We arrive back at the Light beacon, and the same person in armor I saw in the infirmary before comes towards Harko and begins to ask for guidance on some rituals.

"Have the scrolls been lost? the rituals should have been stored in scrolls around the library"

The commander nods

"Our men searched the entire library for them but we couldn't find them anywhere, we will need your guidance dreamer until we can find them for the situation is dire, many of our men are falling unconscious"

Harko nods

"Let us go then, Xavier, you go and help people get the walls repaired, your powers will fasten the progress a lot I believe, now I will go to the Infirmary to help my people, got it?"

I look around at the walls seeing people working with chunks of the wall

"Very well, I'm on it"

Harko smiles at me and begins making their way hastily to the Light beacon with the commander.

I go to the closest workers fixing the walls summoning fire elementals with the directive to carry chunks of the wall and listen to the orders of the workers

"Workers!"

I yell to get their attention

"Don't sweat yourself with the lifting! I have summoned help to make our work faster, give them orders on what to do and they will follow!"

The workers seem to be happy by that and begin using the fire elementals to help them keep things in place, carry heavy objects and use them to put unreachable parts in place faster

I go around the walls saying the same instructions to the workers until I surround the walls with elementals fixing the walls, the workers seem to be satisfied with their reduced work to fix the walls, some even praise me for getting to go faster at their home.

I then go inside the Light beacon to rest from walking soo much around the walls, Laven seems to notice me as make my way to my room.

"A new weapon I see?"

Laven remarks as she points to my greatsword held behind me by a fire hand

"Indeed, this is the greatsword the Herald used. We got Vox to purify it for us."

Laven seems happy

"I'm glad Vox is still happy to purify weapons and materials for people. There was once a time he was much more arrogant rejecting other people's orders."

I shrug

"I suppose people change with enough time."

Laven nods

"Say Xavi, are you free?"

I look at Laven thinking for a bit

"Well, I can't think of anything other than seeing what this sword can do for today. Tomorrow though we will be going to the Red Canyon, the one you told me of."

Laven smiles looking at me

"Caaaan~ we spend some time together?"

I shake my head

"Im rather sleepy from today. Using my power a lot makes me tired and I fought twice today to add to that I also held off the void invasion and helped the workers with my elementals."

Laven seems a bit saddened by that

"Oh, I see, well uh-"

Laven visibly blushes as she gets an idea

"H-how about we uh- sleep together?"

I raise my eyebrow

"I hope it's just sleeping, I don't have the energy for anything else."

Laven nods her head remaining silent.

We make our way to my room, I take the little elemental I made to spy and absorb him, the next second I pass through its memories, mostly uneventful but there is a point where somebody snuck into my room, by the looks of it, it appears to be Harko, they seem to have noticed the elemental

"Fear not my child for it is me. I suppose this little elemental is made to spy for you yes? if so, I'm leaving in your room a special gift that will allow you to use the roots within you, this will be the first part of 3 which will give you the power to manipulate void matter, when we meet again I will give you the second and then the last one."

By their words, I believe this to be before I met Harko at the start, before getting the first fragment.

I can see Harko hiding something under my pillow of ethereal form.

"This gift will be absorbed by the roots once your left-hand makes contact. The roots will grow to allow us telepathic communication over a long distance, when the time comes my voice will ring out to you, farewell now my child"

Harko then leaves the room.

The rest of the memories from the elemental are not anything worth mentioning.

I snap back to normal to a concerned Laven

"Xavier? Are you alright?"

I nod

"Yeah I'm fine, just tired is all"

I then sit on my bed as I take off my jacket and shirt, Laven seems surprised by how I casually undress like that in front of her, she just watches me with excitement, I then put the greatsword to rest on a wall with the fire hand and make it disappear.

I then lay on my side on the bed, I make a fire hand reach out to the door and lock it just in case, I don't want to be bothered.

