Chapter Text
It’s dark. They’re not scared of the dark, right? I used to live in the dark. Click click click. Sculk sensors. The top of the maze is layered in with them. No no no no. They can’t do this. They can’t die here.
Spoke jumped down from the top of the maze to the inside. Landing in the water they placed, they picked it back up and sat down in a dead end.
“I'm millions of blocks away from home.” Do they even have a home? Minute doesn’t want them anymore. Jamato probably told Mapicc and Jumper that Spoke was the leader of Null. Touching their face, feeling the tears trail down. The voidling couldn’t stop themself from crying. It hurt. Why did they not stay with Minute? Why were they like this? Should have never even tried living. Should have stayed with the void. Should have gone back to the void.
Nether portals began to appear near him. Spoke pulled themself into a sitting position to look weak. As if they didn’t already look like it. Jamato walked out of the portal. The skeleton hybrid looked down at the voidling.
“Are you even surprised? It was always going to end like this.” No no. It wasn’t going to end like this. Not again. The same thing happened during the Mafia’s reign of the server. Spoke can't go through this again.
“Why? Why do this? Why do any of this?”
“How many people are going to take the fall for you to keep you from ruining everything? I’ve tried to reason, remove, but even killing you now isn’t enough to save the world.”
“Since Jumper and Mapicc aren’t here, then why kidnap those players from spawn?” Spoke could feel themselves fading slowly. The void was claiming the energy that kept them alive. Slowly, painfully, achingly it was being drained from their soul.
“Everyone deserves a chance to pave their own path, to make their own mistakes and choices. Yet it always ends with you. Always ends with death and destruction. Null exists to bring the trappers, griefers, and killers to justice. To bring you to justice.” The voidling couldn’t stay quiet, they couldn’t just sit through and listen to Jamato talk about this. They knew they were wrong, but still trappers and griefers were players and people too.
“Look at everything you’ve done.” This just elicited a strong louder response from the skeleton hybrid.
“Everything I’ve done isn’t enough! I’ll admit that capturing you wasn’t easy. I spent MONTHS training for this. Training everything for this mission. Not only have you SURVIVED. You’ve managed to KILL the Null members. You’ve managed to stay fighting and I resent that.” Their fighting spirit. A nature picked up from their guardian, MinuteTech. Minute was so proud of them for standing up for what they thought was right. I miss papa. Now wasn’t the time to be missing their guardian.
“You sent people to spawn to capture me. You captured Mapicc. You took weeks before even attacking me. And you thought I wouldn’t fight against them. Of course I was going to fight back and attempt to kill them. And I was successful I killed… I killed your leader.” A snap occurred in Jamato after Spoke mentioned the fact they had killed the leader of that squadron
“No, no. Spoke, I realised something after you killed my soldiers. There was no point of capturing you myself when I already had someone do it for me.” Doubt bubbled up the voidling’s throat. Mapicc. Did Mapicc desire to betray them? Spoke already had trust issues and abusing the trust Spoke gave Mapicc would be a smart move.
“Are you talking about Mapicc? Mapicc was in on this?” Jamato could feel Spoke’s panic rise and the situation getting to the voidling.
“No, of course not. He still thought I was dead. I sent a message to Null to give Mapicc leeway to escape. From there he found you, and brought you to where I needed you exactly.” He used their trust and relationship. Spoke feels stupid, no they are stupid. They weren’t smart like Parrot or strong like Wemmbu and Flame. They were just manipulative and smooth-talker. All they knew how to do was tricks and lies. It’s ironic really, Spoke looked up to heroes such as Perseus yet they always came out as the villain with their tale twisted similar to Loki.
“Why? I don’t.. Like.. I don’t get it.”
“That’s not it either. Through your mission of creating an army, you led me to all the rebel camps. Because of you Ally, Dev, PlanetLord, Dylan, Cookie, and now Jumper are in my hands.” It was their fault. It was all their fault. If only Spoke hadn’t been here, it wouldn’t have happened. It was their fault. The area around them felt colder. Jamato felt the temperature shift, but left it up to the weather in the farlands being weird.
“What was I supposed to do? You infiltrated my team. You blackmailed me. How was I supposed to tell anyone? How was I supposed to prevent this? How is it? It was always going to end like this.” Defeat. They felt defeated. The air around the voidling getting colder with the passing moments. Life from their soul was being drained by the void still. This conversation wasn’t good for their already shattering mind.
