Chapter Four: A Lovely Journey and Memories of the Past with Breathtaking Views (:

  Tayren walked alongside Iron, their footsteps echoing faintly on a ground that refused sound — as if it devoured it entirely.

  His thoughts began to settle slowly, with his inner voice attempting to sort through the chaos:

  “Alright, let’s put everything where it belongs...

  I’m in the Void.

  I’m called the Prince of the Void.

  I was exiled here.

  The great knight Iron was assigned to accompany me… to protect me.

  But he’s also a bde hanging over my neck.

  If I try to escape the Void, he might cut off my head — or more likely, my foot, or my arm — and drag me back.

  And he doesn’t allow me to hear the whispers of the Void, or delve into it.”

  He paused for a moment, gncing around at the surrounding darkness.

  “But… why would I even want to delve into it?”

  Then, he realized something odd…

  His body — walking, breathing — cast no shadow.

  He noticed it when he drew closer to Iron, who carried a ntern. Naturally, the light should have cast a shadow behind him…

  But nothing.

  The Void was dark, yes — and shadow doesn’t exist where light is absent.

  But near Iron, with a clear ntern glowing… his body reflected no light, cast no shadow.

  As he continued walking, that moment returned to him…

  The moment he saw the “Mirror of the Soul.”

  His Origin had been described in strange terms — unlike anything else.

  Origin: [Born of the Void]

  ---

  Description of the Origin:

  “You are born of the Void.

  No one heard, and no one will ever hear, your cry.

  No one shares your suffering.

  Only the Void, in its cold silence, holds you…

  It alone heard it.

  And that is your only soce.

  The Void embraces you as if you were never born.”

  ---

  “The Void embraces you as if you were never born…”

  Tayren whispered it to himself.

  When he first read those words, he hadn’t tried to understand them.

  But now… now, he began to think.

  “As if you were never born…”

  He had no shadow.

  Shadows are tied to the soul…

  He had no scent — which was strange.

  He should have smelled like garbage after living in this pce, but there was nothing.

  “Hmm…”

  He kicked a bone on the ground with all his strength.

  It made no sound.

  He whispered again:

  “As if you were never born…”

  So… he left no trace in this world.

  Technically, he had a physical presence — but he had no echo.

  No aura around him.

  Even the few beasts that had attacked them were erased by Iron in a single blow — none had sensed Tayren’s presence.

  And that made sense. Iron was a knight trained by the High King himself — the strongest warrior known in ancient or modern times.

  Tayren had seen in the “Prince of the Void’s” memories that the prince’s father once entered a great battle against his own son…

  When the Firstborn of the Void merged with the Void and lost control.

  But the king defeated him.

  Defeated the Void itself.

  He was known as the King of Echo.

  The memories of the Prince of the Void were fractured — cracked like broken gss.

  Everything before his union with the Void… erased,

  Swallowed by the abyss of Void-consciousness — the awareness of a cosmic being.

  And Tayren had watched…

  From the front row?

  No — from within the show itself.

  ------

  It was a beautiful show, wasn't it? (: