Exhausted.

That was the only way to describe Vincent’s state, although no words could capture the immense fatigue that was coursing through his entire being. Physically, his body was aching and his muscles were throbbing from overuse. Mentally, his world was still spinning, confused by the river-like rush of emotions that flooded his mind. The mental whiplash made it nearly impossible to sift through the thoughts, feelings, and information that were speeding through his head.

With both of those factors in play, it was a miracle that he was able to stand at all, even if barely. His hand was on the shoulder of Siegella, who was standing next to him. However, standing in front of both of them was a real threat…Iro.

Now enraged and fully into his ego-centric self, his massive amounts of mental waves were spread out all over the room, resonating with the iron that was all over the massive cafeteria. In turn, those pieces of iron were now formed into dozens, if not hundreds of snake-like iron chains that surrounded Vincent and Siegella. They were slithering ever closer to them, coiling back as if they were all about to strike.

“Shit,” Siegella panted, looking around at the scene before her. “I’m almost spent.” She then looked down at Vincent. “Vincent, are you…” but her words trailed off as her eyes landed on Vincent's trembling, yet distant eyes.

“I can’t...” Vincent tried to say, swallowing some spit down his bone-dry throat. “I can’t do much more. I’m pretty spent, too.”

His world continued to swirl around him, unable to be focused on a single point. There was a swirl of emotions and images that continued to intermingle within his head. While he could remain conscious and have thoughts, nothing came easy—everything was coated in a layer of nausea. He couldn’t even think straight.

Vincent looked back at Siegella, whose face was a bit blurry for him, and said, “What do we do now?”

Siegella took a moment to respond, but after looking at her surroundings, she glanced back at Vincent. “Are you still resonating?”

“Barely,” he answered with a cocky smile.

“Then we run.”

Instantly, Siegella took off and Vincent had to hold himself up on his own. If it wasn’t for the fact that he felt her intent to run, he would’ve fallen over because most of his weight was on her. Regardless, he too willed his body to move and run through the snake pit around him.

Using the last amount of concentration he has within him, he continued to force his mind to resonate, focusing all of his mental energy outwards at the iron snakes around him. Ducking, dodging, weaving, jumping—he did everything he could to try and predict and avoid the oncoming attacks, because he knew, like a snake, the moment that one of them got him, it would be over. And unfortunately, one did.

Just as he was about to jump over a collection of iron snakes, he felt something grab his ankle and pull him down. Colliding with the ground, Vincent looked back and saw one of those iron chains wrapped around his leg, slowly dragging him back towards Iro.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, Vincent thought. I gotta get free.

He then reached down at his legs, touched the chain, and tried to create a void. But nothing happened. In fact, the only thing that did happen was that a massive flash of pain wracked his brain, causing the spinning, unorthodox thoughts in his head to spin faster.

What’s going— he tried to think, but was interrupted by a wave of nausea.

It was at that moment that it all clicked for him. He realized that he couldn’t think straight for even a moment. In that confusion, a memory of one of his fights in Egypt came to light. He understood that he was paying the price for resonance. He channeled everything he had into becoming one with nothing. It was like he created a void within his mind, pushing out any and every thought and emotion he had, making room for pure nothingness. However, like any of his voids, it didn’t last long. The moment it disappeared, those pushed-away feelings instantly flooded his mind all at once, and now he couldn't even think straight. And for a Resonator, if you aren’t in tune with your own head, you can’t use your powers.

Panic set in as Vincent desperately tried to claw his way out of his binding. He used his bare hands to try and pull the iron chains away, but just as he did, more chains came and wrapped themselves around his other leg and his hands. He was completely immobilized, still being dragged towards Iro. And then another chain slithered across his body, wrapping itself around his neck, choking him.

He couldn’t breathe. His vision started to fade away. Siegella was gone. His powers were gone. Most of all, his friends were gone. Just as the last bit of light left his eyes, the final image he saw was that of Eliot, smiling back at him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, just as he was consumed by the darkness.

…

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“Wake up…”

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“Wake up…”

…

“WAKE UP!”

Light. Without warning, Vincent’s eyes shot open and sensation came to him once more. In front of him was the ceiling, which made him realize that he was lying on the floor. But what he saw wasn’t as interesting as what he felt. He felt what seemed like the fading vibrations from a mini-earthquake.

Taking a moment to reorient himself, he sat up. Just as he did, he heard the same voice that was shouting at him in the darkness, but it wasn’t something that he heard out loud. The voice came directly into his mind, but he knew what direction it came from. Turning his head that way, he saw a familiar figure.

“Are you awake now, Vincent?” he heard Fang say, but their mouth never opened.

“Fang,” Vincent answered in his head, “what’s going on?”

“No time to explain,” Fang replied, “we’re still fighting.”

As they said that, Vincent saw a giant dust cloud beginning to part where Iro once stood.

Fang then talked out loud. “It’s not over yet. I managed to get here just in time to save you, but that’s about it. We still haven’t beaten Iro.”