“And do you know why? Why it will end exactly how I decide it will? Because I own the truth. I can tell any lie I want to. But honestly nothing I could fabricate could be better than the disaster you created yourself. You’ve ruined your life better than I ever could have. I’m done here.” Jamato wasn’t wrong. There was a flaw in his thought process. Spoke’s life wasn’t destined for long. They were a mistake created by the void. Like a star’s solar flare, they were just a flare of void that ended up getting lucky and turned into a voidling instead of remaining a part of the void.
“Wait, Jamato! Are you going to tell them what I’ve done?”
“Better question is, how long do you think you can hide the truth?” No long. Not any longer. They were running out of life time. Their time was near.
Watching Jamato go through the portal, Spoke counted the seconds it took for the portal to teleport the skeleton hybrid away. The moment he disappeared, Spoke dashed over to break the portal. They were tired, hungry, and weak. They missed home. What is home?
Home. Where was home? Where was their guardian? Where was everyone? Spoke forced himself to move. Going around the maze for longer than they’d liked. They found the exit. Flowers. Pretty flowers. Similar to the ones MajesticRose had. Similar to the ones their papa had back home. Home? Was that still their home?
Pulled by the thought of touching the flowers, Spoke slowly made their way to the flowers. Once he was there, the flowers were lilacs, peonies, and poppies. Where were the roses? Picking up a poppy, it turned into a rose. It brought them peace. Tired. Maybe a nap would make them feel better?
Dragging themself into a corner, Spoke laid down on the ground. They shifted into their void form. Voidlings have a safety form or infant form as researchers called it. This form made the voidling practically untouchable by anything except other voidlings, void creatures, and the void. The rose stayed in Spoke’s grasp as they drifted into a restless sleep. The void draining the life out of the voidling faster now.
Around the corner, Mapicc was looking for Spoke under the guidance of Jamato. He was intending to tell Spoke that they could have been better off leaving Leo alive and adventuring the server in peace. Getting to the section of the maze Spoke was in, Mapicc saw the voidling sleeping. Peaceful, Mapicc thought until he realised that Spoke’s form was dissipating rapidly. Running over to the voidling, he attempted to wake them. His words were heard by deaf ears only.
The voidling dissipated fully, leaving only the rose they were holding. Mapicc picked it up, but the rose turned back into a poppy in his hand. He got up and walked to the exit where Jamato said he would be waiting for him. Reaching the area where Jamato was standing, Mapicc saw the expectant look on the skeleton hybrid’s face.
“He died.” That isn’t what Jamato expected to hear from Mapicc’s mouth.
“You killed him?”
“No! I didn’t even get a chance to talk to him. He was in his void form asleep holding this poppy.” Mapicc holds up the poppy to show Jamato. There was this corrupt hue taking its home on the petals.
“Then he—”
“They. Spoke is non-binary.” It was a common mistake among the people of Unstable to assume Spoke identified with he/him, and Mapicc over time got used to correcting people. Although it was odd for Jamato to slip up considering that the skeleton hybrid was supposedly Spoke’s first friend.
“Back to what I was saying. Void creatures die twice. Once their physical form. Before the second death, the void creature appears in front of the person who loves them the most. Clearly it’s not you despite you being his ‘best friend’. Do you know anyone who cares more about Spoke than you?” One person rang through Mapicc’s head.
“MinuteTech.”
“Pardon me. But who is that?”
“It’s this void creature that raised Spoke. If there is anyone who loves Spoke the most it would be him.”
“Where does he reside then?”
“The End dimension. He’s the guardian of the End.” That’s why the name was familiar to Jamato. MinuteTech the End Dimension Guardian. During his travels around the server, the skeleton hybrid found out about the Guardian of the End although never had an interaction.
“I know a place with an end portal. We can go to see if Spoke truly does have a second death.”
“Then what, Jamato?”
“What do you mean then what?”
“What are we going to do once we’re in the End?” Mapicc didn’t like this idea of going to harass his already dead best friend.
“Kill him of course. He’s the leader of the Null as I told you. He was just manipulating you and Jumper into thinking that he wasn’t.” Mapicc nodded along and gestured for him to lead to the End portal.
Meanwhile in the End Dimension, MinuteTech was repairing his armor sets as it took awhile to gather enough XP to mend all of his four sets.
“Papa! Papa!”
Minute paused in his place. That voice belonged to one person and one person only. He turned around to see a voidling running to him.
“I found you papa!”
Spoke had died. They had gone through the first death. Where had they died? Did they die at someone's hand?
“Papa?”
“Yes buddy?”
“Uppies!”