I then close my eyes, forgetting that Laven was even here but being reminded as I hear Laven's clothes rustle as she undresses, I don't bother opening up my eyes, shortly I sense how Laven sits down on the bed and cuddles next to me, she puts a cover over us and embraces me in a warm hug, I hug back enjoying the warmth and fall asleep rather quickly

In my dream this time there is no nebula, my body is comprised of blue fire completely, and the ethereal form of the last dream standing in front of me, however, another familiar ethereal form appears, and once they notice their presence they both rush to me, out of instinct I reach to the familiar ethereal form and a voice rings into my ears "Wake up my child!"

I jolt awake with a gasp, I wake Laven up noticing in the room an ethereal presence, it makes a tendril to reach under my pillow, and remembering what the Herald put there, I jolt my left hand under the pillow touching the gift he Herald left for me.

Laven noticing the ethereal presence jumps out of the bed and the ethereal form is enraged as the gift is absorbed by my left hand.

The ethereal form goes to attack Laven with its tendril, I use my left hand and manage to manipulate its tendril to stop.

"Xavier? What's wrong with your left hand?"

I can now notice the roots within my hand have grown to alter my left hand's appearance, it now has small chitin plates that resemble scales and my nails have grown into claws.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I shove the tendril into the ethereal being, I use my fire to get my great sword and tackle Laven out of the window

"XAVIER WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!?"

Laven is terrified, screaming from falling, I make wings out of the fire and fly down to the ground, thankfully she didn't undress too much, still having shorts and a t-shirt on. The ethereal being is falling following me shooting ethereal projectiles down my way. I block the said projectiles with my great sword, I use a combustion to dash at very high speeds as I spin myself vertically like a sawblade, I feel the sword pierce through the ethereal form, purifying its shape into a grotesque being of flesh, my sword slices the said form in two as it falls to the ground.

"what the fuck was that all about, most importantly why was it reaching for the Herald's gift."

I glance at my left hand which changes back to normal, weird how I was able to control this being with the power I got from the gift.

I land next to Laven who is visibly angry

"what were you thinking?? what if you didn't grab me in time and I died from the fall?!"

I sympathize a bit with her but

"That's why I tackled you, so I could have you in my arms before we went falling you know, let's get back inside and get properly dressed"

Laven points at my left hand afterward

"And what was up with your hand earlier? it changed to match with the Herald's hands"

I whisper in her ear

"Let's not talk about that in public okay?"

Laven nods nervously, we then head inside into Laven's room this time since my window's smashed, we then remember our clothing is within my room to which I decide to go and grab them, and go back to Laven's room.

"So, now that we are in private just what was up with your hand?"

I sigh

"It's a long story but to shorten it, I'm learning to manipulate the void, and it appears to be working slowly"

Laven takes a worried look

"Xavier, you do know of the dangers you're exposing us to right? no wonder that void fiend appeared in your room"

I sigh

"I know, Harko has told me the dangers of it but look, Laven, I'm not going to sit into these Light beacons while they can be destroyed, im-"

Laven seems disappointed

"Xavier, in this Light Beacon we have not one but THREE dreamers, do you know how much safer this Beacon has become?"

I look at Laven raising my eyebrow

"must I remember you of how just one of those void beings could have killed Jathorn by itself? the void is nothing to underestimate and likely sooner we will have a lot more coming in"

Laven begins to be more frustrated

"And how would you know Xavier??? TELL ME!"

I shake my head

"Why do you think the void attacked soo soon after my mind's fragmentation? it's not just some coincidence this is a planned attack to get ME! They want to attain my POWER so that they can destroy MORE than just this light beacon!"

Laven falls silent sobbing from my yelling

"Look Laven, it's obvious nobody wants to risk it but somebody has to if we are to improve our defenses, even my beacon fell when I KNEW how to control my powers and we are surely bound to lose this one too if we are to underestimate the void again"

Laven nods

"I-"

Laven sobs as she begins to cry

"I'm afraid X-Xavier, I do not want to l-lose you for good this time"

I smile at her gently

"You can trust me, Laven, I will not fade from this world anytime soon and I'm going to change this world one way or another, so far it seems that we live under constant fear of the void"

I take Lavens hand

"I will change that"

Laven smiles as she sobs

"H-Heh, you still haven't changed one bit..."

