Speaker 1: Calaroga Shark Media.
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to Echoes of the Void. Episode seven, Resurrection,
Part one.
Speaker 3: Blood drips from my palm onto the ancient text, each
crimson drop absorbed instantly by the yellowed pages. The ritual
Margaret designed requires sacrifice freely given, she emphasized, as coerced
blood holds no power against entities from the void. The
third cut, she instructs, her voice steady despite the tension
etched on her face across the lifeline. I draw the
silver blade across my palm again, barely flinching as it
parts flesh. Blood wells darker than before, thick with intention
and power. This time Margaret catches it in a small
clay bowl, where herbs and crushed crystals wait. Enough, she says,
setting down the bowl and pressing a cloth against my
wounded hand. The barrier will hold.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: Your blood creates a shield around your consciousness that the
entity cannot penetrate. During triangulation, dusk is falling outside the
windows of Blackwood Estate. The dark moon, invisible in the
sky but exerting its gravitational influence, nonetheless rises over the
winter ocean. In less than an hour, will attempt the
triangulation ritual, my last chance to free Alexander before the
entity consumes what remains of his consciousness. How long will
the blood barrier last? I ask, as Margaret wraps a
bandage around my palm until sunrise. She secures the bandage,
then meets my eyes, which means we have one attempt
elise if the triangulation fails. If anything goes wrong, there's
no second chance tonight. I nod, accepting this limitation. After
last night's near disaster during the exchange ritual, we're taking
no chances. The entity proved stronger than we anticipated, more
desperate to prevent Alexander's release. The seed it attempted to
plant in my mind during its invasion has been cleansed,
but the memory of that alien presence squirming through my
consciousness remains vivid, disturbing. The preparations are complete, Margaret says,
gathering her ritual tools. The triangulation pattern is set in
the master bedroom. All three anchors are in position. I
touched the key around my neck, warm as always, but fainter. Somehow,
the connection to Alexander diminished after last night's forced separation.
The entity is draining him more rapidly. Now consuming his
energy in a final effort to absorb his consciousness completely
before we can free him. Time is running out. In
the master bedroom, Margaret has transformed the space into a
ritual chamber. The anchor crystal we created at the solstice
sits at one point of a triangular pattern marked on
the floor with salt and herbs. The ceremonial knife, the
one that killed Alexander a century ago, occupies the second point,
its blade gleaming in the candle light. The ancient text
from France, now bearing my blood, forms the third point.
At the center of the triangle stands a small table
with the Midnight Stabilizer crystal on its velvet cushion. Despite
knowing it's been compromised, that Sullivan designed it as a
channel between dimensions. We need its protective properties for the triangulation.
Everything is aligned, Margaret confirms, checking the resonator one final time.
The barrier between worlds will be thinnest at exactly midnight.
That's when you'll attempt the crossing. I move to the
edge of the triangle, studying the elaborate setup, and you're
sure the blood barrier will prevent the entity from following
Alexander through from using the stabilizer as a conduit like
it tried last night. As sure as I can be,
Margaret says, Honestly, my grandmother's journals were explicit about blood
freely given being anathema to void entities. It creates a
frequency they cannot penetrate. She hesitates, But Alice, you need
to understand. If Alexander crosses over, something must take his place.
That's the fundamental law of dimensional transition. The entity, I say,
will trap it in the stabilizer, as Sullivan explained, preventing
it from following Alexander. That's the theory. But these exchanges
are unpredictable. If something goes wrong, if the entity evades
the trap. She doesn't finish the sentence. Doesn't need to.
I understand the implications. If the entity escapes, it might
take my place instead pulling me into the void while
it crosses to our world. Or worse, it might bring
both Alexander and me into the void, leaving it free
to enter our reality contested. I trust our preparations, I
tell her, with more confidence than I truly feel, and
I trust Alexander. Margaret nods, respecting my determination. Then it's
time you should change the ritual works best if there
are minimal barriers between your physical form and the dimensional
energies we're manipulating. She hands me a simple white shift
similar to the nightgown I wore during the exchange ritual,
but adorned with symbols embroidered in silver thread around the
hem and neckline protection schedules, she explains, designed to complement
the blood barrier. Once changed, I take my position at
the center of the triangular pattern, the small table with
the stabilizer crystal before me. Margaret activates it's the resonator,
then moves to stand outside the salt boundary, a position
from which she can observe without interfering. Remember, she says,
her voice tight with concern, maintain absolute focus on Alexander,
on your unique resonance with him. Don't allow the entity
to distract you, to create doubt or fear. Those emotions
create openings it can exploit. I nod, settling crosslegged on
the floor before the table. The key warms against my skin.