Minute chuckled and picked the voidling up. He could feel the voidling’s unfiltered joy. The void creature kissed the voidling’s head.
“How do you feel, baby?”
“‘Mazing! Papa, can we play?”
“Of course, buddy.”
The elder took Spoke to his bedroom. There was still a spot in the room specifically made for Spoke. It had been years since Spoke had called him ‘papa’. As they were playing, Minute heard the alarm for the new entries for the End go off. It was loud and caused Spoke to panic. Minute calmed Spoke down.
“Buddy it’s just papa’s alarm. I’ll be back in a moment. Okay?”
“Okay, papa.” Spoke went back playing with the blocks and stuffed animals.
The void creature made his way to the holding chamber for the entries. He saw Mapicc and an unknown face through the glass.
“Mapicc? What are you doing here?”
“Minute! Long story. Could you let me and Jamato out of here first.” So that’s what the mystery face’s name is, Jamato.
Walking over to the lever to open the chamber, Minute flicked it and the chamber spat out the two. Mapicc got up hastily while Jamato stood up gracefully. A grace only a performer would have. Minute didn’t like the way Jamato acted.
“What happened?” Instead of Mapicc answering first, Jamato jumped in.
“We need to see Spoke. I know he’s—”
“They” Mapicc interjected again.
“Yes, I know they’re here. I need to see him. To k—”
Before Jamato could finish a loud calling for Minute came from a far.
“Papa! Papa! I found something.” The voidling came running for the void creature. Minute picked up the voidling and held them in his arms. The purity of the childish excitement and lack of self preservation was the thing that shocked Jamato mainly.
“What did you find buddy?” Happily, Minute entertained the voidling’s behavior. They held up a handful of patches sewn by Minute and a salmon fish plushie.
“Patches! Fishy too! I dub thee George Jr.” Mapicc realised this
“Buddy, what’s up with the Jr part of it?” The void creature was entertaining the voidling unlike everyone on Unstable. Everyone else would have ignored the voidling or smothered the joy
“I have two fishy toys. The first one is George, now this one is George Jr!” Minute hummed, he kissed the voidling’s forehead. The void creature turned his attention back to the quiet and stunned Jamato.
“What were you saying again?”
“I said I needed to see him and ki…” Jamato hesitated. Not because he didn’t want to kill Spoke, but the look in Minute’s eyes. The love only a parent could give someone. Minute raised Spoke. Minute was a void creature just like Spoke. He knew Spoke had died the first death already.
“You aren’t killing them. They’ve already died once in your presence. They’re going to pass on their own terms now.” Minute’s tone is the reason Jamato didn’t argue back. There was a determination of a parent that scared Jamato. Along with the fact Minute could quickly execute him while caring for Spoke at the same time.
“How long until the second death?” There’s always been a morbid curiosity about how void creatures worked for Jamato as there weren’t many books written on the matter since not many died in front of normal people. The void creature hesitated a bit, but there was nothing wrong with telling Jamato since he clearly knew more than he was letting on.
“Voidlings and void creatures are two separate terms for void spawns—”
“Could you elaborate on this?” Jamato wished to write this down, but would hold himself back since Mapicc was here too.
“Voidlings are children. Toddler to young adult. They are considered voidlings and they have two deaths. Void creatures are the adults. We have one death only.”
“Why do the children have two deaths?” Minute sighed at the skeleton hybrid’s questions. Spoke was falling asleep in his arms. He adjusted how he was holding his child in his arms before continuing.
“Children are restless during death. The two-death process occurs to make their return to the void less intense.” That’s interesting. Jamato knew void spawn were made of void, but to think they literally originate from the void is eye opening.
“What about Spoke specifically?” Jamato had noticed that Minute and Spoke didn’t share many traits just by merely looking at them together. The void creature kissed the voidling’s head which caused them to babble happily in their sleep. Mapicc cooed at the sound of Spoke babbling. He hadn’t spoken up this whole time, Minute would ask him what happened to Spoke after this.
“It’s your turn to elaborate.”
“You and Spoke don’t look similar. Also they’ve never mentioned anything about having a parent to me before.”
“It sounds like you don’t know my child well. We don’t share physical characteristics because we’re not biologically related. Spoke doesn’t have any biological parents.”
“How long until he dies?” Jamato would personally get Null here to eliminate Spoke if the second death doesn’t happen soon. Minute could see the animosity Jamato had for Spoke.
“Three days. Day one is coming to an end… Actually he might have less ti—”
“Minute, why would he have less time than other voidlings?” Mapicc who had been silent for the last thirty minutes asked the question. The void creature could see the panic in his eyes.
