The shimmering portal of Null's making dissolved behind them, and the group found themselves standing in the warm, vibrant air of the Codex of Realm. After months spent in the blood-stained, brutal unreality of the Wonder World, this new reality—created by the very essence of Asura—felt both alien and intensely familiar. A sweet, clean air filled their lungs, and the gentle lapping of waves on a distant, glowing shore felt like a soft greeting from a long-lost friend. A golden orb hung in a brilliant, sapphire sky, casting a warm light over the lush landscape.
Sooji's small, sun-drenched house, perched on a hill overlooking the glowing water, was still there, untouched. For them, it had been months of brutal training; for the rest of the world, only a handful of hours. The peaceful silence of the realm was a welcome respite from the chaotic energy of the Wonder World.
Null's presence, however, was no longer a subtle force. His new, regal demeanor was a tangible weight in the air. The prominent white streaks in his golden-yellow hair caught the light, a stark reminder of the immense power that had fully integrated within him. He did not look at the house; his attention was fixed on the distant horizon, his gaze penetrating the very fabric of reality.
"The pull is stronger here," Null said, his voice a low, resonant hum. "This realm… it holds a memory. It feels like an anchor."
Fang, his human form now more powerful and poised, stood beside him, a faithful commander. "Where to, my King?"
Null closed his eyes for a moment, his senses reaching out to feel the whisper of a past he couldn't yet see. "The ancient ruins," he commanded, his voice holding no room for doubt. "Where the land meets the sea. There is a memory there."
The group moved with a new confidence. Sooji strode with quiet purpose, Lumina—still in her majestic full form—trailing her like a bastion of light. Kai walked with the coiled grace of a hunter, his body a weapon honed by Null's relentless training. Ashley moved with a new sense of purpose, her every step grounded by the primordial power she had learned to control.
They traveled to a secluded part of the coast, where ancient, weathered stone ruins lay half-buried in the vibrant soil. The air here was heavy with history and the faint echoes of old power.
Null stopped before a large, crumbling archway, its surface etched with strange, indecipherable symbols. He reached out, his hand hovering just inches from the cool stone. The moment his fingers made contact, the symbols on the archway began to glow with a faint, obsidian light—the unmistakable energy of Umbros.
A memory, a shockwave of fragmented images, slammed into Null's mind. It was a chaotic, incomplete flash of a past life. He saw a great hall of glittering celestial energy. A figure much like himself, but younger, stood before a colossal, shimmering gateway. He heard a voice—the soft, comforting voice of his brother, Horuto—saying something he couldn't decipher. Then a beautiful, melodic name, a name that felt like a song of creation, a name he instinctively knew belonged to a lost loved one. And then, it was gone, leaving only the echo of a profound sense of loss and purpose.
Null recoiled from the archway, his hand shaking. The obsidian symbols faded back into the ancient stone. He was panting, his mind reeling.
"The echo…" he gasped, the words tumbling out of him. "I felt it. It was… a memory of a name. A promise. The name of the one who guarded the Prime Stones before me."
He looked at the ruins with new eyes. "This place is a gateway. It holds a piece of my past. But it is not a destination; it is a clue. The memory spoke of a place of immense power, a place where the stars themselves fall to earth. A place where another piece of my memory, another echo, will be waiting."
He looked at his group, at the unwavering loyalty in their eyes. "This journey will not be easy. We will chase these echoes of my past across the realm. But with each one we find, my power will grow, my purpose will become clearer, and we will be one step closer to facing the coming war. Our first memory has been found. Now we must find the next."
The group moved forward, their newfound confidence a powerful force against the unknown. As they journeyed deeper into the Codex of Realm, they came upon a spectacle that defied their every expectation. The "fallen stars" Null had spoken of were not inert celestial bodies. Instead, the ground was littered with beings of pure, iridescent light. They shimmered with a profound and beautiful luminescence, shaped like stellar fragments but with an undeniable sentience. Each one seemed to pulse with a gentle, rhythmic energy. They were not stars; they were star soul enforcers, remnants of a primordial test set forth by Asura himself.
"My King," Fang said, his voice a low, reverent rumble. "I believe these are exactly what you think they are."
Null's eyes narrowed, a cold, calculating gleam in their golden depths. "Indeed. They are power amplifiers. Boosters. To absorb one is to gain a fraction of a star's energy. This will be invaluable for the war."
Before the group could act, the air around them was violently displaced by an unseen force. A deafening crack echoed through the serene realm as a dark, shadowy figure, a vortex of pure negative energy, plummeted from the sky. It hit the ground with the force of a meteor, cracking the earth beneath its feet and sending a shockwave of dark smoke and debris outward.
Null, his instincts honed by countless battles, pulled his team back, their bodies moving in a synchronized defensive formation. They watched as the smoke settled, revealing a figure wreathed in darkness. This was no mere phantom; it was a physical manifestation of an Echo, a being forged from the same cosmic energy as the one that had attacked them in the Wonder World. Yet this one felt different, darker, more personal.
"So this is who I was searching for," the Echo snarled, its voice a guttural, distorted growl that seemed to vibrate with Null's own Umbros power. "I knew you were here. Soren."
As the dust settled completely, the truth of the entity's identity was revealed. The group stared in silent horror at the shadowy figure. It was a dark, corrupted doppelgänger of their long-lost friend. With eyes glowing a furious, malevolent crimson and a physical form wreathed in jagged shadows, it was clear that this was no friendly face. This was not a memory to be recovered; it was a piece of Null's past that had become a twisted, living nightmare. This was the third echo, and it had a name. It was Soren. The battle was about to begin.