Laven wipes her tears

"But how will you change this world?"

I close my eyes as I lift up my left hand

"One way or another, ill either destroy the void from its roots or control it"

I take a more serious look

"and I have a plan on how to do that too but I'm unable to tell you what it is, I won't risk losing the opportunity"

Laven nods

"I trust you with it, Xavier..."

I sit down on the bed still tired

"I'm glad you do, I'm going back to sleep, tomorrow I gotta be rested as I guess there is gonna be a long road to the red canyon."

Laven sits by my side as I lay on my back closing my eyes, and just like last time she cuddles up to me and we fall asleep shortly, despite not knowing her that much I enjoy the attention and warmth I get, I wonder how much the previous me used to love her, we shall see when we get the right fragment.

As I fall asleep I find myself standing in front of the familiar Ethereal presence.

"Greetings my child"

The voice of The Herald can be heard from the elusive form

"Greetings, Herald, is this what you meant by long-distance telepathy?"

The form approached me

"Indeed, this is one of its uses, in dreams, I can communicate with you and I have some information you must know about the void"

I nod my head

"Go on, I'm curious"

The form comes closer as in the background shapes of 2 elusive forms are created

"There is more than one faction of the void my child and nobody seems to realize that, I suppose you have heard of the void hive yes?"

I confirm their question

"Good, they are the ones you must be wary of, much like humans we the void possess individuality and for that reason, there exist factions. The void hive is what tore down and destroyed Light Beacons and slaughtered countless amounts of humans in the process, I will need your help my child to suppress the hive mind, their endless hate and violence will bring only times of endless war and we can bring peace between our species."

I put my hand on my chin

"But why do they possess so much hate? why do they seek to exterminate us?"

The form begins to take the Hrald's shape, shaking their head

"Unfortunately my child, this is not the time for me to enlighten you on this matter, there are forces at play that will know about our talk and I cannot let them realize the knowledge I would give you, they would target you as long as you are alive and I can't protect you from them"

The image in the background shows how once the Herald tells me about it swarms of creatures would flood the Light Beacon and kill everyone in sight to reach me and devour me

The Herald approaches me

"But with time, as you grow in strength, I will unlock more of the voids story, its hidden truth, but until then we will require gathering your memory fragments so you get to understand your powers and who you have used to be"

The image behind shows me growing in strength, fighting off the void with my newfound strength, and attaining new memory fragments

"However my child, there is one thing I can tell you, as you may remember from the memory fragment, you are one of 6 children I have given birth to."

My mind thinks of the times when I was little, playing with the 5 other children under the Heralds

So that's why I remember her in my first fragment...

The image in the background shows how she created us and gave birth to all 6 of us, each one with each one holding a different limb.

I hold the right hand, one holds the left hand, one the left leg, another the right, and the last two are the chest and head.

"So you're... my mother?"

The Herald nods

"Indeed my child, The motive of your creation is to stop the madness going on in this world, the void hive's faction seeks to eradicate humans for reasons I cannot disclose now but I will later, what is important is that we reunite our family."

The image shows all of me and the herald traveling around the world to find the other 5 children

"There is a plan I hold for you and your brethren, once you have gained enough power to be able to sustain yourself against the void I will disclose to you the truth and I will personally protect you in your journey to stop the void hive."

I smile

"Mother, my memories tell of being abducted from you just the same as the other 5, did we ever know of you after our kidnapping?"

The form takes a sad tone

"Unfortunately, my child, the humans found a way to make you all forget about our time together, but it seems that the memories are only suppressed since you can access them now with the memory fragment, thank the Ethereum your memories are not gone for good"

I reach out for a hug to the ethereal form which takes the form of the Herald, she hugs me having been reunited after all these years.

"We will restore this world to the once prosperous times that we knew, I will look out for you and protect you with everything I've got until the void hive is dealt with."

Mother breaks the hug

"I'm sorry we do not have more time to spend together, you must wake up now but next time you sleep ill be here, so be not afraid, my child."

I nod as the background image begins to light up to the point I only see a blinding white, waking me up from my dream.