The Fragments: Life After the Sundering

Introduction: Seventeen Rocks in the Void

Three days post-Sundering. The world is broken into seventeen pieces floating in darkness.

125 survivors scattered across sixteen fragments. Each piece too small to be a planet, too isolated to support traditional ecosystems. No sun (it died with the moons). No unified atmosphere. No ground connecting them.

Just rocks. Floating. Separate. Dying slowly.

This is what “saving the world” looked like: fragments of reality held together by nothing but The Six’s elemental magic and sheer stubborn will.

Welcome to Book 2. Where survival isn’t heroic—it’s exhausting.

The Seventeen Fragments: What Remained

When the Sundering stabilized, seventeen distinct pieces formed:

Fragment Zero (The Nexus): Where the Eclipse Nexus stood. Where the Forgotten One remains. Uninhabitable. Quarantine zone. No one goes there. Ever.

Fragments 1-6 (The Six God-Fragments): Each containing essence-trace of one dead moon. Each assigned to one of The Six as their responsibility:

Fragment 1 (Lunara-touched): Zephyrion’s fragment. 8 Auran survivors. Gravity unstable, atmosphere problems.
Fragment 2 (Pyros-touched): Tarak’s fragment. 12 Scalian survivors. Volcanic, too hot, constant fire.
Fragment 3 (Thalassia-touched): Nerai’s fragment. 7 Hydran survivors. Flooded, pressure crushing, she became water to hold it back.
Fragment 4 (Verdanis-touched): Ronan’s fragment. 14 Chloran survivors. Forest, but life-corruption spreading from void exposure.
Fragment 5 (Umbra-touched): Nyx’s fragment. 9 Cimmerian survivors. Shadow-saturated, reality mathematically thin.
Fragment 6 (Noctis-touched): Shahrzad’s fragment. 11 Mauve survivors. Dream-logic physics, reality optional.

Fragments 7-16 (The Ten Survivor Fragments): Smaller pieces. 64 survivors scattered. Some fragments habitable. Most deadly. All isolated.

Fragment 17 (The Ancient Fragment): Pre-existing infrastructure not part of original Eclipsia. Discovered Week 2 Book 2. This changes everything. (More on this in Post 29.)

The Physics of Fragments (How They Don’t Collapse)

Here’s the question everyone asks: Why don’t the fragments fall into the void?

Answer: The Six.

Each of the six god-fragments is held stable by its assigned leader using absorbed moon-death energy. Zephyrion maintains Fragment 1’s atmosphere. Tarak regulates Fragment 2’s temperature. Nerai holds Fragment 3’s pressure. Ronan sustains Fragment 4’s life. Nyx stabilizes Fragment 5’s reality. Shahrzad anchors Fragment 6’s present.

The cost: Constant concentration. No sleep. No rest. Bleeding themselves into their elements day by day.

The result: Fragments 1-6 survive. Barely. For now.

The ten smaller fragments (7-16)? Some stable (lucky geology). Some slowly decaying (unlucky survivors). No divine intervention there—just physics and prayer.

Daily Life on a Fragment (It’s Worse Than You Think)

Let me paint the picture. You’re on Fragment 7. Chunk of former grassland about two miles across. Twenty survivors.

Day 1 post-Sundering:

Check if atmosphere is holding (it is, barely)
Ration food from whatever grew before breaking (not much)
Try not to look at the void (it looks back)
Wonder if this is survival or prolonged dying

Day 3:

Food supplies dwindling
Two people Surrendered overnight (down to 18)
Void-exposure causing headaches, nausea, reality-perception issues
Still no plan beyond “don’t die today”

Week 2:

Food gone. Eating whatever grew in contaminated soil (makes you sick)
Five more Surrendered (down to 13)
Discovering that void-exposure changes you—abilities manifesting, bodies adapting
The transformation has begun

Week 4:

Stabilized at 13 survivors
Those remaining are adapting—void-touched, mutating, evolving
Fragment showing signs of ecosystem collapse (plants dying, water fouling)
Discovered Ancient Fragment signal (hope, finally)

Week 12:

9 survivors left (four died from void-sickness, not Surrender)
Those remaining fundamentally changed—no longer purely their original race
Ecosystem dead. Surviving on Ancient Fragment supply drops
Waiting for The Six’s plan to manifest

That’s life on a fragment. Survival as slow-motion apocalypse.

