Echoes of the Red Planet

CHAPTER 23: THE VOICE FROM THE VOID

The Sky Cracks Open

The war should have been over.

The Guardians were gone. The Forsaken stood victorious on the ruins of Titan.

And Kiera?

She was finally where she belonged.

But then the sky tore itself apart.

A soundless rupture split the atmosphere, like the universe itself was screaming without a voice.

And something descended.

Not a ship.

Not an army.

Something else.

Kiera felt it before she saw it.

A pressure.

A weight that crushed against her very existence.

She had thought she was powerful. She had thought the Forsaken were the dominant force now.

But this?

This was beyond power.

The Forsaken army—her army—staggered back, their silver eyes flickering. Some of them collapsed where they stood, clawing at their heads. Their bodies convulsed.

Even the most monstrous among them—creatures that had survived planetary annihilation—were afraid.

Kiera’s breath caught in her throat.

She didn’t understand.

What could possibly make the Forsaken afraid?

Then it arrived.

And for the first time, Kiera wished she had never woken up.

---

The Arrival

The thing that descended from the breach was not alive.

Not in the way Kiera understood life.

It had no defined shape.

No form that stayed still.

It was a wound in reality itself, shifting between states of existence. A void wrapped in shadow.

It did not walk. It did not float.

It simply was.

And as it descended onto Titan’s surface, the ice beneath it did not crack.

It simply ceased to be.

Jace, still barely standing, felt the pressure of it crush his chest.

And then—

It spoke.

But not in words.

It spoke in thoughts. In memories that did not belong to Kiera.

“The cycle repeats. And now… you awaken too soon.”

Kiera staggered back.

This thing—this entity—knew her.

Not just her Forsaken self.

Something deeper. Something older.

She tried to move—but her body locked up.

Her veins pulsed violently, the silver light inside her suddenly flickering, struggling.

And for the first time since she had embraced her power—

She felt weak.

---

The Forsaken Kneel

A ripple passed through the Forsaken army.

And then—

They knelt.

Every last one of them.

Creatures that had burned entire planets. Monsters that could not die.

They fell to their knees in perfect synchronization, their heads bowing toward the entity.

Jace watched in horror.

Not just because they had submitted.

But because Kiera’s body moved with them.

Her knees hit the ground before she could stop herself.

Her hands shook.

This thing wasn’t just powerful.

It was her master.

And she had never even known it existed.

---

The Revelation

The entity drifted closer—or at least, it seemed to. Its shape never stayed still.

“You are not ready,” it said, the words slamming into Kiera’s skull like a collapsing universe.

Her mind fractured under the weight of its voice.

Memories she had never lived flashed through her vision.

The first Forsaken. The wars before time was recorded. The moment the Guardians betrayed them.

But then—something worse.

A war that never ended.

Something older than the Guardians.

Older than the Forsaken.

Something that had been waiting.

And now—because of Kiera—it was awake.

Her breath caught.

This thing was not her enemy.

It was not here to kill her.

It was here to warn her.

Titan had never been the war.

Titan was the message.

And she had been too blind to see it.

---

Jace’s Last Shot

Jace saw Kiera frozen in place, trapped by the entity’s will.

He didn’t care what it was.

He didn’t care what it wanted.

All he knew was that if this thing had control over Kiera—he had to stop it.

Jace raised his gun.

He fired.

A full power pulse round, straight at the entity’s center.

Direct hit.

The bullet never landed.

Jace didn’t even see what happened.

One moment, he pulled the trigger—

The next?

He was on the ground, choking.

Something was inside his chest.

Something was rewriting his bones.

He screamed.

Kiera snapped out of the trance.

She turned—and saw Jace collapsing, his veins turning black.

She felt it happen.

The entity had touched him.

And in that moment, Jace was no longer human.

---

Kiera’s Rage

Something inside Kiera broke.

She didn’t know what she was anymore.

She didn’t know if she was Forsaken, if she was human, if she was a weapon—none of it mattered.

All she knew was that Jace—her last tie to her old life—was dying.

And the entity had done it.

Kiera screamed.

The planet shook.

The silver glow in her veins exploded outward, warping the ground beneath her.

For the first time, the entity hesitated.

Kiera’s voice was not her own when she spoke.

It was something new.

Something the entity did not expect.

“You are wrong.” Her voice was like fire and thunder. “I am not too soon.”

Kiera rose to her feet.

“I am already here.”

And then—

She attacked.

The war was over.

But the real fight had just begun.