Chapter 53: Voice

Sen and Josar stood side by side in the vast stillness of the Void. Above, the sky loomed in unnatural silence, filled with moons each suspended in perfect stillness, casting pale, silver light. Sen tilted his head, eyes tracing their frozen orbit. There was no wind, no sound, or no passage of time, only the distant presence of something vast and waiting.

Sen: This is the place? The Void?

Josar: Yeah… It’s where we would all go. Our hiding place.

Sen: It’s dark here.

Josar: It is. It’s where Zagons are born.

From the far distance, two lights shined up— one to the far left, the other to the far right, piercing through the dim, moonlit haze of the Void like twin beacons. They pulsed softly, slow and rhythmic. Sen narrowed his eyes, uncertain, but Josar didn’t need to question it. He knew. One was Aku. The other, Sicrus.

Josar: I see…

Sen: Hm?

Josar: They’re waiting for us. Sicrus is over there. That’s his Intergy, and Aku is over there.

Sen: They want to meet us separately…

Josar sighed.

Josar: They’re making it difficult for us.

Sen: Should we signal for them to come here instead?

Josar: No. We’d wait forever.

A small moment of silence.

Sen: You’re going to see Sicrus, aren’t you?

Josar: It’s only right you meet with Aku.

Sen: Yeah… I suppose so…

Sen looked over to Josar for a moment.

Sen: You’ll be ok?

Josar: I’ll be fine. I just need to talk to him and then catch up to you and Aku.

Sen: What if I just go with you?

Josar: No. Don’t keep Aku waiting.

Sen: Ok…

Josar: I’ll see you later.

Sen: See you soon.

Sen and Josar turned and walked in opposite directions, their footsteps echoing softly across the obsidian surface of the Void. The distance between them stretched slowly, endlessly, the two figures growing smaller in each other’s eyes with every step. Time lost its grip as moments passed in silence, each step heavy with the weight of what was to come. Finally, Josar rounded a jagged bend in the terrain and found Sicrus standing there, arms folded, waiting with a look that was neither welcoming nor hostile… just ready. Far on the other side, Sen continued forward through the dim haze until he saw Aku, alone, standing still with his back turned, eyes fixed on the unmoving sky.

Sicrus: You finally made it.

Josar didn’t respond right away.

Sicrus: Welcome back. It’s been a while.

Josar: Small talk?

Sicrus: Yeah… We’re going to miss it…

Josar: We’re not going to miss anything. Quit talking like you’re going to die or something.

Sicrus smiles but doesn’t argue.

Josar: Sicrus, you can stop. Come back and help rebuild the world.

Sicrus: You can’t be serious, Josar. Even you should know that’s not possible. You should stop… stop playing dumb.

Josar: It is possible though.

Sicrus: You want me to return to the world I helped destroy? You think I can come back as if nothing happened?

Josar didn’t answer.

Sicrus: I killed so many people. There’s so much blood on my hands. I can’t just fit myself back. You should know that.

Josar: You can try.

Sicrus shook his head.

Sicrus: No, Josar. You can return, not me. Not Aku. You on the other hand… You never took a life.

Josar: But, I gave you all a way into Krutone. I set the portal in there.

Sicrus: We were always going to get in, with or without you. Don’t try to find a way to blame yourself for something you never wanted to get into.

Josar: But I—

Sicrus: It’s ok, Josar. You don’t have to take the shame.

Josar stopped.

Sicrus: You already took more fault than you deserve.

A brief pause. Josar looked down.

Josar: I hate this, Sicrus.

Sicrus: I know.

Josar looked back up.

Josar: So, what now? Can you come back?

Sicrus shook his head.

Sicrus: You’re gonna have to kill the soul Aku passed to me. It’s how we’re going to get rid of The Orb. Then, we can finally put a true end to everything.

Josar: And then, we can return?

Sicrus smiled.

Sicrus: Sure.

Josar paused for a moment.

Josar: You’re lying…

The ground beneath Josar quaked as Sicrus slowly extended his arms outward, fingers trembling, and released a surge of Intergy unlike anything Josar had ever felt, an eruption of dark and light entwined like a cosmic spiral, spinning faster and faster. The air thickened, pressing against Josar’s skin. From the center of Sicrus’s chest, a form of Intergy emerged. The Queen. The Zagon’s form materialized around Sicrus, its jaws splitting in angular, unnatural directions and its face carved with expressionless cruelty. Wind tore across the terrain in every direction, howling like the voices of the forgotten. Yet even amidst the chaos, Josar could still see him, Sicrus, encased within the Queen’s body, eyes closed. The Queen was awake and alive.

