Dawn – Rift Echo-9
The abandoned industrial sector was tomb-quiet.
Rusted machinery. Collapsed warehouses.
Nature reclaiming concrete in slow, patient advance.
And in the center courtyard—Void Rift Echo-9.
Four meters of nothing.
Small compared to Delta-3's ten meters.
But still wrong.
Still deadly.
And of course capable of erasing anything that touched it.
Yoo stood at the staging area, studying the target.
Hae-won beside him, visibly nervous despite her attempt at composure.
"Smaller than I expected," she said.
"Small enough to be survivable if something goes wrong. Large enough to be real test."
Yoo activated Energy Sense, feeling the rift's structure.
"Less aggressive than Delta-3. It's not actively fighting yet. Just existing."
"Will it fight when I start sealing?"
"Probably. All rifts resist closure. Question is: how hard."
Master Yoon approached with mission briefing tablet.
"Final parameters. Yoo transports Hae-won into Extras World. Maintains dual-existence—consciousness in realm supporting her, body here monitoring rift.
Hae-won attempts sealing from within realm, using Yoo's spatial manipulation as framework and energy source."
"What if the connection breaks?" Hae-won asked.
"Then sealing fails. Rift might surge. Both of you potentially erase."
Yoon's voice wasn't at all comforting.
"Medical and retrieval teams are positioned. Perimeter secured. If catastrophic failure occurs, we contain the damage.
Any questions?"
Silence.
"Then begin when ready."
Jae-sung approached Yoo. Didn't speak. Just pulled his son into brief, tight hug.
In case this is the last time.
Yoo hugged back.
"I'll be careful."
"You're attempting something no one's ever done. Careful might not be enough."
"Then I'll be lucky."
"You better be."
Jae-sung released him, stepping back to the security perimeter with visible effort.
Seo-yeon was there too—first mission as backup.
Iron 10 wasn't much, but she'd insisted.
Now she watched with worried eyes.
"Don't die," she called out. "I just broke through to Iron. Need someone to spar with."
"I'll try not to disappoint."
Yoo turned to Hae-won.
"Ready?"
"No. But we're doing this anyway."
"That's the spirit."
They approached within five meters of the rift.
The existential pull intensified—void wanting to consume, erase, unmake.
Yoo opened Extras World.
The dimensional gap expanded—large enough for two people.
"Step through. I'll follow."
Hae-won entered the pocket dimension.
Yoo followed, then extended his consciousness back to his physical body.
Dual-existence activated.
The strain hit immediately.
Inside Extras World
Hae-won stumbled as she materialized inside the realm—ninety-three cubic meters of impossible space.
Warm. Safe. Wrong.
"This is your personal realm?"
"Yes."
Yoo's voice came from everywhere and nowhere—his consciousness present but not physically manifested.
"You feel the difference? No existential pressure, no void pull. It's a stable dimensional space."
"It feels... peaceful."
"That's why we're using it. From inside here, you can reach out to the rift without directly exposing yourself to erasure risk.
I'll maintain the connection. You do the sealing work."
"How?"
"Close your eyes. Extend your spatial sense. Feel for the rift through my perception—I'm sharing my Energy Sense with you.
Should appear as a strange flow of energy in your mind."
Hae-won complied. Concentrated.
And gasped.
She could see it. Not with eyes—with spatial awareness.
The rift's structure laid bare, every edge, every instability, every point of resistance.
"I see it. Four meters, churning edges, dimensional coefficient two-point-three..."
"Good. That's my analysis feeding through.
Now—gather your Gi. Form sealing pattern using the technique I taught. But don't execute yet.
Let me align my energy with yours first."
Hae-won shaped the pattern—crude compared to Yoo's refined technique, but functional.
Yoo's consciousness wrapped around it—not controlling, supporting.
Like scaffolding around a building under construction.
"Now. Reach out together. On three.
One... two... three."
They touched the void.
The Shared Sealing
Pain hit Hae-won like a hammer blow.
"Fuck! That's—that's worse than I expected!"
"I know. Push through. I'm absorbing most of it. You just maintain the pattern."
Yoo wasn't lying.
He was taking sixty percent of the existential backlash, filtering it through his damaged pathways so she could function.
But even forty percent was agony for her.
