The obsidian platform suspended in the cosmic nothingness felt like the loneliest place in the universe. There were no walls here to bounce sound back, no floor beyond the floating disc of black stone, and no ceiling but the swirling, nauseating vortex of the Void itself.
Simon stood twenty feet from the throne of dead stars. His chest heaved, the Star-metal armor scraping against his skin as his muscles coiled tight. The "Triangle" mark over his heart was burning with a fierce, white heat, fighting the oppressive cold that radiated from the entity before him.
The Void King did not stand. He sat relaxed on his throne, his massive, fifteen-foot frame draped in a cloak made of woven shadows that moved independently, like writhing snakes. His face that single, vertical yellow slit blinked slowly.
"YOU TREMBLE," the King observed. His voice wasn't a sound; it was a vibration that rattled Simon's teeth. "IS IT THE COLD? OR IS IT THE REALIZATION THAT YOU ARE A CANDLE TRYING TO BURN OUT A BLACK HOLE?"
"I'm not trembling," Simon grit out, tightening his grip on Wave-Cutter. "I'm vibrating. It's a frequency you wouldn't understand. It's called life."
Evelyn stood beside him, her Starlight aura condensed into a tight, blinding shield around them. "Don't listen to him, Simon. He's trying to get into your head. He feeds on doubt."
"DOUBT IS FLAVOR," the King mused. He raised a hand—a gauntlet of white bone with fingers that ended in needle-sharp talons. "BUT I PREFER DESPAIR. IT HAS A RICHER AFTERTASTE."
He flicked a finger.
Gravity inverted.
Simon and Evelyn were launched upward or what felt like upward. The obsidian platform vanished from beneath their boots. They were falling into the purple vortex above.
"Grab me!" Simon roared.
He reached out, catching Evelyn's hand. He twisted his body, summoning the Dragon's wings spectral constructs of golden fire to stabilize them. But there was no air to fly in. The wings flickered and died.
"THERE IS NO SKY HERE, DRAGON," the King mocked. "THERE IS NO UP. NO DOWN. ONLY THE VOID."
A tendril of shadow shot from the vortex, wrapping around Simon's ankle. It burned like dry ice. Another wrapped around Evelyn's waist.
"He's pulling us apart!" Evelyn screamed, blasting the tendril with a bolt of light, but the shadow simply absorbed it.
"No!" Simon slashed with Wave-Cutter. The blade, infused with the Tribrid power, severed the tentacle holding him. He spun, slashing the one holding Evelyn.
They drifted in the zero-gravity expanse. Simon grabbed Evelyn, pulling her close.
"We need to ground ourselves," Simon panted. "If we can't fly, we make our own gravity."
He looked at the floating throne. The King was still sitting there, watching them struggle like insects in a jar.
"Evelyn," Simon whispered. "The Gravity Crush. Can you do it on us? Not to crush us, but to pull us to the throne?"
Evelyn's eyes widened. "It's dangerous. If I miscalculate, I'll flatten our organs."
"Do it," Simon commanded. "Aim for his feet."
Evelyn closed her eyes. She reached out with her mind, finding the density of the bone-throne.
"FALL!" she screamed.
She reversed the gravity polarity.
Simon and Evelyn were yanked downward with bone-jarring speed. They didn't fall; they were fired like a cannonball toward the Void King.
Simon raised his sword, channeling the Fire of the Dragon into the tip. He turned himself into a living missile.
The Void King tilted his head. "CLEVER."
He didn't move. He simply opened his hand.
A wall of absolute silence appeared in front of him.
Simon hit the barrier. It wasn't hard like stone. It was soft, viscous. It was like hitting a wall of tar. His momentum died instantly. The fire on his sword hissed and went out.
He was stuck, suspended in mid-air, inches from the King's face.
The yellow Eye widened.
"YOU HAVE THREE SOULS," the King whispered, his voice intimate now, echoing inside Simon's skull. "THE WOLF. THE DRAGON. THE LEVIATHAN. A CHAOTIC STEW. LET US... SEPARATE THE INGREDIENTS."
The King touched Simon's chest, right over the Triangle mark.
Pain.
It wasn't physical pain. It was existential. It felt like Simon was being unraveled.
"AAAAHHH!" Simon screamed.
