The universe was an endless abyss, a sprawling expanse of bleak darkness that stretched infinitely in all directions. White dots blinked in the distance, cold and indifferent, their light dimmed by the weight of nothing. They were like scattered embers of a long-dead fire, offering no warmth, no promise—just the reminder of a cosmos that was vast and uncaring.
Nebulae, once the birthplace of stars, hung like bruises on the skin of the night, their colors muted and lifeless. The void was a prison, and space itself felt like an endless sea of despair, pressing down with a silence that was almost deafening.
No comforting horizons, no sheltering ground.
Only the endless dark that devoured hope.
Swallowed dreams.
Consumed energy.
And left nothing but a hollow ache in its place.
Still it stretched around them, that endless dark that swallowed all but the most distant flickers of starlight. Ail and An drifted through it, adrift in their small, hollow vessel. The Makai Tree loomed above them, its branches twisted and skeletal, like the bones of some ancient, forgotten deity clinging to the last scraps of life.
Its roots brushed against them now and then, coarse tendrils searching for sustenance in the void, the touch felt almost like a plea—a ghostly whisper of everything they'd lost. Of a family they'd never known. Of peace they'd never experienced. Of a home they'd been denied.
And the dark seemed to whisper that they'd never find family, they'd never experience peace, and never have a home.
Every time hope appeared before them, a promising planet full of energy and sunlight. Something would go wrong. Fearsome beasts, untamable and unstoppable, would always emerge. Ravaging poison with no remedy. Tainted air. Deadly circumstances that sent them fleeing back into the nothing.
But always, the silence of space waited for them.
It loomed like a living demon, strong enough that the absence of noise became a noise all its own. Pressing against their ears, into their minds, until it felt like the darkness had a voice, a presence, and it whispered nothing by loneliness.
The stars hung out there, cold and unfeeling, like a thousand empty eyes watching on their aimless journey, distant and unreachable. Ages ago, the chill had seeped into them. It came from somewhere deeper than just their surroundings.
It came from inside, a creeping, gnawing emptiness that spread through their bones, their souls, until each breath felt heavy, until even that simple act seemed like a tremendous fight.
And no amounts of warmth from the Makai Tree could banish that coldness.
Another planet slipped past, a barren, ash-covered sphere that spun slowly in the void. An glared at it, her teeth grinding as she stared at the bleak landscape, her chest tightening with something sharp and ugly. She couldn't remember the last time she felt hope.
Each world was a just another reminder.
Another disappointment.
Another place where life couldn't flourish, where hope withered before it had a chance to grow.
It made her angry, and she let it build, fed it like a fire, let it burn hot inside her. It was the only way she knew how to survive. Because that anger kept the emptiness at bay. Anger was better than feeling the cold.
She clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms until it hurt, letting the pain ground her, letting it give her something to hold on to in the face of the nothingness that surrounded them.
Ail tried not to look at the stars at all. They were only a remind of how small and insignificant they truly were. How many times had he looked upon a glittering sphere with hope blossoming in his chest, only to have it smashed to nothing but dust? Looking at those burning dots scattered across the void would only remind him of every shattered dream and every disappointment.
Emptiness settled across him like a shroud, that deep ache, that gnawing hollow feeling. Somehow, the Makai Tree mirrored those feelings. Though the tree couldn't speak, it couldn't breathe or comfort, yet everything about it echoed despair and desolation.
An's rage burned hot against the hopelessness.
Ail's despair shimmered under the quiet, consuming weight.
Ail gazed at the Makai Tree, before reaching out to touch the coarse bark, feeling the brittle texture beneath his fingers.
"How much longer can we continue like this?" he asked. "Every barren planet, every distant star, is only a cruel joke. A constant reminder that the life we're searching for is just beyond our reach."
"Forever elusive," she said beside him. "Or if we obtain it, that promise is yanked away."
His chest tightened.
Her breath caught.
He pulled his hand away, curling his fingers into a fist to stop the trembling.
The loud silence consumed them once more, their only anchor the withering Makai Tree that held onto them. An pulled her crimson bodysuit tighter around herself, though no fabric could shield her from the cold that resided in her bones. An now believed that nothing could ever erase that icy sensation. It was her forever companion. a lover she despised.