The Queen moved. Not with the sluggish crawl of a beast, but with the terrifying speed. Its claws, one of pure light, the other of churning darkness, extended like blades. With a shriek that fractured the silence of the Void, the Zagon lunged at Josar, its jagged limbs slicing the air in a blur of fused Intergy. Josar reacted instantly. His body kicked off the ground, and in a crackling pulse, lightning burst from his heels. He zipped sideways, then upward, riding a curve of arcing thunder through the air. His boots skidded across a slope of stone, sparks trailing behind him. Another claw missed his back by inches, carving deep trenches into the terrain where he had just been.

The hunt was relentless. The Queen darted through the Void with impossible grace for its size, tearing through spires of black stone and flinging shards across the battlefield. Josar leapt from one platform to another, channeling wind beneath his feet to lift him when he needed elevation, then snapping into bursts of lightning to gain speed. The Void lit up with their chase. Blue flashes and waves of fused light-dark Intergy colliding midair. He could feel Sicrus inside that thing, somewhere, but it wasn’t him anymore.

The Queen twisted mid-leap and sent a wide slash of dark Intergy spinning outward. Josar ducked under it, vaulted off a stone ridge, and spun into a sideways lightning streak. But he was too slow this time. A single claw clipped his arm, just a graze, but it burned like both fire and ice, tearing through the fabric of his coat and cutting a shallow line into his flesh.

Gritting his teeth, Josar responded with instinct. His fist glowed bright blue with coursing voltage, and he launched upward. He slammed a lightning punch directly into the Queen’s face. The hit landed with a deafening boom, blasting the Zagon backward across the terrain in a spiraling arc. Stone shattered beneath it as it skidded, carving a massive trench in the Void's black ground. But the pause lasted only a breath. The Queen rebounded violently. Its legs launched it forward with the velocity of a cannon. There was no time for escape. Josar didn’t run.

Instead, he grounded his feet and braced. Lightning poured from his arms, swirling around his fists and forearms like glowing gauntlets. The Queen’s claw met his first strike mid-air, a collision of claw and thunder. Josar spun, parried another incoming blow, then landed a sharp punch to the side of the creature’s neck. The Zagon countered with a sweeping slash, which Josar blocked with a lightning-encased forearm, the energy deflecting the blow with a concussive crack. They moved in sync, hunter and hunted, predator and prey, claw and fist. But Josar pushed forward.

He planted his feet, gathered charge at his core, and then with a guttural cry, drove both fists forward into the Zagon’s center, where Sicrus’s chest would’ve been. A burst of white-blue lightning exploded from the impact, rippling through the Zagon’s body and launching it backwards in a shockwave of force.

Josar (thinking): Damn. I have to be careful to not hit Sicrus. 

But before the debris even settled, the Queen retaliated. From within the dust cloud, spinning blades of fused dark and light Intergy tore out in all directions. They screamed through the air like serrated stars, each one pulsing with chaotic Intergy. Josar dodged to the left, then forward, vaulting over one blade and ducking another, but a third caught him along the back of his leg. A sharp sting ripped through his calf, and blood flicked into the air.

He stumbled, nearly falling, but just as the Queen lunged forward again, jaws open and claws extended, Josar summoned wind beneath his feet and blasted himself sideways in a gust. The Queen’s strike missed, carving a crater where he’d been. In midair, Josar twisted, raised a hand, and fired a bolt of lightning directly into the Zagon’s chest. It struck with precision, bursting through its plated form and forcing it back once more, smoke curling from the wound.

The Queen shrieked, enraged but unrelenting. It sprinted again, charging in with terrifying momentum, but Josar was ready. He flung three spheres of charged lightning forward, each one glowing, unstable, hissing with electricity. As the Queen advanced, one of the bombs collided with its flank. The explosion was voltage, raw and blinding. A thunderclap echoed across the Void as arcs of lightning wrapped around the creature’s body, halting its charge in a blast of sheer electrical fury.

Josar stood his ground, panting, blood dripping from his leg, arms sparking and shaking, but still ready. The Queen lowered its head, and its jaws unhinged with a slow, deliberate creak, revealing a glowing core of condensed Intergy. Light surged from deep within its throat. With a guttural, vibrating howl, it unleashed a beam of light Intergy that ripped across the Void. The ground beneath its path instantly scorched, leaving molten trails in its wake.

But Josar was faster. A crack of thunder rang out as he disappeared in a streak of blue. He dashed sideways, riding a rail of lightning that curved and climbed, cutting through the beam’s edge by inches. The force of the blast seared across his shoulder, just enough to singe cloth and skin, but he stayed upright. Without hesitation, Josar twisted midair and launched a concentrated thunderbolt from his palm. It crackled across the darkness and slammed into the Queen’s side, sending sparks scattering against its armored skin.

