Rhea circled the room like a cat exploring a new box."Okay," she said, boots echoing softly on the stone. "No seams. No vents. Gravity's behaving. Air's breathable. Visual anomalies in the walls, central focal object…" She stopped in front of the floating crystal orb. "And a suspiciously shiny thing in the middle."She leaned closer."Don't lick it," I said.She glanced back at me."Wasn't planning to," she said. "Yet."[New contact appears psychologically stable, high curiosity, low self‑preservation.] MMA observed. [Compatible.]"Stop matchmaking," I thought.Rhea tapped the goggles on her forehead, frowning."My interface is still pretending this place doesn't exist," she muttered. "No coordinates, no hazard markers, nothing. Either I fell off the grid, or I'm in admin space.""Option B," I said. "Welcome to the in‑between."She turned fully to face me."Start from the top," she said. "Who are you, where are we, and did my warp gate just promote me to bug status?"I rubbed the back of my neck."Name's Kai Arden," I said. "I'm from a world that looks very nothing like yours, judging by your… everything. This room is called the Multiverse Lobby. It's anchored to…" I gestured vaguely at myself. "…a bloodline that lets me see and patch broken bits of reality."She blinked once.Then twice.Then grinned."So you're tech support," she said. "For existence.""Unfortunately, yes.""That's awesome.""Most people go with 'terrifying,'" I said."Most people are cowards," she said cheerfully. "I'm Rhea Solvine, by the way. Tactical engineer, part‑time pilot, full‑time bad influence. My world is…" She twirled her finger. "Messy. Space stations, war fleets, ancient AI relics. You'd hate it. Or love it. Hard to tell.""Ancient AI relics," MMA muttered. [Sounds familiar.]"You know her world?" I thought.[Designation S‑07: high‑tech axis sphere, multiple active conflicts, several unstable superweapons, terrible safety standards.] MMA replied. [Perfect for you.]Rhea stepped closer, squinting at my coat."You look like you walked off the cover of a fantasy RPG," she said. "Swords and sorcery, demons in caves, that sort of thing?""Accurate," I said. "Plus cracked sky and shy shrine spirits."She lit up."You have spirits?" she said. "That's so unfair. We have malfunctioning station gods who lock doors at inopportune times. Not nearly as poetic."I couldn't help it. I laughed."Tell me how you got here," I said. "Last thing you remember before the 'whoa'?"She flipped the goggles down over her eyes, as if replaying something."Repair job," she said. "I was crawling through a maintenance spine on an orbital ring. There's this old, half‑deprecated warp relay with more warning labels than actual parts. Command wanted a diagnostic because it started pinging off pattern last week.""Ping," I repeated quietly."Yeah," she said. "It's usually dormant, except when Fleet does sanctioned jumps. But this time, it was running on its own, like someone on the other end was knocking. I went in, checked the coils, ran a link test, and then…" She mimed an explosion with her hands. "Flash. Vertigo. I thought I'd miscalculated and jumped into vacuum. Instead…"She spun in place, arms out, taking in the Lobby again."…I woke up here. With you."[Her worldline pinged your bloodline through that relay.] MMA said. [The Lobby acted as a mutual handshake space.]"So she's not just random," I thought. "We're… connected by the same weirdness."[Exactly.]Rhea snapped her fingers."Right," she said. "Your turn. How did you end up in System Error Central?""I died to a safety billboard," I said.She stared."…I'm sorry?""Long story short," I said, "I fell out a window, hit a sign advertising safety harnesses, died, woke up in a fantasy world with a sarcastic system, an overpowered bloodline, and a mandate to stop it from collapsing under demon stress."She covered her mouth, shoulders shaking."Don't you dare laugh," I warned.She failed."Oh no," she wheezed. "Oh no. You died to an OSHA poster.""We didn't have OSHA," I said. "Which is probably why I died.""That is the most tragic and on‑brand origin story I've ever heard," she said, wiping her eyes. "You're perfect.""Don't say things like that," I said. "My system will add a 'blush' status effect."