying, "Yes, the shadow armor. This would end in an instant if I used it." His voice steadied with a flicker of desperate hope, the idea igniting a warm spark in his chest that clashed against the surrounding cold.

The void entity looked down, pausing for a moment that stretched like taut sinew, the silence thickening around them into a palpable pressure that squeezed Tyler's temples and amplified the faint, erratic thrum of his own thoughts.

It looked at him, almost as if assessing him, its hollow black eyes boring in with an intensity that felt like icy fingers probing his skull, and it said, "No."

Tyler said, "What? But why not?" His fists slowly lowering down, the motion heavy with reluctant defeat, muscles aching from the tension as a cold wave of rejection washed over him.

The void entity then said, "I'll take care of this on my own. There's no need to make others. I don't like sharing my food." The words slithered out with a possessive growl, the entity's form radiating a subtle, oppressive heat that prickled Tyler's skin like embers too close.

"Food? What are you talking about?" Tyler demanded, his voice rising with a mix of confusion and rising alarm, the question burning on his tongue like unsaid accusations.

The void entity replied, "The energy. This world. I'll have it all to myself. I'll consume everything. Perhaps after that, I'll even move on to the next one." Its tone deepened into a voracious hunger.

Tyler's eyes widened as he thought to himself, *This thing wants to consume the world?* The realization hit like a frigid gust, widening the pit in his stomach into a yawning void of horror, his breaths coming quicker, shallower, laced with the metallic tang of fear.

The void entity then looked at Tyler and said, "I don't even need you anymore. Your feelings, they are..... distracting." The dismissal carried a finality that stung like salt in an open wound, amplifying the isolation pressing in from all sides.

Tyler then said, "You're insane if you think I'm going to let you do that." The retort burst forth with raw fury

He then launched his fist right at the void entity, the swing cutting through the darkness with a whoosh of displaced air, his knuckles throbbing with anticipated impact, driven by a desperate surge of rebellion that made his blood roar in his ears.

And it grabbed his fist, its grip clamping down like iron chilled in frost, the contact sending a jolt of numbing cold up Tyler's arm that made his teeth clench against the pain, and it said, "You don't need these things. You shouldn't be feeling anything at all. You shouldn't be feeling the need to fight." The words dripped with condescending calm.

His eyes widened, the blackness around him seeming to pulse with a sudden, insidious pull as he felt the energy in his body drain from him like sand slipping through clenched fingers, a cold, leaching void that left his veins aching with emptiness and his legs starting to feel weak, buckling slightly under an invisible weight that made his knees tremble with fatigue.

His breath hitched, catching in his throat with a sharp, ragged rasp that echoed faintly in the void, as he said, "You're wrong, these feelings, they're exactly what I need in this world. They helped me get to where I am. They helped me survive in this world."

The words spilled out defiant and breathless, laced with a desperate conviction that burned in his chest like a fading ember.

The void entity immediately countered, "You're wrong." Its voice resonated low and unyielding, vibrating through the darkness like a distant quake, carrying no warmth.

Tyler continued saying, " I need them " The assertion pushed past his lips with a strained grit, his voice cracking under the strain as a fresh wave of exhaustion tugged at him.

He immediately fell onto his knee, the impact jarring through his leg with a dull thud against the yielding void-floor, cool and spongy beneath his palm as he caught himself, feeling his energy drain even more.

He sighed, the sound heavy and labored, escaping in a slow exhale that misted faintly in the chill, he felt his breath coming in slow, heavy exhales, each one dragging like lead from his lungs, the air tasting stale and metallic on his tongue.

He felt something with this soul entity, a strange, intangible tether, like a thread woven into his very essence.

It was telling the truth, but he couldn't deny it, the certainty settling in his gut like a stone, cold and unmovable; he somehow felt like it was a part of him, a mirror of his own shadow, but it felt like it was empty, a yawning abyss that echoed back his own fading vitality, stirring a mix of reluctant kinship and revulsion that twisted his stomach into knots.

