The fall was long. Maru and Lan Lan thought at first that the earth would be unforgiving, that the glassy hole they were pushed into would contain nothing but pain.
But when the sand opened its arms, there was no collision.
It was a smooth landing...as if they had been thrown into a bosom that had been waiting patiently for them for a long time.
Maru got up first, adjusting his glasses and examining the fine grains covering his jacket.
Leaning down and feeling the ground, he said in a low voice: "This sand... is not ordinary. It looks like organic fibers but it doesn't belong to any familiar pattern."
Lan Lan was silent, her hands behind her back, her eyes watching the sandy horizon with a lonely silence.
But what appeared was not the horizon... but a building. A simple wooden house, standing in the center of the void, like a point of rejection of nothingness.
They walked towards it, and in an instant, the door opened automatically, without sound.
Inside, there was a more complicated silence.
The place resembled a primitive hut, but filled with advanced technology. A floor that glowed with footsteps, beautiful walls, and transparent wires running from ceiling to floor.
Maru said, "This place is... meticulously designed with high-tech sophistication. "No one lives here."
In a side corner, a training hall appeared, with a digital martial arts simulator. Lan Lan approached a target, struck it with her dagger, and the target responded as if it were a living body.
She frowned: "Interactive. But it's not alive."
Across the way, they discovered a small library, containing holographic volumes that opened when touched. Maru looked at it admiringly and said, "Lots of books and information in here."
In the center, there was a closed room, and inside it... a glass circle surrounded by lights, a simple control panel in front of it, and a button that glowed inaudibly.
Maru looked at Lan Lan, and she nodded.
He pressed the button.
Overlapping light projections shot out, finally forming a light being, humanoid in stature, with monster-like eyes, a solid but featureless body.
He began to speak immediately, his voice deep, emotionless, but with a hint of regret:
<>"370 years ago, units from our empire were sent to this dimensional sphere. There were no clear instructions, just an order: Prepare to stay, then wait."
<>"Some of us got lost. Some of us were consumed. Many disintegrated with the energy, and from their remains the first seeds of new monsters were born. Those like us... we chose to observe, not attack. To live... not fight."
<>"Three centuries later, the orders returned. We began to receive calls from our old home, the dimensional ball of monsters. The real order came seventy years ago: Destroy. Open. Expand the presence of the Emperor of Darkness."
The projection stopped abruptly, but left behind a charged air. It wasn't just a projection, it was a spirit speaking.
Lan Lan frowned: "If that's true... we weren't the victim, but a theater in which the same scene is being replayed."
Before Maru could comment, the door to the room opened from behind. A tall man entered, a sandy scarf covering his face. He approached with soft steps, then said softly: "Now you know what no one knew... and what no one was allowed to know."
He reached out and pulled off the cover. His eyes were gray, like Lin's... but his hair was sandy brown, his features were sharp, and he looked just like Lin.
He said softly: "My name is Ashen."
Lan Lan took a step back, her grip on her weapon.
Ashen gently raised his hand and said, "I don't ask for a fight. I'm just another splinter..." and the sand fell silent.
Maru: "Why now? Why didn't you help us when they tried to throw us?"
Ashen smiled in a way that could barely be called a smile.
"Because the strings started to twist. And because the point where you fell... is the heart of the first seed that was planted.
This is where it all began."
He gestured with his hand, and the ground opened up behind him, revealing a glass corridor, leading to a transparent elevator sunk into the sand.
The three of them got in. The elevator ascended silently, lights dancing on its glass walls.
Upon arrival, the scene was empty. A quiet desert, no sign of anything.
But then Ashen raised his hand again, and the sand began to move. Separating. Shaking.
Then there was a peak, then a base, then walls...a majestic pyramid of sandy crystal stone, topped by a gray flame that fluctuated like a memory.
They stepped inside, where a large hall appeared, with a central table, hanging dimensional maps, and energy scrolls that reacted to their approach.
Ashen then turned to Maru and said, "I think it's time... contact the main body.
He needs to know that we have something that explains the origin of the monsters, something that could change their understanding of everything."
Maru took out his communicator and called Yumi, when she answered, Maru said, "Guys, come quickly, we discovered something strange in Ramalith, something about the origin of the monsters."
Yumi replied: "Lin has regained some of his health, we'll come quickly."
Ashen stood in front of the pyramid flame, and said in a voice that addressed no one, but seemed to address the sand itself:
"Two down... three to go. When we meet... everything will be back to normal."