A ghostly shape was ripped from his body a spectral Wolf, howling in agony. It drifted to the left, chained by violet lightning.
Next, a spectral Dragon, roaring in fury. It drifted to the right.
Finally, a spectral Merman, shrieking in silence. It drifted upward.
Simon fell to the floor of the platform, gasping. He looked at his hands. They were pale. Human. The scales were gone. The strength was gone. He felt small. Fragile.
"Simon!" Evelyn landed beside him, creating a dome of light to push back the encroaching shadows. She looked at the three spectral avatars floating around the throne, trapped in stasis fields. "He stripped them out! He took your powers!"
"I TOOK THE PARASITES," the King corrected. He stood up, towering over them. "NOW, LET US SEE WHAT REMAINS. JUST A BOY. A HUMAN BOY WHO THOUGHT HE COULD PLAY GOD."
Simon tried to stand, but his legs were shaking. He felt... hollow. For weeks, the voices of the Wolf, the Dragon, and the Sea had been his constant companions. Their strength had been his strength. Without them, he was just Simon Peter, the boy who liked to read books and hide in the garden.
"You're nothing," the King sneered. He raised a massive boot to crush Simon.
Evelyn threw herself over Simon's body. She flared her Starlight, screaming in defiance.
"LIGHT BREAKS," the King said boredly. He pressed down.
The shield cracked. Evelyn cried out as the pressure broke her arm.
"Stop!" Simon croaked. He tried to push Evelyn away. "Don't hurt her!"
"WHY?" the King asked, pausing. "SHE IS WEAK. YOU ARE WEAK. THE ELEMENTS ARE CHAOS. I AM ORDER. I AM THE SILENCE AT THE END OF THE SONG."
Simon looked at Evelyn. She was weeping, clutching her broken arm, but she wasn't looking at the King. She was looking at him.
"You aren't nothing," she whispered, her voice fierce despite the pain. "Simon, look at me. The Wolf didn't choose you because you were strong. The Dragon didn't accept you because you were angry. The Ocean didn't call you because you were deep."
"They are gone," Simon sobbed. "He took them."
"He took the powers," Evelyn hissed. "But he didn't take the Container."
She reached out with her good hand and touched his chest, right where the Triangle mark used to be. There was nothing there now but skin.
"The Fourth Element," Evelyn said. "Joanna asked what it was. Peace asked what it was. We thought it was Spirit. We thought it was Light."
She leaned in, her forehead pressing against his.
"It's Humanity, Simon. It's the Heart. The Wolf is instinct. The Dragon is rage. The Ocean is cold. They are forces of nature. Nature has no morality. Nature has no will. You gave them will. You gave them a direction."
Simon blinked. He looked at the spectral avatars.
The Wolf was thrashing, biting at the air. Mindless.
The Dragon was spitting fire randomly. Uncontrolled.
The Merman was swimming in circles. Lost.
Without him, they weren't Kings. They were monsters.
"I am not the vessel," Simon whispered, realization dawning like a sunrise in his mind. "I am the Pilot."
He stood up. He pushed Evelyn gently behind him.
He looked up at the Void King. He didn't have a sword. He didn't have scales. He didn't have claws.
"You made a mistake," Simon said. His voice was quiet, human, but it cut through the silence of the Void like a razor.
"DID I?" the King amused.
"You separated them to weaken me," Simon said. "But you just reminded me who is in charge."
Simon closed his eyes. He didn't reach for magic. He reached for Authority.
"WOLF!" Simon shouted. Not with a growl, but with a word. "HEEL!"
The spectral Wolf froze. It looked at Simon. It recognized the voice. Not the voice of an Alpha, but the voice of its Master.
With a howl that shattered the violet lightning holding it, the Wolf shot back into Simon's chest.
Simon staggered as the strength returned. His eyes flashed teal.
"DRAGON!" Simon commanded. "ROOST!"
The spectral Dragon stopped breathing fire. It dove, smashing through its cage, and slammed into Simon.
Heat flooded his veins. Gold scales erupted on his skin.
"LEVIATHAN!" Simon roared. "RETURN TO THE TIDE!"
The Merman dissolved into water and rushed into Simon's pores.
