Chapter 11

Chris's hands found the ornate wooden case near the wheel almost by instinct. Inside, nestled in faded velvet, lay a telescope that looked both ancient and advanced – brass fittings and strange crystalline lenses that seemed to catch the Flow's ethereal light.

"Violet, wait!" He raised the telescope to his eye, adjusting its mysterious mechanisms. The view ahead crystallized with supernatural clarity. "The left fork... it just drops off into nothing. It's like a waterfall into oblivion."

Violet's hands tightened on the wheel. "Which way then?"

Chris tracked the other paths, the telescope somehow cutting through the void's perpetual twilight. "The middle goes on forever, but there's something to the right. An island, I think. We need supplies – we should head there first."

The Flowrider responded to Violet's touch, banking right. The energy stream carried them toward the distant speck, which gradually resolved into another floating isle. Chris found himself gripping the ship's railing, his mind wandering to what – and who – they'd left behind. His brother's family next door, the comfortable predictability of his old life... yet somehow, he felt more alive here in the void than he ever had on Earth.

The island's dock emerged from the gloom, weathered wood seemingly floating in nothingness. They secured the Flowrider with mooring lines that glowed like captured starlight. A narrow trail led up and over a ridge, disappearing into darkness.

They hadn't taken three steps before a diminutive figure materialized before them, appearing so suddenly it seemed like magic. The old man studied them with eyes that held centuries of wisdom.

"Welcome!" His voice carried surprising strength. "My name is Chief Milama!"

The village beyond the ridge defied expectations. What looked at first glance like a Native American settlement from Earth's past revealed subtle differences – tents that seemed to shift colors in the eternal twilight, bonfires that burned with rainbow flames. Children darted between the structures, their laughter a strange comfort in this impossible place.

"Baskar Isle has been our home for centuries," Milama explained as villagers brought food and supplies without hesitation. "We trade with other isles, maintain the peace. Though recently..." His eyes grew distant. "We had an unwelcome visitor. A creature of shadow and metal."

Chris nearly choked on his food. "The Dark Avatar? You faced him?"

Milama nodded, a slight smile playing at his weathered features. "I have a... particular talent. The ability to bypass defenses, briefly. It was enough to make him fear the void's edge." He chuckled. "Though between us, I was running on empty. If he hadn't retreated..."

Over the next few days, Milama took a special interest in Chris, teaching him techniques to penetrate an enemy's defenses. But when Violet mentioned Primordia, the old man's demeanor changed instantly.

"The realm of gods is no place for mortals," he warned. "The Flow is treacherous enough – I've never left this isle precisely because its paths are endless. Here." He produced a worn map. "This will guide you back to Lodoros."

Violet's agreement to return rang hollow, and Milama pulled Chris aside before their departure. "She will lead you into danger," he whispered. "The grief in her heart burns too hot for reason."

"Be careful!" Milama's final warning echoed across the void as they departed, loaded with supplies and knowledge, but heading toward greater uncertainty.

At the next fork, Chris unfolded the map. "Right here," he said, but his heart already knew what would happen.

Violet's hands moved decisively, pulling the wheel left. The path home disappeared into the darkness as she chose the unknown.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, not meeting his eyes. "But I have to know."

Chris felt the betrayal like a physical wound, but as he watched Violet's face in the Flow's ethereal light, he saw the pain that drove her. The need for answers. For justice. For closure.

"Where you go, I go," he said finally. "But you realize we're guessing now? Every fork, every branch..."

"The Dark Avatar went this way," Violet insisted. "It's simple elimination – right leads to Lodoros, so left..."

"Leads to anywhere. Or nowhere." Chris moved to stand beside her at the wheel. "But we'll find out together."

The Flowrider surged onward, deeper into the void, carried by a river of light through an ocean of darkness. Behind them lay safety, certainty, and a way home. Ahead lay only questions, but for Violet, they were questions that demanded answers, no matter the cost.

Chris watched the next fork approaching in the distance, wondering how many choices lay ahead, and hoping they'd live long enough to regret them.

***

The Flowrider approached another fork in the endless river of energy, and Violet's earlier confidence crumbled. Her hands trembled on the wheel as the decision point loomed before them.

"Chris, I don't know what to do!" The panic in her voice echoed across the void. They had come so far, made so many choices, and now uncertainty gripped her like a physical force.

Chris closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this, but the Chief's words echoed in his memory. Without a word, he raised his hands into the air, his fingers weaving complex patterns that seemed to catch the void's ethereal light.

