The return to base felt unreal.
Not because of the victory—if it could be called that—but because the world itself looked like it had taken a deep breath and forgotten to exhale.
The sky was normal again. Too normal.
Perfect blue, no sign of the void storm that had nearly shredded reality a few hours ago. The air tasted clean, digital even. Every breath came with a hint of static that only Brian seemed to notice.
Aurora didn't care. She was half-asleep, sprawled in the back of the hover transport with her jacket draped over her face. Kira sat beside her, sharpening her blades with a motion too calm for someone who'd nearly died. Lyra was reading through System data, mumbling, "half these files shouldn't even exist anymore," while Selene stared out the window, quiet, her reflection rippling faintly—like a mirror that didn't quite agree with the real her.
Brian sat at the front, legs stretched out, eyes locked on the System window flickering above his wrist.
> [STATUS: STABLE]
[ERROR LOG CLEANED]
[ECHO CORE – SEALED]
It was like none of it had happened. No god-voice. No fracture. No near-death. Just another day in the Shattered Realms.
Except…
Except he could feel it.
Every now and then, his vision would glitch—just a flash. He'd blink, and the landscape outside the transport would twist for a split second: jungles turning to rusted wastelands, the ocean bleeding neon red, cities floating in the air. Then it would snap back, clean and blue.
He didn't tell the others. Not yet.
They deserved one normal ride home before he told them the universe was still broken.
---
Back at HQ, the mood was weirdly upbeat.
Mechanics ran system diagnostics. Medics patched wounds. Aurora immediately made a beeline for the cafeteria and demanded five energy bars "for recovery purposes." Kira joined her. Lyra floated straight into the archive chamber to scan her psychic log. Selene lingered near Brian.
"You saw it, didn't you?" she said quietly.
Brian froze mid-step. "…What?"
"The flickers," Selene said. "The world skipping frames."
He sighed. "Yeah. Thought it was just my brain overheating."
She shook her head. "No. I saw them too. Alternate timelines, fragments bleeding through."
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "So the System rebooted reality, but didn't exactly patch the cracks."
Selene's lips pressed into a thin line. "The Creator's touch… it wasn't erased. Just buried."
Brian looked around—the HQ halls glowed brighter than usual, humming with System energy. Everything worked again.
But the light… it wasn't the same color as before.
---
That night, he couldn't sleep.
His room felt too still, too symmetrical, like it had been rebuilt from memory. The System rested in the air like a silent ghost.
> [USER: BRIAN]
[MODE: RECONSTRUCTION COMPLETE]
He sat up, staring at the words. "Reconstruction?"
No response.
He exhaled, stood, and walked to the window. The city below glowed—streets alive with crystal energy veins, skyships drifting lazily through the fog. Peaceful.
But his reflection in the glass didn't move with him.
It lagged. Just a fraction.
And then, for half a heartbeat, it changed.
His reflection smiled before he did.
The eyes weren't his—they were gold and burning, a calm that felt ancient.
He stumbled back, heart hammering. The reflection flickered once more—then reset, normal again.
He muttered under his breath, "Yeah, everything's totally fine."
The System blinked in his peripheral.
> [WARNING: ECHO FLUX DETECTED]
[LOCATION: UNKNOWN]
[SUPPRESS? Y/N]
Brian hesitated. Then grinned faintly. "Nah. Let's see what happens."
He tapped N.
For a split second, the entire HQ dimmed—lights, air, time—all folding into a quiet hum.
And somewhere deep beneath the crystal foundations of the world, a voice whispered:
> One down… seven remain.
Brian froze. "...Seven?"
Then the hum stopped. Everything went back to normal.
---
He leaned against the wall, eyes distant.
He didn't know it yet, but that choice—to not suppress the Echo Flux—had just started the chain reaction that would lead straight into the next collapse.
And somewhere across another world, another protagonist—one who looked eerily like him—opened his eyes, whispering the same words in perfect sync.
> 'Let's see what happens.'