Simon stood straight. The energy swirled inside him Teal, Gold, Blue. But they weren't fighting anymore. They weren't chaotic. They were perfectly layered, held in place by the iron will of Simon Peter.
The Triangle mark reappeared on his chest. But this time, the center wasn't just white. It was Diamond. Hard. Unbreakable.
"IMPOSSIBLE," the Void King stepped back, the yellow Eye widening. "YOU CANNOT HOLD THEM WITHOUT THE BLOOD."
"I am the Blood," Simon said. His voice was a chorus of four. Wolf. Dragon. Sea. Man.
"And you," Simon raised his hand. Wave-Cutter flew from the floor into his grip. The blade turned transparent, glowing with the Diamond light. "You are just a shadow. And shadows disappear at noon."
Simon turned to Evelyn. "Light me up, Star. One last time."
Evelyn stood, clutching her broken arm. She smiled. "With pleasure."
She poured every ounce of her remaining Starlight into Simon.
Simon didn't project the energy outward. He pulled it inward. He compressed the Fire, the Water, the Earth, and the Light into a single point on the tip of his sword.
"NO!" the Void King roared. He summoned a black hole in his hand and threw it at them.
Simon swung the sword.
"QUAD-NOVA!"
He didn't slash the King. He slashed the Void itself.
The beam that left his sword was a color that didn't exist. It was the sound of creation. It hit the black hole and shattered it. It hit the Void King and passed right through him.
It hit the yellow Eye.
CRACK.
The sound was absolute. The yellow Eye fractured. A spiderweb of white light spread across the pupil.
"THIS... IS NOT... OVER..." the King screamed, his form beginning to unravel. "THE WATCHER... IS... BLIND... BUT THE VOID... IS... ENDLESS..."
With a final, blinding flash, the Void King exploded.
He didn't die. He didn't vanish. He was simply... pushed out. The pressure of Simon's existence was too great for the shadow to exist in the same space.
The Citadel shook violently. The purple vortex above began to collapse.
"The tower is falling!" Evelyn screamed over the roar of returning gravity.
The obsidian platform cracked. The throne of stars crumbled into dust.
"We have to go!" Simon grabbed Evelyn, lifting her bridal style. He ran to the edge of the platform.
"Jump?" Evelyn asked, looking at the thousands of feet of drop to the ocean below.
"Fly," Simon corrected.
He jumped.
This time, the wings that erupted from his back weren't spectral. They were real. Massive, leathery wings scaled in white and gold. The Tribrid form had stabilized.
He caught the air which was rushing back into the vacuum and banked hard.
Below them, the Citadel of the Void began to implode. The spire twisted, groaning, and crumbled into the sea. The black fog of the Maw evaporated, burned away by the aftershock of the Quad-Nova.
And high above, through the dissipating purple clouds, a single, bright star flickered back into existence.
Then another. Then another.
The shroud was broken. The night sky returned.
Simon glided down toward the ocean, where the Sky-Barge was limping away from the wreckage, smoke pouring from its engines.
He landed on the deck with a heavy thud.
Peace and Joanna were there, covered in sludge and soot, leaning against each other for support. When they saw Simon winged, glowing, and holding Evelyn they didn't cheer. They just collapsed in relief.
"Show off," Peace muttered, sliding down the wall to sit on the deck.
"He flies now," Joanna groaned. "Great. As if his ego needed wings."
Simon let the wings dissolve into mist. He gently set Evelyn down. Her arm was already glowing, the ambient Starlight from the returning sky accelerating her healing.
He looked at his mates. He looked at the sky.
The Void King was gone. The Citadel was destroyed.
But as Simon looked at the horizon, he felt a strange stillness in his chest. The voices of the Wolf, the Dragon, and the Sea were quiet. They were waiting.
The First Arc was over. But the prophecy spoke of a King who would rule All.
"Is it finished?" Evelyn asked, leaning against him.
Simon touched the Diamond mark on his chest.
"The night is over," Simon whispered. "But the dawn brings its own problems."
He looked at the sea. Deep below, something ancient stirred in response to the massive release of energy. Something that had been sleeping since the dawn of time.
And in the Dragon Nest, the fires flickered as a new color—a blue flame—appeared in the magma.
"No," Simon said, his eyes narrowing. "It's not finished. We just got their attention."