Violet watched in stunned silence as luminescent energy flowed from his fingertips, stretching out across the darkness like a ghostly ribbon. The magical trail curved decisively toward the right fork, pulsing with a subtle rhythm.

"Where..." Violet's voice caught in her throat. "Where did you learn that?"

"The Chief taught me." Chris couldn't quite meet her eyes. "He insisted, actually. Said it was a tracking spell that could follow traces of dark energy – the Dark Avatar's energy."

Tears welled in Violet's eyes. "You... you didn't trust me?"

"I wanted to." Chris's voice was soft. "I hoped we'd turn back, that I'd never need to use it. But the Chief knew better." He finally looked at her, his expression pained. "He made me promise to learn it, just in case."

Violet steered the vessel right, following the magical trail, but her shoulders shook with silent sobs. "I've ruined everything, haven't I? Put us both in danger because I couldn't... couldn't just let it go."

Chris crossed the deck and wrapped his arms around her from behind, letting her guide the ship while he held her. "Hey, no. I understand why you needed this. I'm not blaming you – I'm here because I choose to be. The spell is just... insurance. To keep us both safe."

They took turns at the wheel over the following weeks, one resting while the other steered, always following Chris's magical trail. Their supplies dwindled dangerously low, and the void seemed endless. No other islands appeared, no chance to resupply. Just darkness and the Flow's eternal light.

Then, impossibly, something appeared ahead.

"There!" Chris pointed to a tiny speck floating in the nothingness. As they drew closer, they could make out a solitary archway perched on an island barely large enough to support it.

"This has to be it," Chris said, though worry creased his brow. "We're almost out of food, and we haven't seen another island in weeks."

The reality of their situation settled over them both. Even if they found what they were looking for, how could they possibly return? The journey had taken weeks, and they had perhaps a day's worth of supplies remaining.

As they approached, the true scale of their challenge became apparent. The island was little more than a platform for the archway, with no dock, no mooring point – nothing.

"We'll have to jump," Chris said, studying the distance. "And time it perfectly."

They clasped hands, watching the gap between ship and island carefully. At Chris's signal, they leaped. For one terrifying moment, Violet teetered on the edge of infinity, but Chris's grip held firm, pulling her to safety as their ship sailed away into the darkness, never to be seen again.

"AIDA," Chris called out, his voice tight with tension. "Can you help us with this gateway?"

The AI's analysis was devastating. "The gateway appears to be locked with ancient Builder technology. I detect no obvious means of entry."

Chris sank down on the edge of the tiny platform, his legs dangling over the infinite void. Violet joined him, her silence more devastating than any words could have been. The weight of their situation pressed down on them both – stranded on a platform barely large enough to stand on, their only way forward sealed by ancient technology they couldn't understand.

"How are we going to get in there?" Chris asked, his voice hollow. "How are we going to get through this, Violet?"

She said nothing, fighting back waves of panic. The void below seemed to call to her, a tempting solution to the fate she had brought upon them both.

Chris pulled AIDA out again, demanding another scan. The result was the same – locked, sealed, impenetrable. But as he studied the symbols around the archway, something clicked in his mind. A pattern emerged from the seemingly random markings.

"AIDA, show me everything you have on Builder technology. Every scrap of information."

Hours passed as Chris experimented, touching symbols in different sequences while Violet sat in desperate silence. Attempt after attempt failed, but Chris refused to give up.

"It's useless," Violet whispered, her voice empty of hope.

Then, on what must have been his hundredth attempt, Chris pressed a particular sequence of symbols. Golden light exploded from the archway, a spiraling vortex that pulled them through before they could even react.

They landed on a platform that defied description. Before them, a stairway of golden light climbed into infinity, each step floating impossibly in space. But it was the view that took their breath away – the heart of creation itself spread out around them in all its glory. Distant galaxies spun in eternal dance, star clusters painted the cosmos in impossible colors, and celestial formations beyond human understanding filled the space between.

"Primordia," Violet breathed, her earlier despair forgotten in the face of such beauty.

The stairway led to a distant platform where a throne sat in solitary majesty, a single statue standing sentinel beside it. But it was the writhing darkness that caught Chris's attention – a cloud of pure shadow that moved with obvious purpose and barely contained rage.

"Violet, look." Chris grabbed her arm as she moved to take the first step. "That dark cloud up there... it's moving on its own."

They watched as the shadow twisted and churned around the platform, its movements speaking of fury and frustration. There was no mistaking what – who – they were seeing.

"Bahumura," Violet whispered. "Without Valmir's body..."

The dark entity continued its angry dance around the throne, unaware of their presence. They had found what they sought, but now a new question presented itself: what were they going to do about it?