They passed another empty planet. It loomed at them, silently judging them through the darkness, reflecting their own emptiness back at them. The barren surface of ash and shattered rock offered nothing. No hope. No warmth. Just another reminder of how truly desolate their journey was.
"Another dead world," she muttered bitterly, her vibrant eyes scanning the cracked, gray wasteland of the planet. "The universe denying us again. I wonder if Fiore ever found a world to live, to love."
"No, the more we see of the universe, the more I'm convinced there is nowhere to live, no love to be found."
"But you love me," An said.
Ail glanced at her, his icy blue eyes holding a sorrow he dared not voice. The deep navy of his suit merged with the surrounding darkness, the golden accents dimmed by the absence of any substantial light. That hollow void in his chest seemed to grow, reflecting the emptiness of the infinite blackness around them.
"I'll always love you, An. I'll sacrifice my world and my life for you."
A dead leaf drifted downward, it brushed against his arm. The lifeless texture a reminder of the vitality that had long faded from their lives. The touch felt like a cry for help, a ghostly voice begging for something.
Life or death.
Anything but this limbo of nothingness and black.
"Perhaps the next one," he replied softly, though he could hear the futility in his own voice. "The next one will be beautiful. Vibrant blue oceans stretching past the horizon. Verdant green life stretching across glittering rock. Soft breezes that carry the scent of life and growing things."
But he knew those were just words, a habit, an echo of a hope that had lost all meaning. Every syllable felt heavy, a useless effort against the suffocating void. And if the world had blue skies and green plants, it would have some hidden horror that chased them away again.
"Perhaps the next one," she said, fighting to keep the sadness from dripping off her tongue. "The next one will have soft rain. Perfectly formed drops that would skitter across our skin. Majestic clouds will skirt the sky, morphing and flowing before our eyes."
"The Makai tree will grow, and we'll flourish."
An knew it was a false hope. Ail knew there was no chance of them discovering such a paradise. They'd traveled across the cosmos and found only a few such worlds. Yet, each proved uninhabitable to them. As if the universe was determined to end them.
Again, the silence between them thickened, a silence so complete that grew on its own. Pressing against them until it morphed into a villain sent to destroy. Molding against them like a second skin, hopping so suffocate. It whispered to them.
You're alone. You'll always be alone.
Only the indifferent stars and a dying tree will keep you company.
Until the day when your struggle ends.
The Makai tree will die. Then you'll follow.
Roots intertwined around them, but instead of offering comfort, they felt like the desperate grip of a specter, clawing at existence as it slowly crumbled. In the furthest reaches of their memories, in faded moments and lost flashes, the Makai Tree was lush and perfect. Once, the tree's bark was smooth and thrummed with life. Once, it radiated love and hope.
Green glistened in perfect sunlight.
Blue reflected off radiant clouds.
Neither of them knew if this was only hope playing cruel tricks on them, or if life used to be exactly that.
An tore her gaze away from the endless dark and traced the brittle bark. Her jaw clenched, and her throat tightened. "How much longer must we wander aimlessly? Every planet is the same! Dead, empty, useless!"
Ail wanted to offer some words of solace, but found nothing. His own despair was a quiet storm, swirling within, masked only by the hollow strength of his outward composure. He reached out, his hand resting against An's shoulder.
The weak pulse of her life force—a timid heartbeat struggling against the inevitable. And he knew the truth. They were dying. Their endless wandering, their constant need for fresh energy, was slowly killing them.
"What do you want to do, An? Stop? Surrender? Close our eyes and slowly pass into oblivion?"
She laughed—a harsh, jagged sound that echoed unnaturally in the quiet of space, as if the void itself mocked her efforts. "Perhaps we're already dead, Ail. Perhaps that tremendous beast really ended us. Or the poisoned air, or the harsh climate on all those worlds, killed us. Perhaps this is our eternal torment. Doomed to wander the stars until everything fades. Until the Galaxy Cauldron calls our star seeds back to begin this eternal torment again."
Her bitterness cut through the small distance between them, but Ail understood. It was her shield, her armor, against the suffocating hopelessness that threatened to consume them. He glanced over, her pale pink hair floated weightlessly around her, the only splash of color in the darkness that engulfed them.
