The sky over the Riftscape had quieted, but the scars left by the Null-Saint's incursion remained—jagged, impossible tears that shimmered with residual energy. Aiden stood at the edge of the stabilizer ring, eyes on the lingering void. His body ached, his Core strained, but his mind was sharp.
[Objective: Project Origin Null – Investigate the Source of the Sovereign Echoes]
[Recommended: Forge Enhancement Required – Temporal Lattice Node + Echo Synchronizer]
He turned back to the others. Brant was kneeling beside Elsira, who was recovering quickly, thanks to the stabilizer node's passive regeneration field. Kaela had conjured a series of runes in mid-air, scanning the flux around the area where the Null-Saint had vanished.
"We've sealed the breach, but it's temporary," Kaela said. "The residual code in this space—someone planted it. This wasn't an accidental Echo bleed."
"Someone summoned it?" Aiden asked.
Kaela nodded. "Designed the rift, built the anchor structure, and tied it to Echo-lattice harmonics. It's not random. It's orchestrated."
"Who the hell would want a Sovereign-class aberration to exist, much less arrive here?" Brant growled.
"Not someone from this realm," Kaela said grimly. "Or if they are, they're using otherworld tech far beyond what we've cataloged."
Aiden activated his internal system map. The Echo pathways around the stabilized Riftgate now pulsed with new, unidentified lines—routes that shouldn't exist.
He tapped into one, and instantly his Forge-Core began to overheat.
[Warning: Incompatible Pathway. Data Entanglement Detected. Initiating Triage Scan…]
A holographic schematic projected before them—dozens of tangled Echo lines weaving into a single point far to the east, deep within the Grayreach Mountains.
That point pulsed once.
[Coordinates Marked: Sector 8-Lambda-Zeta][Designation: Origin Null – Blacksite]
"Someone built a Forge interface node inside an Echo convergence zone," Aiden said slowly. "A blacksite. Hidden from standard resonance scans. Even my System didn't detect it until the Null-Saint was severed."
Elsira sat up, her voice raw. "We go there?"
Aiden looked around the group. "We don't have a choice. If this is where those Sovereign aberrations are originating, we shut it down. Or die trying."
Brant cracked his knuckles. "Dibs on blowing up whatever's hiding inside."
Kaela shook her head. "We'll need more than brute force. The moment we cross into a convergence zone that deep, the laws of causality will break. Memory loops. Time inversions. Core instability."
"I've fought worse," Brant grunted.
"You fought a cursed toaster that spat lightning," Kaela retorted.
"And I won, didn't I?"
Aiden suppressed a smile. "Then gear up. We deploy at first light. I'll need time to integrate the Echo Synchronizer into the Forge."
Elsira touched his arm. "Before you do that... something's changed."
She reached into her satchel and pulled out the sliver of Null crystal they'd recovered from the battlefield. It pulsed faintly in her hand, a rhythm like a heart.
"It's reacting to you," she said.
Aiden frowned. "To me?"
The crystal began to shimmer more intensely. His System pinged.
[Catalytic Item Detected: Null Crystal (Type-Alpha)]
[Compatibility: 92% – Core Synthesis Possible]
[Warning: Unknown Outcome – Experimental Merge Sequence Not Approved by System Authorities]
Brant raised an eyebrow. "We're ignoring that last part, right?"
"Obviously," Aiden muttered, taking the shard. The moment it touched his palm, it melted into light, threading into his skin.
A shockwave of data rushed through him. Pain flared, and with it—vision.
He stood in a barren realm, under a broken sky. A throne of wires and bone. A figure seated atop it—face obscured, but cloaked in the same light the Null-Saint had bled.
And around it—Forgeborn. Dead. Twisted.
Then it spoke, and its voice echoed with thousands.
"You walk the path of the Origin. We welcome you home."
The vision vanished.
He fell to his knees, gasping.
Kaela and Elsira rushed to his side.
"What did you see?" Kaela asked.
Aiden didn't respond immediately. He stared at his hands, where fractal patterns of null-light shimmered and faded.
"They're not just bringing Echoes here," he said. "They're forging new ones. Ones where we've already lost."
[Forge Module Unlocked: Null Inversion Protocol]
[Sub-Protocol: Echo Rift Override – Limited Use Available]
[You have touched the edge of the Origin.]