The pulse roared around them, alive. Brian, Kaelith, and Lyra floated through streams of light, every heartbeat vibrating with the original soul — Frank. Shadows of their own fractured delves danced across the energy currents, whispering memories of battles they'd never lived.
Brian wiped sweat from his forehead. "Holy shit… this is… next-level chaos."
Kaelith's fists glowed as he clenched them. "The main soul… Frank… he's training, but it's not just about him. He's… holding us together… just barely."
Lyra's voice was quiet, reverent. "And yet… pieces are missing."
Brian froze mid-step. "Wait… what pieces? We're here, we're together… what else is missing?"
Kaelith shook his head. "Not us… not the two of us. There are… twelve more shards. Fragments hidden across countless worlds. Souls that were once whole… split… sealed."
Lyra's eyes widened. "Twelve?" she whispered. "That many?"
Brian groaned. "Shit… twelve? That's… twelve universes I have to deal with… are you kidding me?"
The pulse seemed to pulse harder, vibrating with their collective anxiety. The threads of light shifted, forming glowing doorways. Each doorway flickered with glimpses of other worlds — deserts burning under twin suns, icy cities collapsing into storms, oceans filled with floating ruins and shadowed beasts.
Kaelith swallowed. "Each shard is… trapped in another reality. We can sense them, but the distance… it's insane. Only the pulse can connect us."
Brian's grin was shaky. "Oh, of course. Multi-dimensional treasure hunt… why not. It's like a cosmic scavenger hunt with… really, really angry bosses."
Lyra reached out, letting her aura flow through the pulse. "We need to go carefully. If we misstep… these worlds could collapse before we even reach them. And the shards… they might not even recognize us."
Brian nodded, hands glowing as his shadow powers flickered. "Yeah, yeah, got it. Don't crash the worlds, don't accidentally kill any of our missing soul-siblings… simple stuff."
> [SYSTEM ALERT: MULTI-SHARD DETECTION INITIATED]
[TARGET SHARDS: 12 / 12]
[DISTANCE: VARIOUS WORLDS]
A ripple of energy raced across the pulse. Threads of light tugged at them, highlighting twelve faint, flickering figures. Each figure glimmered, not fully present, caught between existence and nothingness.
Kaelith's fists ignited. "We have to retrieve them… or the whole remains incomplete. And incomplete… means chaos, instability, corruption…"
Brian swore under his breath. "Shit… yeah. And I thought one Frank-training pulse was enough trouble. Now we're twelve multi-universal soul fragments short?"
Lyra's voice trembled as she focused. "Some of them… they might not even be willing. Some could be… corrupted. Or worse… merged with forces that don't want the whole restored."
Brian clenched his teeth, eyes narrowing. "Holy moly… guess we're not just saving pieces of a soul… we're going on a multiverse‑recovery mission. Fun!"
Kaelith's fists struck the pulse energy around them. "We move carefully. Each fragment… each world… will test us differently. We'll need strength, strategy… and the pulse's full power."
Brian's shadow powers flared, dancing along the threads. "All right… let's start with the closest one. You pick first, Lyra — don't make me fight you over it."
Lyra smirked faintly, aura shimmering. "Fine. The closest shard is… partially trapped in a reality where the world itself is… rewriting. Cities rise and fall with memory. It's… insane."
Brian raised an eyebrow. "You mean it's like… glitch city? Awesome. My specialty."
Kaelith's fists ignited red-hot. "Then let's go. Every second we hesitate… the fragments weaken, the pulse destabilizes. And Frank… he's counting on us. All of us. Together."
The threads of light wrapped around them, carrying Brian, Kaelith, and Lyra toward the first flickering doorway. The other eleven waited, distant, but not out of reach.
Brian muttered under his breath, shadow powers stretching forward. "Twelve fragments… twelve worlds… twelve chances to die horribly. Sounds fun. Let's roll."
The pulse surged, light folding around them. Their bodies dissolved into streams of energy again, the threads pulling them into the first shard's world — a reality half-melted, half-rebuilt, floating between collapse and creation.
And somewhere, just beyond the horizon, the first missing piece stirred.
It didn't know they were coming.
It might not even want to be found.
But Brian, Kaelith, and Lyra… they were coming anyway.