The anchor crystal begins to pulse with soft light as
the resonator's components accelerate, creating the familiar humming that helps
thin the barriers between worlds. When midnight comes, Margaret continues,
Take the stabilizer in your left hand, keeping your wounded
palm exposed to its surface. That contact between your blood
and the crisp is crucial to trapping the entity separately
from Alexander. The minutes tick by, tension building in the
room like a gathering storm. The candle flames stretch tall,
then shrink to nearly nothing, responding to energies. Our ordinary
senses can't perceive the temperature drops, my breath clouding in
front of me, despite the fire burning in the grate.
At one minute to midnight, Margaret speaks one final time.
Whatever happens, Elise, don't leave the triangle until the transition
is complete. The boundary protects you from interference from this
side of the void or the other. As the mantle
clock strikes the first chime of twelve, I close my
eyes and reach for Alexander across the diminishing barrier between worlds.
The familiar expansion of consciousness comes immediately, reality thinning around me,
the boundaries of physical existence becoming permeable, negotiable. I follow
our connection like a thread through darkness, seeking that unique
frequency that is Alexander's consciousness. The void opens before me,
not as a physical space, but as an absence, a
negative reality when normal rules of time and space hold
no meaning. Alexander, I call sending my awareness deeper into
the void.
Speaker 1: I've come for you. It's time.
Speaker 3: At first, nothing just endless, empty potential stretching in all directions.
Then faintly at first, but growing stronger, a response, a recognition,
a lease. His presence materializes before me, not visible in
any conventional sense, but perceptible to my expanded consciousness. Alexander's essence,
his unique pattern of energy and awareness, but changed from
our previous contacts, diminished, somehow, ragged at the edges.
Speaker 1: What's happened to you? I ask?
Speaker 3: Alarm surging through me. The entity feeds constantly. Now takes
more than I can restore. His presence flickers like a
candle in a draft, not much time left. Fear and
determination war within me. Then we proceed. Now the triangulation
is prepared, All three anchors are aligned. I sense his
awareness sharpening, focusing with effort. The entity knows it's been
watching through Sullivan's splinter. It's waiting for what the moment
of transition when I begin to cross it will strike.
As if summoned by his warning, I become aware of
another presence in the void, vast, ancient, a darkness that
seems to absorb the nothingness around it. The entity no
longer hiding its true nature, its true scale, Elise Morgan.
It speaks directly into my consciousness, its voice a chorus
of countless whispers. How persistent you are, how delightfully stubborn.
I maintain my focus on Alexander, on our connection, refusing
to be distracted by the entity's approach. Ignore it, I
tell him, focus only on our resonance. On crossing over,
Alexander's presence strengthens slightly, drawing on what little energy he
has left. Yes, the resonance, like before, but deeper. We
attune ourselves to each other, finding that perfect harmonic alignment
we discovered during the solstice ritual refined during the exchange.
Our consciousnesses vibrate at exactly the same frequency, creating a
bridge between dimensions. The entity circles us, a predator studying prey, fascinating.
It hisses such perfect alignment, such potential. I feel Alexander
begin the transition, his consciousness starting to follow our resonance
back toward physical reality, toward the triangulation pattern where his
freedom waits. The process is agonizingly slow, each increment of
movement requiring tremendous effort against the void's natural resistance. That's it,
I encourage, follow me back cross the threshold. The entity
strikes without warning, not at me, protected by the blood barrier,
but at Alexander's already weakened consciousness. It tears into him
like a storm, like hunger personified, attempting to consume what
remains of him before he can complete the crossing. Alexander's
scream reverberates through the void through my consciousness. His presence
destabilizes parts of him, shredding under the entity's assault. No
I cry, reaching deeper into the void, trying to shield
him with my own consciousness. But the blood barrier that
protects me also limits how far I can extend. I
cannot fully reach him where he's suspended between states the stabilizer.
Alexander gasps through the pain of the entity's attack. Now
elease in the physical world. My hand moves to grasp
the midnight crystal, pressing my wounded palm against its cold surface.
The sensation reverberates through my expanded consciousness, creating a direct
conduit between the void and the crystal entity of the void.
I in tone, following the ritual Margaret and I prepared.
I offer you passage through this vessel, binding you to
its confines, separating you from what you have taken. The
entities assault on Alexander pauses. I feel its vast attention
shift toward me, toward the channel opening through the stabilizer.