“But what can we do?” Vincent asked, grabbing his throbbing head. “He’s…his waves are so strong.”

“Yes,” Fang agreed, “but they’re also very spread out. In his rage, he lost how condensed and focused they were, opting to let them spread out. That’s our chance. He has no defense.”

“But what about those chains? There are too many of them! Ain’t no way in hell we can get close.”

Vincent then heard Fang’s voice in his head. “That’s where you come in. I see that you’ve learned to resonate…it's about time. Sieglla and I can handle the onslaught of iron, but I need you to focus and deliver the final blow.”

“But…” Vincent replied back in his head, “I-I-I can’t. My voids stopped working and I can’t think straight and—”

“Vincent.” There was a pause. “Don’t think. Trust yourself and become nothing. Focus, breathe, and stop thinking. The moment you think or worry about yourself, you become weak. Lean into your nothingness and grow stronger for me.”

Throwing caution to the wind, Vincent forced himself back into a lower state. He had a feeling that the consequences of resonating again would be great, but as he became empty once more, those thoughts left his head.

Just as the dust cleared, Vincent saw the figure of the towering man himself. He stood up out of the cloud, brushing off pieces of the cracked wall behind him. The waves emanating from him stretched out over the entire building, but just like Fang said, they were also thin and sparse… especially around his body.

Dozens of new iron snakes appeared from the metal walls and floor, rapidly slithering their way over toward Vincent and Fang. Fang, in response, banged their Electronic Eyes together and shouted out toward Siegella, who was on the other side of the room, “Alright, Gella, it’s now or never!”

“Let’s hope this chance you took pays off!” she shouted back.

They both began attacking the oncoming legion of chains. Fang unleashed shockwave after shockwave, causing the snakes to scatter into pieces. Siegella, however, used all sorts of improvised weapons, pinning down one threat after another to the ground. She even snapped a couple of them with her bare hands.

Vincent, on the other hand, just looked forward. His attention was solely focused on reorienting the spinning image of Iro that was in front of him. Just like when he started resonating, he stopped thinking. He stopped worrying about what could happen to him and what the future held. Consequences were nothing but a foreign concept now in his mind. And it felt disturbingly nice.

The world began to snap into place once more and his body was numbingly cold. Although this time it wasn't as natural as it was the first time he resonated. This time it felt more forced. The last thought to leave his mind was of how much whiplash this forceful extension of his powers was going to come his way.

And then there was nothing.

His muscles coldly flexed beyond their tired state, reaching a point of exhaustion that circled around to feel like they were weightless. His mind was so burnt out that it was easy for him not to think anymore. Every part of his being was forcibly told to act one last time.

This was it.

He charged blindly ahead, with everything in his peripherals tunneling to black. The only crisp image was that of Iro. He and Iro locked eyes as he moved forward, but Vincent never stopped. In fact, he never once thought of stopping, because he physically couldn’t think anymore. It was like he created a void within his own mind.

Halfway to the towering man, he saw a couple of iron snakes snap out and reach for him. But he paid them no mind, seeing as they were instantly either blown apart or yanked away by something out of sight.

Time and time again he saw Iro attempt to summon a snake to stop him, but time and time again they would be handled. Eventually, he saw the slightest crack in Iro’s demeanor just as he began to get into starbreaker range. In what seemed like a desperate final attempt to stop him, Iro grabbed one of his iron snakes that were near him and slung it at Vincent, hitting him squarely in the torso.

And yet Vincent didn’t move an inch. He didn’t feel the pain from the attack—his entire body was numb. In fact, he didn’t spend any energy dodging either, because the moment he took the hit, he got into range.

Looking up at the proud man, with the deadest eyes he had ever had, he simply uttered, “Starbreaker.”

He unleashed his attack with everything that he had, punching the giant and creating a void within Iro, almost entirely consuming his upper body. In that fraction of a moment, fear broke past the outer shell of Iro’s proud facade. But it didn’t last long, seeing as he was immediately rocketed backward, slamming against the back wall, denting it inwards a good three feet. The once mighty mental waves that surrounded Iro were now diminished to that of a barely perceptible splash.

All of the iron snakes then collapsed to the ground, unmoving, just like their controller, and the air was just a bit calmer. As the fight began to come to an end, Vincent released his resonating powers and relaxed. The moment he did, however, there was hell to pay.

Memories, thoughts, feelings, emotions, heat, and so much more flooded back into him harder than ever before. If the time before was like a dammed river being let free, this whiplash was like that of a tsunami. And for him, there was no stopping it. He just had to let the harsh waves consume him. Within a second or two of feeling the almighty pain ravage his head, his brain screamed out that it was too much. From sheer pain alone, Vincent instantly fell unconscious.

What he didn’t realize in that moment, because he lost consciousness before the thought could ever cross his mind, was how steep of a price he truly just paid. The pain was one thing, but the hollowness that comes with power was another. In that moment, he chose to walk down a path that would forever change who he was and who he will be.