"We can't give up, I can't give up," he whispered, more to himself than to her, clinging to the faintest glimmer of something—a belief that there was still a reason to move forward, even if he couldn't name it. "I'll never give up on you, An. I'll never give up on the Makai Tree. We can't give up."
An's eyes flashed, and for a moment, they were filled with something more than anger—something softer, almost vulnerable. "Maybe you can keep chasing shadows, but I'm done with false hope. I'm done."
She turned away, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. A futile barrier against the emptiness breaking apart her soul. The Makai Tree's roots brushed over her, and she flinched, recoiling from the touch.
It was only a reminder of what they were losing. Of everything that was slipping away. The metallic bitterness of despair lingered on her tongue, sharp and corrosive. It grew stronger with each moment that passed in this aimless drift.
Ail watched her. A longing stirred deep within him—a longing for warmth, for connection, for something more than this endless cold.
But the space between them was as vast as the universe they drifted through, filled with unspoken words and emotions neither of them could afford to feel. Now he turned his gaze to the stars. They remained cold and unfeeling. They offered no comfort and held no hope. There was no longer any beauty to be held, no wonder or magic.
There was only nothing.
More planets passed, one after the other, lifeless and scarred, their surfaces reflecting the emptiness within him.
"If we find a place—any place with even the hint of energy," An said, her voice low and fierce. "I'm not letting it slip away. I won't be condemned to this… nothingness forever. I'll fight the beasts with my teeth. I'll devour the threats with my claws."
Her words hung between them, a vow forged from desperation and defiance. Ail felt a pang of unease, but also a flicker of understanding. He, too, was tired. Tired of the drift, tired of the void, tired of watching everything they touched wither and die.
He nodded. "We'll find somewhere and it will be beautiful. Like you."
She glanced back at him, her eyes softening for a heartbeat, before hardening once more. "We'd better, Ail. We'd better… or else."
She didn't finish letting the threat—and the promise—linger. The Makai Tree's faint glow pulse weakly, casting long shadows across their faces. They were together, yet profoundly alone, each grappling with despair as they continued their silent voyage through the uncaring abyss.
Still, they continued, the universe offering them nothing but the same relentless darkness and endless stretch of cold that never relented.
Ail picked up his flute and began to play a haunting melody. The notes sang of tranquil waters dragging helpless pebbles back and forth. The tune spoke of soft sunshine, warming blades of green grass. The melody whispered words of rest and peace and a love neither of them could imagine.
And then, through the endless void, they saw it—a glimmer of blue and white, pristine and perfect against the darkness. A marble of life suspended in the abyss, its surface swirled with clouds and oceans that seemed to pulse with vitality. For the first time in what felt like eternity, the Makai Tree's branches stirred with something more than desperation, reaching toward this beacon of hope.
An's breath caught in her throat. "Ail…"
His flute fell silent as he stared at the distant planet, his eyes reflecting its soft glow. This wasn't like the other worlds they'd passed. This one felt different. This one felt alive.
"I won't survive, Ail. If this plant is hostile like all the other ones. I won't."
"I know, An. I know."
The glittering marble of blue hung before them, beautiful and unsuspecting, as Ail's melody faded into the void. Neither of them spoke of what they would do to ensure they never had to drift through the darkness again. Some prices were too terrible to voice aloud.
Author's Note
Hey there, Moonies! Guess what? Dark Kingdom: Shattered Moonlight is officially an ebook, and it's FREE because I love you all more than An loves being angry at the universe. You can grab your copy here: /dark-kingdom-shattered-moonlight/ . Seriously, go ahead and download it—completely free, no strings attached. Except maybe emotional attachment, but we can deal with that later.
Now, before you start wondering if I'v' taken a one-way trip into the void like Ail and An, let me reassure you—I'm'just getting started. Makai Tree: Roots of Destiny is on its way! The first chapter drops on November 28th, with new chapters rolling out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. You'l' find them on Wattpad, AO3 (Archive of Our Own), , because we'r' nothing if not retro.
So download the ebook, grab a cup of tea , and prepare yourselves. Things are about to get emotional, dramatic, and maybe even a little evil (reluctantly so, of course). Thanks for all your support—you make the darkness a little less endless.
See you on November 28th!
—AE McRoberts