A trap, It says, amusement, coloring its multitude of voices,
how predictable, how human. But despite its dismissive words, I
sense its hunger, its desperate desire to cross over, to
escape the void, to reunite with the splinter inhabiting Sullivan.
The Stabilizer's channel calls to it a path of least
resistance toward freedom. Alexander continue crossing now while it's distracted,
He struggles to reconstitute his fragmented consciousness to resume the
painful process of transition. I feel him moving again, following
our resonance, drawing closer to the threshold between worlds. The
entity's attention remains divided, parts still attacking Alexander, part investigating
the channel opened by the stabilizer. It probes the conduit
with tendrils of its consciousness, testing for traps for deception.
Sullivan designed this pathway, it says, my faithful servant for
a century. Why would he betray me? Now he fears
your reunion? I answer, playing for time. As Alexander inches
closer to crossing, fears being consumed when your fragments rejoin. Yes,
the entity agrees as he should, but his fear makes
him short sighted. What awaits after reunification is glorious. The
entity begins to flow toward the stabilizer's channel, gradually directing
more of its vast consciousness toward the opening I've created.
I feel the midnight crystal growing colder in my physical hand,
frost forming on its surface as the entity's essence begins
to transfer into it. Elise Alexander warns, his voice stronger
as he approaches the threshold. It's not working as planned.
The stabilizer it can't hold the entity's full consciousness. It's
too vast. Horror floods through me as I realize he's right.
The entity is simply too large, too ancient and complex
to be contained within the crystal. It's using the channel. Yes,
but not as we intended, not to be trapped, but
to follow Alexander through to our world. Close the channel,
Alexander urges, quickly before it crosses completely. But you haven't
fully crossed over yet. I protest if I close it, now,
do it? He insists, better I remain partially in the
void than the entity escape completely Torn between our plan
and this new necessity, I hesitate, and in that moment
of indecision, the entity makes its move. It surges forward,
pouring more of its consciousness through the stabilizer's channel, pushing
against the blood barrier that still protects my mind. Your
sacrifice is admirable, Alexander Blackwood, it says, But futile. I
have waited a century for this moment.
Speaker 1: For this vessel.
Speaker 3: Its vast attention focus on me for her with shocking speed.
Tendrils of its consciousness whip around Alexander's partially transitioned form,
binding him, halting his progress toward the threshold. Release him,
I demand, pushing against the entity with all the force
of my will, with all the power of the blood barrier,
a trade. The entity proposes his freedom for yours. Step
beyond your protection, Elise Morgan, allow me entry, and I
will release him to your world. Don't listen, Alexander pleads,
struggling against the entity's grip. It lies, it will take
us both if you surrender. But I can see his
consciousness continuing to fragment under the entity's assault, pieces of
his essence dissolving into the void. If this continues, there
will be nothing left of him to save. In physical reality.
I become aware of Margaret's shouting warnings from beyond the
triangle's boundary. The resonator is spinning wildly, its components threatening
to tear themselves apart with the force of their rotation.
The candles around the room have turned green, then black,
their flames casting no light, yet continuing to burn. I
have seconds to decide to act before everything collapses, the triangulation,
the dimensional bridge, Alexander's remaining consciousness. There must be another way,
I think, desperately, a third option beyond surrender or failure.
And then I remember something from the ancient text, a
passage about the nature of void entities, about their fundamental composition.
They aren't singular beings, but complex amalgamations of energy and consciousness,
drawn together by resonant frequencies, which means, Alexander, I call
a new plan forming. Remember what we created during the solstice,
the perfect resonance that formed the third anchor. Despite his pain,
I feel his understanding bloom. Yes, our harmonic alignment. It
generated something new, something the entity couldn't corrupt. We need
to do that again, I tell him, but stronger, not
just alignment, complete unity. Without waiting for a response, I
pour all of my consciousness, all of my essence toward him,
not just reaching across the void, but offering myself entirely,
no barriers, no reservations, no separation, total surrender. For a heartbeat,
nothing happens. The entity's grip on Alexander remains its presence,
continuing to flow through the stabilizer's channel. Then Alexander responds,
his fragmented consciousness reaching for mine with equal abandon, equal surrender.
Speaker 2: Romance Weekly is a production of Calaroga Shark Media executive
producers Mark Francis and John McDermott. Portions of this podcast
may have been created with the assistance of Ai
Speaker 1: Calaroga Shark Media