“Spoke’s born from a void flare. His existence was a flaw of the void. Once the void realised, it has been reclaiming his soul for years now. If you have nothing else. You know where the exit portal is.”
Mapicc didn’t know what to say. He was still exhausted from the Null hunting him and now realising that he was going to lose his best friend, if he could even consider Spoke it anymore. The void creature saw the hesitance to speak and nudged him slightly to encourage him to speak with the push Mapicc did speak up.
“We’ve been on the run from Null which Spoke was leading—”
“From the bits of information you’ve told me about Null, Spoke would not be leading Null. It’s quite the opposite of Spoke’s behavior. They thrive in chaos and Null is doing good for the average people while harm for the people like Spoke. Then why would he lead it?”
“Can me and Jamato stay here for a bit? Just to heal our wounds.”
“You know where the guestrooms are. You can take Jamato to them.”
As they were about to part their separate ways, one more question entered Mapicc’s brain. He turned around and vocalized it.
“When did the void start to reclaim Spoke’s soul?” That question hurts to answer. Minute didn’t want to admit how long Spoke had been under the threat of being taken back by the void, but the sincerity in Mapicc’s voice along with the tones of regret pulled him into admission.
“It’s been years since it started when they were five. What you saw as his insanity was simply a byproduct of the fading.” Mapicc always accounted the ‘insanity’ Spoke displayed as a personality trait or something specific to the voidling’s natural character, but to here it was the voidling’s imminent death causing it made him rethink everything. Spoke held onto everything so tight. They would always make him stay the nights back during the Mafia reign. Minute saw the distress on the other’s face, he walked over and pulled him into a side hug.
“Do you want to spend the night with me?” Mapicc nodded.
“Go show Jamato where the guestroom is, then you can join me.”
“Okay.”
Mapicc left with Jamato to show him where the guestroom is in Minute’s base. The void creature walked away in the area to go to his room. Once he entered the room, he didn’t dare put the voidling down. It was his promise, he wouldn’t make his child feel alone. He would make his child feel loved until the very end of this life.
The pup knocked on the void creature’s door. Minute opened the door. Mapicc looked at Spoke in the void creature’s arms and teared up. The guardian reached out and wiped the pup’s tears away.
“What happened, Mapicc?” He spilled everything. Everything that happened in the past few months after the Final Law battle. Minute sat down on the bed and pulled Mapicc into a side hug. The details just kept flowing out of the pup’s mouth without a filter. There wasn’t a single negative thing about Spoke unless Jamato said it to him. The void creature listened along intently.
“I’ll tell you what I think. Spoke means good. They’ve always tried it. They just have inconvenient ways of showing it and doing it. When you attempted to raid the End with your thousand player army, I wasn’t mad or stunned. I just wanted the End to remain undestroyed. I know Spoke’s behavior too well. Over the years the void had started taking more and more of their soul. They got lost in their thoughts more easily and tunnel vision occurred more and more.”
“The last thing I told him was that I didn’t want to have anything to do with him.”
“Everyone says something in the heat of the moment. You felt betrayed by Spoke and it’s a valid response. They probably took it harsher than you think since they feel twice the emotions of normal people like us as they were fading still.” The pup felt horrible. Minute held the pup closer to comfort him.
“You didn’t know that. You were just expressing your feelings at the moment. Don’t think into it too much as it’s not going to help now.” Spoke turned in their sleep in Minute’s arms while babbling nonsense. Mapicc reached over and tucked a loose section of hair back, Spoke babbled something sleepily. He looked at Minute for some sort of answer for why they were like this. The void creature simply smiled and ruffled the pup’s hair.
“Spoke has a charm like no other. A fire that refused to be smothered by others. I think you know that well from his persistence and stubbornness.”
“They never knew when to give up.” Mapicc couldn’t take his eyes off Spoke. The voidling looked so small, weak, and happy. Weakness always did accompany positivity since there was nothing to hide. When they had nothing, Mapicc and Spoke would spend their nights messing around in the fields under the stars. Those stars were the witnesses of pure happiness.
“You should sleep. You can stay here and sleep.” He wanted to protest the void creature’s words, but a yawn cut him off. Maybe he was tired. Just a few moments of rest. Mapicc leaned against Minute, falling asleep in mere seconds after letting the void creature take guard.
