The Void Eater resumed its approach, moving with more purpose now. I could feel its hunger, not as an emotion but as aphysical force that pulled at my very being. It wasn't malevolent, exactly, it was simply doing what it was made to do. Consuming anomalies, restoring the natural order by devouring anything that didn't belong.
And in this pocket dimension, that was definitely us.
"Horrace!" I glanced briefly at the little guy before looking at the Void Eater. "Any progress on getting us out of here?"
I heard Horrace's distressed trilling behind me, followed by Winter's voice. "He's trying, but I don't think he knows how!"
The Void Eater was close enough now that I could feel its pull intensifying. My memories began to blur at the edges, yesterday seemed like last week, last year like yesterday. Time was becoming fluid in its presence.
"I remember this happening before," I frowned. "No, wait, that's not right. This has never happened before."
"Milo!" Winter's voice sounded worried. "What's happening to you?"
"It's affecting my memories," I tried to focus. "That's what they do, they feed on paradox, possibility, and memory. Being near one can cause déjà vu, lost time, or altered memories."
I couldn't wait any longer. Drawing on the chaotic energy of the pocket dimension, I formed a shield between us and the Void Eater, not a physical barrier but a weave of probability and potential, a magical construct designed to slow its approach.
All that studying growing up was paying off in a big way.
The entity paused again, its form rippling as it encountered my shield. Then it pressed forward, pushing against my magical barrier. I felt the strain immediately, like trying to hold back a tidal wave with my bare hands. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I poured more power into the shield.
"I can't hold it for long," I gritted out. "Horrace, we really need an exit strategy!"
I heard Horrace's distressed musical notes, higher and more frantic than before. He was trying, but whatever had caused him to create this pocket dimension wasn't something he could consciously control.
The Void Eater pushed harder against my shield, and I felt something warm trickle from my nose. Blood. Using this much unfamiliar energy was taking a physical toll.
"Milo, you're bleeding!" Winter sounded alarmed.
"It's fine," I managed a strained smile without turning around. "Just a little magical nosebleed. Happens all the time."
That was a lie. I'd never had a magical nosebleed in my life. But I needed to keep Winter calm, needed to maintain my focus on the shield that was our only protection against the entity.
The Void Eater changed tactics. Instead of pushing directly against my shield, it began to circle it, looking for weaknesses. Its form stretched and compressed as it moved, occasionally extending tendrils of nothingness that probed at my magical barrier.
One tendril found a weak spot and pushed through, reaching toward me with impossible speed. I felt it brush against my consciousness, and suddenly I was remembering things that had never happened, growing up with parents instead of in foster care, attending a normal school instead of the Academy for Supernatural Studies, living a life without magic or death or the constant companionship of the reanimated dead.
"No!" I shouted, forcing the false memories away. "You don't get to rewrite me!"
I poured more energy into the shield, reinforcing the breach. The tendril withdrew, but the damage was done. I could feel my strength waning, my control over the unfamiliar energies slipping.
"Winter," my voice strained, "I need your help. Your prophetic energy, it might be the key to driving this thing back."
"I don't know how to use it," she sounded frustrated. "It just happens!"
"Then let it happen! Let it flow through you, into Horrace, into me. We're connected now, all three of us. The prophecy brought us together for a reason!"
I heard her take a deep breath. Then I felt it, a surge of power, blue and bright and ancient, flowing from Winter to Horrace and then to me. It strengthened my shield, pushing back against the Void Eater's relentless pressure.
For a moment, I thought we might actually drive it away. The entity retreated slightly, its form rippling with what might have been confusion or surprise.
Then it changed again, its shape becoming sharper, more defined. It gathered itself and lunged forward with renewed force, slamming into my shield with the weight of a collapsing star.
The barrier shattered.
I was thrown backward by the backlash, tumbling through the zero-gravity environment until I collided with Winter and Horrace. The impact sent us all spinning toward the far wall.
"Milo!" Winter grabbed my arm, steadying me. "Are you okay?"
