We were definitely going to need more paperwork.

  As if sensing my dread of administrative duties, the void suddenly... shuddered. It wasn't like the usual chaos entity mishaps or interdimensional filing errors. This felt wrong.

  "Something's wrong with the void," said Zephyr Nightshade, watching our indigo flames flicker uneasily. The party planning forms on our desk began to dissolve, reality itself seeming to recoil from whatever was approaching.

  Aria felt it too – through our connection, I could sense her warrior instincts screaming warnings. The predatory smile she usually wore faded into something more serious.

  "You feel that?" Bob materialized, their usually playful form rippling with genuine fear. "THE DARKNESS... IT'S NOT LIKE US."

  Before we could respond, Luna burst through the office door, her staff creating warning patterns we'd never seen before. The usual golden light of her magic had turned pale, almost sickly.

  "Multiple breaches," she reported, voice tight. "Lower dimensions first, but they're spreading. These readings... they're impossible."

  Through the viewing portals, we could see them – shadows that moved like liquid nightmare, consuming everything they touched. Not chaos, not void, but something that existed before both.

  "Void Wraiths," the Architect materialized, his form unusually unstable. "They were sealed away before the first dream. Before reality itself took shape."

  Rex charged in, his sparkly fur actually dimming – something we didn't think was possible. "The chaos entities in sectors 7 through 13 just went dark. Not corrupted, not transformed. Just... gone."

  "Gone?" said Zephyr Nightshade, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with temperature. "How can they be gone? We're connected to everything in reality."

  "That's just it," Luna's staff created a complex diagram. "Whatever's happening isn't part of reality. At least, not our reality."

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  Through our connection, Aria shared a revelation. "The spaces before spaces. Where the first nightmare lived..."

  The Architect's form flickered violently. "No. She was sealed away. The dreamer itself made sure of that."

  "She?" Rex asked, fur standing on end.

  Before anyone could answer, every viewing portal in the Sanctuary activated at once. The image they showed made the Void King look like a pleasant dream.

  A figure moved through the darkness between realities, her form made of stolen dreams and corrupted possibilities. Where she passed, reality didn't just break – it un-became.

  "The Void Queen," the Architect whispered. "The dreamer's nightmare given form."

  "Well," said Zephyr Nightshade, watching another dimension fade from existence, "this might put a damper on our party plans."

  Aria elbowed me, but I felt her appreciation for the attempt at humor through our connection. We'd need every bit of lightness we could get for what was coming.

  "The Protocols," Luna's voice shook slightly. "She's not just attacking reality – she's corrupting the very rules we created to balance it."

  Through the portals, we could see it happening. Each Void Wraith wasn't just destroying – it was transforming everything it touched into something wrong. Order became entropy, chaos became stagnation, and balance... balance became void.

  "We need to evacuate the lower dimensions," said Zephyr Nightshade, our indigo flames already preparing for battle. "Get every chaos entity to the safe zones."

  "It won't be enough," the Architect produced a crystal that seemed to be made of pure possibility – something we'd created from the essence of the first dream itself. "We need the Core Protocol."

  "That's not stable!" Luna protested. "We haven't even tested it!"

  "Neither was dying and becoming cosmic maintenance workers," said Zephyr Nightshade, sharing a look with Aria. "But here we are."

  Through our connection, we could feel something massive approaching. The Void Queen wasn't just launching an attack – she was coming to reclaim what she believed was hers: reality itself.

  "Gather everyone," said Zephyr Nightshade, our indigo flames pulsing with determination. "We've got a nightmare to wake up from."

  As we prepared for battle, the void itself seemed to weep. The Void Queen's presence grew stronger, her corruption spreading like poison through the dimensions we'd worked so hard to balance.

  "Ready?" Aria asked through our connection, her predatory grin returning with an edge of steel.

  "To fight the physical manifestation of primordial nightmares?" said Zephyr Nightshade, feeling our power build to new levels. "With you? Always."

  The battle for existence was about to begin. Again.

  And this time, losing meant more than death – it meant un-becoming.

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