MinuteTech is a different void creature. He felt the best when he was caring for others. It didn’t matter what he was doing, whether protecting them in battle or simply watching over them so they sleep tight. Void spawns have this nature for a reason. They need purpose, they thrive on completing their meaning of life. For Minute it was to take care of others. When he let EggChan stay in the End, Minute didn’t mind because he enjoyed caring and protecting the angel from harm. Another time is when he adopted Spoke, Minute already had a son, PlanetLord, and knew how to care for voidlings. He treated both the same because he loved them just the same even if one of them was biologically his while the other was adopted.
Once morning came, Minute was running his hand through Mapicc’s hair as he knew from past experience that it was a calming sensation for the pup. The voidling was the first to wake up. They babbled insolent nonsense until they realised there was someone new with them.
“Papa, who is that?”
“It’s a friend of ours.”
“FRIEND!” Unelicited joy. Spoke would always hide their joy and happiness from people unless they were around Minute or Mapicc. It was natural after people kept smothering his joy.
Mapicc woke from the voidling’s shout-like phrasing of the word. He sat up to get out of Minute’s lap as the void creature had moved him down to spare the pup’s back. His ears are sensitive even after hearing damage from being so close to TNT over and over again. Spoke looked interested in Mapicc. They looked too interested.
The void creature let Spoke out of his arms to let them explore and do what they wished. Right away, the voidling moved over to where Mapicc was and shifted into a void form which was even smaller then curled into the pup’s hoodie pocket. Minute chuckled.
“Your pocket’s probably warm. When they’re fading they enjoy warmth. As a void creature myself I don’t produce heat unless I shift my surroundings.” Mapicc nodded and scooted closer to Minute as if testing if he truly didn’t produce heat naturally. The pup was shocked by it, but didn’t concern himself with it and leaned against Minute.
“I’m scared.” His tone was solemn and a giveaway that the situation was getting to Mapicc along with many other things.
“What’s going on, bud?”
“Before Spoke and I split, they said Jamato was the leader of Null. I didn’t believe them.” The void creature watched Mapicc’s face closely.
“What do you think? I don’t tell you what to think, but I can be someone you can tal—” Spoke crawled out of Mapicc’s pocket and shifted back. They were holding a rose that they had found in Mapicc’s pocket.
“Papa! I found a flower!” Mapicc’s expression twisted into regret. Minute saw it, but didn’t call him out on it. He reached over to the rose which turned into a poppy in his hands. Oh dear, it was the icon object. The void creature broke off a section of the stem and clipped it into the voidling’s hair. They were so happy at the flower being in their hair. Spoke was joy reincarnated.
During the day, Spoke was playing around the flower bushes as Minute was watching him. They were in a long sleeve shirt and thick pants as during the second death voidlings feel colder and want to be warmer. The elder picked up the younger, he kissed the voidling’s forehead drawing happy giggles. Mapicc was sitting nearby fixing his armor while watching Spoke. His regret bubbling up in his stomach. Looking at the voidling dying slowly in their parent’s arms was sickening.
Jamato walked over to where Minute was. The skeleton hybrid asked Minute about a kitchen. Spoke looked at Jamato and shifted into their void form to hide Jamato’s eyes. This intrigued the skeleton.
“Scared of me?” He couldn't help but tease the voidling after everything. Minute moved to hide Spoke from Jamato’s view.
“You're staying under my protection as a guest. Harm you cause to my child will have you swiftly removed or eliminated.” The way Minute said eliminated instead of killed gave way to his nature as a past Mafia member and his protective nature over his kids. Yet that guardian nature of the void creature always made it hard for his enemies to tell if they would be hurt beyond recovery or killed.
The skeleton backed off and instead turned his attention to the fact Spoke flinched at him which Jamato came to the conclusion that the voidling had memories of the moment before they died.
“Do they remember who I am?” Minute shook his head no, and picked a rose from the bushes in front of him. He handed the rose to Spoke. The voidling’s energy came back as they thanked Minute with a quiet ‘papa’ and nuzzled into the void creature’s chest.
“They don’t remember anything recent. Voidlings second death means they only remember what they experienced at this age. Spoke is five.”
“What about him being scared when he saw me?”
“That was instinct. Just because the memories burned doesn’t mean the motions engraved into the muscle does.” That made more sense. Spoke still saw Mapicc as a friend yet Jamato scared them.
As the day passed, it was calm and no other events were major. It was until, Spoke held onto Minute and wouldn’t stop crying for the elder to not leave. Minute picked them up and held them close.
“I’m not leaving, buddy.”
“Papa please. Papa.” Their cries were getting weaker with time. He knew Spoke’s time was coming to the final end.
