The golden light dissolves as Kael, Yuna, and their allies step through the passage. The air is thick with shifting color every breath tastes like lightning and memory. They emerge into a boundless realm, where the sky is a library of galaxies and the ground ripples like liquid glass.
Kael: (looking around) So this is it… the Origin Domain.
Yuna: The place where every story begins and ends.
Renji: (grinning weakly) I thought heaven would look less... confusing.
A massive structure looms in the distance a citadel suspended between stars. Its surface glows with runes older than time itself. The closer they move, the louder the whispers grow countless voices echoing fragments of forgotten tales.
Hana: (covering her ears) The voices… they're everywhere!
Akihiro: They're not voices. They're scripts. Every word that ever existed is alive here.
The team moves cautiously across a glowing bridge made of pure energy. The light shifts beneath their steps, showing visions from different timelines battles they've fought, people they've lost, and worlds that never were.
Kael: (grimly) The Domain is reading us.
Yuna: Then let it read our resolve. We didn't come here to worship stories. We came to rewrite fate.
Suddenly, the bridge shatters.
The team is thrown apart, falling through spirals of fractured universes. Kael crashes onto a crystalline plain, his reflection breaking into infinite copies.
Kael: (panting) Damn it! Yuna! Akihiro!
From the distance, a figure approaches wearing armor made of stars, wielding a blade that hums like creation itself.
???: Mortal trespassers. The Domain does not allow intrusion.
Kael: Then I'll make an exception.
They clash.
Shockwaves rip through the crystal ground. Every strike rewrites the sky, creating and erasing constellations in seconds.
Guardian of the Script: You fight against authorship itself. The Origin rejects you.
Kael: Then I'll reject it first!
He channels his energy dark and brilliant and his sword cuts through the guardian's form, scattering its essence into radiant shards.
Guardian: Impressive… but the Domain has infinite guardians.
Meanwhile, Yuna awakens in a chamber surrounded by floating eyes of light. The eyes observe her silently, and when she moves, they shift to mirror her emotions.
Voice of the Domain: You seek the Script of Origin. Do you understand what that means?
Yuna: I do. It means freedom the right to choose how my story ends.
Voice: Then prove your will is stronger than your existence.
A beam of pure story-energy pierces through her chest. Yuna gasps but instead of bleeding, she sees her memories leaking as text, drifting upward. She grits her teeth, forces her will to stabilize the words, and reabsorbs them into her body.
Yuna: (panting) You won't erase me. I am my story!
The eyes blink once and disappear.
Akihiro, Hana, and Renji regroup in a hall of mirrors, each reflecting a different possible version of them peaceful lives, forgotten deaths, victories they never had.
Renji: (staring at a reflection where he's smiling with his family) …I hate this place.
Akihiro: Don't look. They're not real.
Hana: Maybe not, but they feel real.
The mirrors begin to crack as their inner turmoil manifests. Akihiro steps forward, slams his fist into his reflection, and shouts:
Akihiro: I don't want to see what I lost! I want to protect what's left!
The Domain trembles recognizing his defiance.
Elsewhere, far beyond their reach, Ryo stands above all, his presence stretching across countless dimensions. From his throne within the Crown Realm, he observes every fragment of the Origin Domain through ripples of time.
Ryo: They're adapting faster than expected. Impressive. But still predictable.
He raises his hand the Crown Mark ignites across his palm. Lines of energy spread throughout the Crown Cosmology, connecting universes like threads of fate.
Ryo: (smirking) You're walking straight into my design, Kael. Every path leads back to me.
A second voice faint but mocking whispers from the shadows of his throne.
Xeno's Echo: You sound just like me once. Are you certain you've surpassed authorship?
Ryo: (turns, coldly) I didn't surpass it. I consumed it.
The shadows retreat, and the universe trembles.
Back in the Domain, Kael and the others finally reunite before the citadel. The air vibrates with pressure the entrance is sealed by a gate of pure light.
Kael: (breathing heavily) That thing ahead it's the Source. The Origin Script lies beyond.
Yuna: Then this is it. The beginning of the end.
Renji: (laughs quietly) End of one story… beginning of another.
The gate glows brighter, reacting to their combined presence. Each of their symbols carved during their trials flares with power.
Akihiro: (grinning) Guess it wants us to enter.
Kael: Then we don't keep it waiting.
They walk together step by step as the gate slowly opens, revealing a blinding ocean of golden text, rewriting itself infinitely.
Yuna: (whispers) The Origin Script… it's alive.
Kael: Let's make sure it remembers our names.
The golden light engulfs them all.
Meanwhile, Ryo watches the light ripple through realities.
Ryo: (smiling faintly) Finally. They've found the beginning.
Now let's see if they can handle what it means to be written.
The throne cracks and the cosmos holds its breath