The Void (What Fills the Space Between)

The fragments float in void—not empty space. Void. Absence with presence. Entropy made tangible.

What it looks like: Black. Absolute black. Not darkness (which is absence of light). Void (absence of everything). Looking at it too long makes your thoughts scatter.

What it does:

Erodes matter: Fragments at edges slowly decay, atoms breaking down
Corrupts life: Plants grow wrong. Animals mutate. People change.
Fragments consciousness: Extended exposure causes reality-perception issues, identity dissolution, Surrender-temptation

Why it’s there: When the Sundering broke the world, it created gaps. The Forgotten One’s presence fills those gaps. Not intentionally—just by existing. Entropy seeping through cracks.

The Void-Touched (How Survivors Adapt)

Here’s the thing about void-exposure: It changes you.

Not immediately. Not violently. Gradually. Your body adapts to survive in absence. Your abilities mutate. Your race-identity blurs.

Early Signs (Days 1-30):

Marks (magical tattoos) changing color
Elemental abilities becoming unstable
Physical features shifting slightly
Increased hunger for moon-magic (that no longer exists)

Middle Stage (Days 31-70):

Abilities transforming—air magic becomes void-manipulation, fire becomes entropy-burning
Physical mutations visible—skin textures changing, eyes adapting to void-light
Identity confusion—am I still Auran? Or something new?
The Six experiencing this most intensely

Late Stage (Days 71+):

Full transformation—The Six become elemental foundations
Survivors become hybrid void-adapted beings
Original races cease to exist as pure forms
New existence: The Transformed

The question: Is this evolution or extinction? Adaptation or corruption?

The answer: Both. Simultaneously. Like everything in Eclipsia.

Inter-Fragment Travel (Dangerous But Necessary)

Fragments are separated by void. Crossing that void requires:

Option 1: Elemental Bridges (The Six only)

Zephyrion creates air-current paths (exhausting, temporary)
Tarak generates heat-trails through cold void (burns him further)
Nerai manifests water-threads (loses part of herself each time)
Too costly. Used sparingly.

Option 2: Ancient Fragment Transport (Week 2+)

The Travelers provide void-ships (more in Post 30)
Alien technology, works on principles outside Eclipsian magic
Allows survivor gathering and resource sharing
This is how the 125 don’t die individually

Option 3: Walk (Suicide)

Void exposure without protection = death or Surrender
No one survives unshielded void-crossing
Don’t try it

The Fragment Ecosystem Collapse (Nature Fails)

Pre-Sundering, each domain had balanced ecosystems. Post-Sundering? Everything dies.

Why ecosystems fail:

No sun (photosynthesis impossible)
Void-corruption (plants mutate, then die)
Fragment isolation (no pollination, no genetic diversity)
Magic-dependent species (die when moon-magic ends)

Fragment 4 example (Ronan’s domain):

Day 1: Forest intact but darkening (no sun)
Week 1: Plants attempting photosynthesis from void-light (failing)
Week 2: Bioluminescent mutations appearing (temporary adaptation)
Month 1: Ronan pouring life-magic into soil (keeping plants alive through sheer will)
Month 2: Plants growing wrong—carnivorous, void-touched, consuming each other
Month 3: Ronan becoming the Garden—no longer person maintaining ecosystem, but ecosystem itself

The pattern repeats on all fragments: Natural life fails. Artificial sustenance (Ronan’s magic, Ancient Fragment supplies) barely compensates.

Psychological Toll (The Quiet Horror)

Physical survival is hard. Psychological survival is harder.