He then muttered, "These feelings, you need them too." The words were soft, almost pleading, whispered through gritted teeth as a bead of sweat trickled down his temple, salty and warm against the encroaching cold.

The void entity, unfeeling, unmoved, replied, "You don't need them, you just want them. Right now, I do not feel. I am hollow, and I should be hollow. I will fill this hollow void with the world, and you should too." Its tone remained flat and cavernous, the declaration humming through the space like a low wind, devoid of inflection but heavy with an insatiable hunger that made the surrounding darkness feel denser.

Tyler looked at it surprised, his brows furrowing with a sharp intake of breath that stung his dry throat, "What do you mean by that?"

"If you crave these feelings, I will make you feel. If you think feelings do matter, I wonder how long you'll last. In the end, you'd want to be just like me, a hollow entity in a full world." The words slithered out with a subtle menace, igniting a spark of defiant fear in Tyler's core.

"Now," it said, as it let go of Tyler's hand, the release sudden and jarring, leaving his fingers tingling with residual numbness and a faint, oily residue that clung to his skin like chilled tar, "fall."

Tyler felt the floor of the void turn into a thick liquid like black oil, the surface yielding beneath his feet with a viscous squelch that enveloped his soles in a cloying, slick grip, cold and heavy, pulling him downward as he sunk in it.

The substance clang to his skin with a nauseating stickiness, his energy draining even more and more, a relentless ebb that left his limbs heavy, his breaths shallow and labored against the growing weight in his chest.

As he saw the void entity looking at him with eyes black and narrowed, the gaze piercing like shards of obsidian, his own eyes closed as if he was going unconscious, the lids fluttering against a wave of exhaustion that blurred the edges of his vision into fading shadows, a final, futile spark of resistance flickering in his mind before the darkness swallowed him whole.

Within this darkness he felt something, a subtle shift, like a veil parting; he felt something warm, a gentle heat blooming against his back like sunlight filtering through clouds, stirring a faint, comforting glow in his core that clashed with the lingering chill, and then he felt a slight cold air brushing his face, crisp and whispering, carrying a faint, musty scent of enclosed spaces and distant dust.

Something whooshing as if rotating like a fan, the rhythmic hum vibrating faintly through the air, stirring stray hairs on his arms with each pass, the sound building into a steady drone that pulsed in his ears like a mechanical heartbeat.

He then heard sounds of sobbing, like sounds of a muffled child's cry, the whimpers soft and ragged, echoing with a heartbreaking hitch that tugged at his gut, laced with a raw vulnerability that made his own throat ache in sympathy, the cries dampened as if filtered through walls, yet piercing enough to quicken his pulse with instinctive concern.

He blinked his eyes open, the motion slow and sticky, lashes parting against a haze of disorientation, and there he was, standing in a room with a white carpet under his feet, the fibers soft and plush against his bare soles, yielding slightly with a faint, muffled crunch under his weight.

He wasn't wearing boots anymore, the absence leaving his feet exposed to the carpet's subtle warmth, but he was still shirtless, his skin prickling with gooseflesh in the room's cool draft, wearing the brown pants that he had, the fabric rough and worn against his thighs.

But he was back, back in his world, the realization hitting with a dizzying rush that made his head spin, a mix of relief and bewilderment churning in his stomach like unsettled water.

He was confused, thinking, *How did i get here?*

The question burned in his mind, sharp and urgent, laced with a bitter tang of uncertainty that coated his tongue, his heart thudding unevenly as he scanned the space, the air thick with an unfamiliar stillness that amplified his isolation.

And he looked down, the glance downward pulling at his neck muscles with a faint twinge, and he saw a small child curled up in a corner, the tiny form huddled tight, shoulders shaking with each muffled sob, the cries now clearer, high-pitched and trembling, stirring a protective ache in his chest that mingled with the confusion, the child's presence radiating a fragile warmth in the otherwise sterile room.

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