Her Silver 27 body wasn't prepared for this level of dimensional stress.
This is what he does. Multiple times. Alone.
She forced focus. Maintained sealing pattern.
Began cauterization—millimeter by millimeter.
One minute.
Four meters reduced to 3.97 meters.
"Progress," Yoo confirmed through gritted teeth. "Keep pace. I'm stable."
Five minutes. 3.85 meters.
But Hae-won's energy reserves were depleting fast.
Her efficiency was still terrible—she was burning Gi at three times the rate Yoo did.
"I can't maintain this. Running out of energy."
"Draw from me. Through the connection. Use my reserves."
"That'll hurt you—"
"Already hurting. Adding more doesn't change calculus. Draw."
She did.
Pulled energy through their shared link.
Yoo's Gi flooded her system—foreign, uncomfortable, but functional.
Ten minutes. 3.4 meters.
We might actually succeed.
Then the rift noticed them.
Resistance
The void surged.
Not expanding—attacking.
Dimensional energy lashed back through their connection, targeting the source.
Targeting Yoo's consciousness spread between two locations.
His dual-existence was the weak point.
The rift found it.
Pain exploded through Yoo's awareness.
Both bodies—physical and conscious—screamed simultaneously.
"Yoo!" Hae-won's pattern wavered.
"Don't stop! If you stop, we both erase! Keep going!"
But the rift was learning.
Each second, its attacks grew more focused.
More vicious.
It wanted to sever the connection between Yoo and Extras World.
Cut him in half dimensionally.
Can't let that happen. If connection breaks, Hae-won loses support and dies. I fragment again.
Already did that once. Spent 823 years scattered. Not again. NOT AGAIN.
He reinforced the connection with pure willpower.
No technique. No skill.
Just refusing to break.
Fifteen minutes. 2.8 meters.
Hae-won was crying.
Blood streaming from nose, ears.
"I can't—it's too much—"
"Yes you can. We're past halfway. Don't quit now!"
Twenty minutes. 2.1 meters.
Outside, in physical space, Yoo's body collapsed.
Blood pooled.
Medical team moved forward—
Master Yoon held them back.
"Not yet. He's still conscious. Still working. Don't interrupt."
Jae-sung watched his son dying inch by inch.
Fists clenched so tight his palms bled.
Please. Please survive this.
Twenty-five minutes. 1.4 meters.
The rift made final desperate surge.
Threw everything at the connection point.
Yoo's consciousness splintered—
NO.
Akasha engaged emergency protocols.
"Rerouting consciousness through alternative pathways. Maintaining minimal connection. Warning: permanent cognitive damage likely. Proceed?"
YES. KEEP US CONNECTED.
The connection held.
Barely.
By thread thinner than spider silk.
But it held.
Thirty minutes. 0.6 meters.
Thirty-two minutes. 0.2 meters.
Thirty-three minutes—
The rift sealed.
Aftermath
Hae-won collapsed inside Extras World.
Unconscious but alive.
Yoo's consciousness tried to return to his body—
And couldn't.
The damage was too severe.
The connection between his awareness and physical form was nearly severed.
I'm stuck. Can't get back.
"Confirmed. Consciousness dissociation occurring. Same as Delta-3 but worse. Recommend: emergency assistance."
From who? No one can enter my realm without my permission.
Outside, Master Yoon was assessing.
"Rift is sealed. Success. But Yoo's not responding. Vital signs: critical. He's dissociated again."
"Can we bring him back?" Jae-sung demanded.
"Not from outside. Someone needs to enter his realm, anchor his consciousness, guide it back to his body."
"I'll do it—"
"You can't. Extras World only allows entry with his explicit permission. And he's not conscious enough to grant it."
Seo-yeon stepped forward.
"I can feel him. My Energy Sense—it's not as strong as his, but I can perceive his spatial signature. He's there. Confused. Lost."
"Feeling him doesn't mean you can reach him."
"But what if—" Seo-yeon looked at the space where the dimensional gap had closed.
"What if I force entry? My spatial affinity is weak, but maybe I can create small tear. Slip through before it closes."
"That's suicidal. You're Iron 10. Forced dimensional intrusion into Primordial-tier personal realm? You'd be erased."
"Or I'd succeed. And bring him back."