“Do you want to take a nap together?”
“Papa won’t leave?”
“I'll be here. Every single moment. I won’t let you go. You have nothing to fear, my child.”
Spoke nodded and held onto Minute tighter. It breaks Minute’s heart to see Spoke like this. Voidlings during their second death could feel their final death. The elder took the younger to his room. As they laid down on the bed, Spoke curled against Minute and held onto the void creature’s suit with a grip of iron. So many things were taken from Spoke during their life. So many things weren’t given to them that were given to others.
Minute held Spoke closer. He shifted the surrounding temperature to be warmer for his child.
“You’re safe, Spoke. Rest for now.”
Within moments of giving those words of comfort, Spoke slipped into a sense of sleep. It was the last moment alive. The air breathing a silence only earned after a parent starts grieving their child’s death. Minute got up with Spoke in his arms. One last walk, Spoke deserved the world in his eyes. If he was the last person to be with Spoke, he shall make Spoke feel the most loved they would have ever been. Loving someone during their death more than when they were alive is a curse of the greats.
While walking around, Minute’s void presence took over the area and warmed the area as he could feel Spoke slipping away into the void. Mapicc had walked over in curiosity as he saw Minute and Spoke. As he stepped closer to the void spawns, the pup felt the air around him get warmer and have a homely touch. The pup had a curious expression that was taking place over the calm expression that had been on his face.
“This area’s warmer than the rest of the island.”
“Yes, I extended my soul into the area surrounding me and warmed it for Spoke.” Minute held Spoke tighter, the voidling was whimpering in his sleep. The void creature hummed a low pitch. It was comforting to the voidling. Minute looked human, his equanimity was cracking under the emotional stress of the thought of Spoke dying. Mapicc could see this and more regret boiled over him.
“I’m so sor—” The void creature cut him off before he could even begin to apologize.
“Don’t you dare, say sorry. You didn’t do anything. You may have seen them die, but you weren’t the cause of it. Their life was always meant to be short and transient. We just never knew when the timer would end. Their favorite story was about a withering rose.” He smiled and kissed the voidling’s head before continuing.
“Two children found a patch of flowers. One picked out a rose, the other a weed. Spoke always said weeds were needed. They’re right, they never knew why, but Spoke always said they were a weed. In the story, the rose withered away as the weed kept spreading and spreading until the original point was lost. They knew it from the start that they were going to die early. Die before I ever would. Many say a parent’s worst pain comes from outliving their children.” Mapicc didn’t know what to say as Minute had never been one to share details about the past as someone who was a rationalist and realist. Perhaps grief as a twisted way of playing puppeteer with the strongest of them all.
Spoke began to stir in Minute’s arms. The void creature nodded at the pup.
“I shall give them a passing moment. You won’t get to say your goodbye, but before their nap and they were excitedly talking about this friend who would travel with them. Mapicc even if the final moments you spent with Spoke weren’t positive, you were something more than a friend. You were family for them. I thank you. Spoke is hard to love. You showed him the love I couldn’t. Platonic love is very different from parental love.” Minute walked toward a locked room and unlocked it using a key. It was Spoke’s childhood room. Everything was untouched except the feather duster in the corner that Minute used to keep the room nice. There were pictures of Planet, Minute, and Spoke. Minute raised both Planet and Spoke together as Planet was his actual son, but he treated both of them the same because to him they were his children.
The elder sat down on the bed and waited for Spoke to wake up. As the voidling woke up, they were in a happy playful mood.
“Papa! You kept your promise!” Tears welled up in Minute’s eyes as he began to smile at his child.
“Of course I did, baby. Am I one to break my promises?” Spoke noticed the tears.
“Is papa sad?” He shook his head.
“My eyes are dry, buddy, I spent a few moments earlier dusting.” The voidling frowned.
“Liar. Papa’s eyes don’t get tears from dust. Papa. Papa. Papa.” Repetition, the most used word during childhood would be repeated until the soul force was drained completely.
Each time they said ‘papa’, their voice faded a little more. Spoke held onto Minute. Minute held his baby, in his arms comforting the voidling as the voidling dissipated into the void. It was a decrescendo into their last moments. There would be no forte to pop out. Now was the ending of an incredible tale. May his child be at peace at last.
With the last ‘papa’, Spoke’s faded into void particles, their farm dissipating into the air.
Spoke (IsHere) lived a short, shallow life of pain and glory. Yet when it came to the end, the one person who stood with the voidling was the very person who gave them a chance.