The Zagon recoiled, but only for a heartbeat. With unnatural grace, it leapt into the air, ascending higher than Josar expected. Then it folded in like a predator, its massive form twisting and diving straight toward him. Josar, still descending from his lightning-dodge, realized it too late. He was midair, exposed, the Queen barreling down like a meteor made of claws and Intergy. He barely touched the ground when it landed. There was no time to strike back, only to shield. Josar planted his feet and thrust his hands forward, channeling everything into a wall of pulsing energy. A sphere of lightning erupted around him like a dome, humming and alive with raw voltage. The Queen crashed down with full weight, slamming into the barrier with a deafening shockwave. Cracks spidered through the edges of the dome.

But Josar didn’t let it break. With a yell that shook the ground beneath him, Josar exploded the barrier outward, turning defense into offense. Lightning surged in all directions, detonating against the Queen’s body and flinging it backward in a violent blast. Its claws scraped across stone as it was thrown, shrieking, arcs of light and dark Intergy flickering chaotically around its form. Josar stood in the center of the impact zone, chest heaving, the last sparks of his barrier still buzzing around his shoulders.

Josar (thinking): If I aim for its head, I can avoid hitting Sicrus.

The Queen skidded across the Void. Its limbs jerked, twitching unnaturally as it rose, glowing cracks flickering along its chest and shoulders where lightning had struck. Its angular jaws opened in a distorted screech. It didn’t wait this time. One instant it stood, the next, Josar’s world was flipped upside down as a claw of pure Intergy smashed into him from the side, sending him hurtling through the air. He slammed through a jagged spire. He rolled, twisted, and recovered mid-air, limbs cracked with voltage. Josar twisted and launched a volley of lightning spears from his outstretched hands. They zipped forward like divine javelins, each one splitting the air with a sharp crack. The Queen responded in kind, raising a curtain of spiraling fused Intergy to deflect the assault. The lightning hit, exploded, and warped the battlefield in pulses of raw pressure, but the Zagon didn’t falter. It leapt through the final blast, landing with such force that a crater imploded beneath it, ejecting waves of shattered stone in all directions.

Josar was already dashing sideways along the rim of the crater with wind at his heels, vaulting off falling debris to gain height. He spun in midair and descended with both fists aglow, crashing into the Queen’s face with a devastating electric slam. The Zagon roared and whirled, its tail cracking outward like a whip. It struck Josar across the chest, flinging him in a wide arc that sent him skimming the ground before catching himself with a burst of wind. He barely landed when the Queen was already in front of him again.

Josar raised a barrier of lightning, but the Queen’s twin claws slashed through it. He ducked, twisted, and countered with a bolt from the ground from his fist, which exploded at the Queen’s core and sent it staggering. He launched upward, spinning with a spiraling tornado of voltage trailing behind him like a cyclone. With a furious cry, he brought his fist down into the Queen’s exposed skull.

The Queen recovered and unleashed a concussive pulse from its body, blasting Josar midair. His body twisted violently, electricity flickering around him. He slammed into the ground, arm twitching. The Queen didn’t stop. It launched itself into the sky and came crashing down with a full-body slam, aiming to end him.

But Josar disappeared in a streak of blue. He reappeared, zigzagging above the Queen and called every remaining volt in his soul, lightning surged around his arms. His eyes glowed blue. He plummeted. With a final, thunderous scream of energy, Josar collided with the Queen’s head. The impact was cataclysmic. The ground split. Light erupted. The Void cracked open, exposing a radiant rift beneath them. The Queen’s skull crunched inward, splintering with fractures of brilliant white and black. Intergy screeched from its wounds. Its body arced back in pain, slamming into the jagged earth, motionless for now.

Josar collapsed to one knee, chest heaving, his hands burned and sparking. His muscles screamed. His blood traced lines down his ribs. Across from him, the Queen twitched again, its form unstable, pulsing, but not yet done. Sicrus was still inside.

Josar (thinking): Now I can do it! The Zagon is crippled. I have time! 

Josar stepped forward, his breath ragged but steady, his arms raised at his sides as raw lightning began coiling up through his veins. Blue electric light pulsed under his skin and through his veins, illuminating muscle and tendon in flickering arcs. His forearms bulged, glowing with so much voltage that the fabric of his sleeves couldn’t take it, tearing and burning sheer Intergy. The battlefield responded. Every loose current, every stray spark from the devastation around them was pulled toward him like a magnet.