Imagine:

You’ve lost 85% of your race
You’re trapped on a rock floating in nothing
The void whispers that surrendering would be easier
You’re watching yourself mutate into something not-quite-you
Your leader is slowly dissolving into their element
No end in sight. Just waiting. Changing. Wondering if you’ll recognize yourself when this ends.

Coping mechanisms survivors develop:

Routine worship: Daily rituals giving structure to chaos
Story-circles: Sharing pre-Fall memories to preserve identity
Work-focus: Obsessive task-completion avoiding existential thought
Void-acceptance: Some lean into transformation, seeing it as rebirth
Surrender-contemplation: Many survivors consider it. Some choose it.

The Watcher’s observation: “Survival isn’t just not-dying. It’s choosing not-dying repeatedly. Every day. Forever. Until something changes.”

The Communication Problem (Isolation Multiplied)

125 survivors across seventeen fragments. How do they stay connected?

Pre-Ancient Fragment (Weeks 1-2): They don’t. Complete isolation. Each fragment believes they’re alone. Despair compounds.

Post-Ancient Fragment (Week 2+):

The Travelers provide communication devices
Fragment leaders can coordinate
Resource sharing becomes possible
Psychological relief: You’re not alone

But: Communication reveals just how bad things are everywhere. Hearing Fragment 7’s ecosystem failed doesn’t help Fragment 4’s morale. Knowing Fragment 12 lost six to Surrender doesn’t comfort Fragment 9.

Still better than isolation. Barely.

The Six’s Burden (Leadership as Self-Destruction)

Each of The Six chose a fragment. Chose to hold it stable. Chose their people over themselves.

The cost:

Zephyrion: Breathes for Fragment 1. Can’t stop. Lungs forgetting how to rest.

Tarak: Burns internally to heat Fragment 2. Consuming himself as fuel.

Nerai: Already water. Holding ocean back. Consciousness fragmenting.

Ronan: Pouring life into corrupted soil. Becoming garden, losing personhood.

Nyx: Calculating reality-stability. Seeing too much, losing humanity to mathematics.

Shahrzad: Anchoring present against dream-chaos. Flickering between states.

They’re dying. Slowly. Deliberately. Transforming into foundations that can hold fragments forever.

Not because they want to. Because someone has to.

Hope (Yes, Actually)

Here’s the thing that saves them:

Week 2: The Ancient Fragment signal detected. Pre-existing infrastructure. The Travelers emerge. Offer help (with mysterious motives).

Week 4: Communication established. Supplies shared. Survivors realize they’re not alone.

Week 8: Pattern recognized—void-adaptation isn’t death, it’s evolution. Scary, but survivable.

Week 12: The Six’s transformation purpose revealed—they’re not dying, they’re becoming The Foundation. Permanent support structure for new reality.

The plan forms: Don’t restore old world (impossible). Build new one. Merge fragments. Create stable unified reality. Let The Six become eternal bedrock. Give survivors freedom.

It’s not happy. But it’s possible. And possible beats oblivion.

Conclusion: Fragments as Metaphor

The seventeen fragments aren’t just physical pieces.

They’re identity fragments. The Six scattered across different roles. Races fragmented into hybrid forms. Civilization broken into isolated survivor-groups.

Book 2 is about gathering those fragments. Not gluing them back together (can’t restore what’s shattered). Forging something new from broken pieces.

The Sundering broke the world. The Void-Touched adaptation breaks identity. The Foundation breaks The Six’s humanity.

What emerges? We’ll see in Book 3.

Explore The Eclipsia Trilogy

This lore entry is just the beginning. The full story of The Eclipsia Trilogy—three books chronicling the fall of six civilizations, the impossible choice to break the world, and the transformation of heroes into legends—awaits.

The Gathering Eclipse (Book 1), The Shattered Veil (Book 2), and The Breaking of Fate (Book 3) will take you deeper into Eclipsia’s cosmic horror and profound sacrifice.

Stay tuned for release announcements.

The Eclipsia Codex | Building worlds, one entry at a time.