The pulse surged. Brian, Kaelith, and Lyra tumbled through streams of light, threads of energy stretching toward the first missing fragment.
"Finally… we're going to grab that shard!" Brian shouted, shadow powers flaring, adrenaline pumping. "Nothing can stop us now—holy shit, this is it!"
Lyra's aura pulsed beside him, stabilizing the unstable energy. "We just need to synchronize with the fragment—"
Before she could finish, a violent ripple struck the pulse. The white-hot light twisted around them, threads snapping and reforming like living wires.
Kaelith shouted, fists igniting: "What the—?!"
Brian gritted his teeth, shadow energy crackling uncontrollably. "This isn't happening… what the hell is happening?!"
Suddenly, a force stronger than anything they'd felt slammed into them. The pulse distorted, bending space and time. The threads of energy connecting them to the twelve missing shards vanished like broken glass.
"No… no, no, no!" Brian shouted. "I'm not going back! We're so close!"
Lyra's voice was small, panicked: "It's… it's pulling us… away…"
Kaelith clenched his fists, but the energy ripped at them, dragging them apart. Their bodies twisted, stretched, then snapped. Pain, vertigo, and a sensation of falling into nothingness consumed them.
> [SYSTEM ALERT: INTER-WORLD TRAVEL BLOCKED]
[REASON: PARENTAL REALITY PROTECTION]
[MEMORY PROTOCOL: ENFORCED RESET]
Brian yelled through the white-hot chaos. "Holy shit! The system—someone—something's stopping us!"
The pulse fractured completely. Their surroundings dissolved. Flashes of molten arenas, shards of worlds, Frank's glowing silhouette—all vanished into a blinding void.
Brian screamed as he felt his memories of Kaelith, Lyra, and the mission evaporating. The faces of his once-fragments faded like smoke. Names, laughter, voices—all gone.
"No… what the hell?" Brian gasped, clutching his head. "I… I was… I was just—"
Then, just as abruptly, he slammed onto solid ground. Rain pelted his face. The city lights flickered below him. He was back. His own world.
He looked around. HQ was intact, but eerily quiet. Nothing seemed unusual—except for the haunting emptiness in his chest, a hollow sense of loss he couldn't name.
Aurora appeared from the kitchen, holding a tray of eggs. "Brian, are you okay? You just disappeared for a second there."
Brian blinked. "Uh… yeah. Just… uh… dream?"
Kira strode by, sharpening her blades. "You spaced out, boss. Weird one this time. You okay?"
Brian rubbed his forehead. Something gnawed at him. Something important…
But he couldn't remember what.
"Dream…" he muttered, voice shaky. "Yeah… dream."
The System pinged. > [NO ERRORS DETECTED]
Brian frowned. "Shit… too quiet. Something's wrong."
Selene appeared, aura dim, expression unreadable. "You're back. All of you… safely."
Brian tilted his head. "Back? Who… all of us?"
Selene didn't answer. She only walked away, leaving him staring at the city lights. The pulse… the shards… Frank… Kaelith… Lyra… all gone. Memories wiped.
He shook his head. "Holy moly… why do I feel like… I'm missing… something?"
Aurora placed a hand on his shoulder. "You've been stressed, Brian. Maybe get some rest."
Brian nodded, forcing a smile, but inside he felt a nagging emptiness, a whisper of recognition he couldn't place.
He wandered outside, the rain dripping down, city lights reflecting like shards of a broken mirror. The night sky pulsed faintly — almost imperceptible — a tiny echo of the pulse, teasing the edges of his mind.
A chill ran down his spine.
"Something's still out there… I can feel it," he muttered, shadow powers stirring reflexively. "Shit… maybe the whole… isn't done yet."
The world was normal. Too normal.
But Brian knew… deep down…
The missing pieces weren't gone forever.
And the multiverse had not finished with him.