The Void cracked as Josar launched himself forward. His trajectory was sharp, honed, streaking toward the Queen, but the Zagon reacted. From its throat burst a torrent of Intergy, twisting light and darkness fused together in a wide beam, unstable and howling. Josar didn’t try to curve away or shield. He charged straight into it, already committed to his attack. The beam slammed into him, but he gritted his teeth, roared against the pain, and pushed through. The storm curled around him like armor, lightning crackling from his back and shoulders.

And then came the strike. Josar barreled through the beam’s core, and at the exact moment the Queen’s jaws opened wider in a defensive shriek, he drove his punch forward with unstoppable precision, straight into the beast’s mouth. The impact was cataclysmic. His fist didn’t just connect, it pierced. Bone, Intergy, armor… it didn’t matter. His knuckles broke through the Queen’s skull with divine voltage. Lightning erupted in all directions, exploding from the back of the Queen’s head in a jagged burst of blinding, fractal light, its body flying back from the impact. The shockwave shredded across the Void, disintegrating stone and vaporizing the black terrain in a flash of blue.

The Queen staggered backward, its monstrous body spasming as arcs of unstable Intergy flickered wildly across its frame. Fractures split down its face like shattered glass. Its claws drooped. Its limbs buckled. And then, in silence, the creature collapsed on its weakened legs. Its form began to unravel almost immediately. Segments of its armor cracked, broke, and dissolved into spirals of fading Intergy. One by one, the limbs and plates of the Queen vanished into the air, dissolving in silence, reduced to shimmering particles caught in the Void’s stillness.

And from the center of what remained, a figure fell forward. Sicrus. His body dropped to his knees, smoke still rising faintly from his back and shoulders. His head hung low, arms limp at his sides, just a man, scarred and barely breathing. His face was pale, his lips trembling, a faint trace of steam escaping his mouth as he exhaled. He didn’t speak, but he was alive. Alive and free.

Josar’s heart stopped for a moment. Then his legs moved before thought could catch them. He ran forward, through the fading mist and scorched air, and dropped to his knees across from him. The static still crackled faintly around his arms, his skin streaked with soot and blood, but all of it was forgotten the moment he saw Sicrus’s eyes lift, slow, heavy, and full of something Josar couldn’t name. Regret. Josar reached out, one hand grasping Sicrus’s shoulder, steadying him before he could fall completely. For a moment, they just breathed, both kneeling in the crumbled remains of their shared history.

Josar: Sicrus...

Sicrus didn’t respond right away. He knew something about him felt different.

Josar: You’re still alive.

Sicrus: You did it… you fought well… I figured you would.

Josar: Are you ok?

Sicrus smiled gently.

Sicrus: I’m going to be ok… but not the way you want me to.

Josar: What? What does that mean?

Sicrus: I can… feel myself fading away.

Josar: Why?

Sicrus (thinking): I get it now… Aku wanted to split them so Josar and Sen could handle each one…

Josar: Sicrus? You’re still with me right?

Sicrus: Not for long…

Josar: I made sure to not strike at you.

Sicrus: That soul… was part of The Orb… And it became attached to my own… You did well…

Josar’s face dropped.

Sicrus: You did well…

Josar clenched his teeth, trying to hold himself together. He could see Sicrus losing life in his eyes.

Josar: I hate how things are this way… especially, when it didn't have to be.

A brief pause. Sicrus looked up to Josar.

Sicrus: Do you remember… when you said… you wanted to be good?

Josar recalled the orphanage.

Sicrus: You’re exactly that…

Josar began to shed a few tears, his face unchanging.

Sicrus: I know Aku isn’t here… but I’m sure he believes the same thing… and even though he’ll never get to say it to you, I know he’s proud of you… because I am…

Josar (voice breaking): I hate this, Sicrus…

Sicrus: I’m not asking for forgiveness… but I want you to know, I’m sorry… I’m sorry for putting you in this position… I'm sorry for being a bad friend when you’ve only ever been a good one… Don't become what hurts you…

In that moment, Josar remembered… Grandpa… A moment of silence.

Sicrus: So… this is what death feels like… I can feel my Intergy fading.

Josar held back more tears from falling.

Josar: Sicrus…

Sicrus: Thank you for hearing my voice, especially when I never spoke for myself… Thank you and Aku… for being the family that I didn’t deserve… you both have been true brothers…

Sicrus’s breath slowly dimmed.

Sicrus (voice softening): Josar… can I die on your shoulders?

Josar guided Sicrus’s head to his shoulder… and then, without meaning to, buried his face into Sicrus’s. Subtle sounds of weeping could be heard from him. He was holding in his pain while holding in Sicrus… and before he knew it, he couldn’t feel any breathing, any movement, any Intergy coming from Sicrus. Josar said nothing…