[I could.] MMA said."Don't you start."Rhea blinked, focusing on the space slightly above my shoulder."Wait," she said. "You do have an interface, don't you? I thought I saw a flicker."I hesitated."Maybe," I said.She jabbed a finger at the air between us."Aha," she said. "You're one of those. Personal system. Overlay. Helpful voice that nags you.""She's good," MMA said."Do not encourage her," I replied.Rhea's grin turned conspiratorial."So," she said. "Mr. Bloodline. Is this room just for us, or are we about to get company?"[For now, just the two of you.] MMA said. [Full Lobby functions are still limited. But you can use this space to talk, exchange data, and—eventually—set up safe transit.]"Short answer," I told Rhea, "right now it's our secret clubhouse. Later, it might be… busy.""Ooh," she said. "A VIP bar between realities.""Without drinks," I said. "Yet.""We can fix that," she said. "I know a station bartender who'd sell her left arm for a doorway like this.""Please don't start inter‑world alcohol trafficking.""No promises."She wandered over to the floating crystal orb."Is this… the hub?" she asked. "Feels like the kind of thing you poke to cause trouble.""It's my map," I said. "I think."At my thought, the orb brightened. Threads of light extended, forming a faint network of glowing lines and points.One point was bright green.Another, opposite, flickered faint blue‑white.[F‑01 – Eldoria (Active Node)]
[S‑07 – Astra Axis (Pinging)]Rhea whistled."That's our homes, huh," she said. "You're the green one?""Fantasy world gets the plant color, yeah," I said. "You're the space icicle.""Rude but accurate."[Worldline Access updated.] MMA said. [You can't jump to S‑07 yet, but you can strengthen the connection by interacting with Rhea here. That will matter later.]"Of course it will," I thought. "Everything is emotional DLC."Aloud, I said, "So. While we're stuck in the lobby… tell me about Astra Axis."Her eyes lit up in a way that had nothing to do with glowing interfaces."Oh, you asked for it," she said, dropping cross‑legged onto the floor with zero dignity and patting the spot opposite. "Come on. Story swap. You tell me about demons and shrine spirits, I tell you about orbital wars and grumpy AI."I sat."You first," I said. "My last AI tried to feed me tutorial messages while I was fighting a demon in a drain.""Relatable," she said. "Okay, cliff notes of my life: Astra Axis is a big spinning ring around a gas giant. Imagine a wheel, with habitats on the inside. Each segment is run by a different faction, all convinced they're the only sane ones.""Humanity: consistent across universes," I said."We have the Central Fleet," she continued, counting on her fingers, "who claim to keep the peace and mostly just park giant guns in orbit. Then the Syndicates, who run half the black market and three‑quarters of the entertainment. Then the Archive, which is a nice way of saying 'secretive tech hoarders with questionable ethics.' And caught in the middle: people like me, who get hired to crawl through old systems and try not to die.""Sounds… busy," I said."It's loud," she said. "Always humming. Engines, people, announcements, alarms. You'd probably get a headache. But it's home."There was a softness in that last word that reminded me of the way Lena said "Havenford," or Aria said "shrine.""Recently," Rhea went on, "things got… weirder than usual. Archive teams started digging into pre‑Axis relics. Old gateways, fragments of code no one can read. And then the relay I mentioned started… looking back.""Looking back," I repeated. "Like it was being pinged from outside your system.""Yeah," she said. "Central thought it was just foreign tech trying to handshake. I thought it felt like… I don't know. Being stared at. Not hostile. Just… curious.""Same feeling I got from that point in my sky," I said.She snapped her fingers."There," she said. "Convergence. Your sky glitch, my relay glitch. Same underlying weirdness?"[Same underlying you.] MMA said. [Your bloodline's presence leaks into nearby systems. Sensitive tech or magic amplifies it as pings.]"So I accidentally knocked on her world," I thought.[And her world knocked back.]Rhea leaned her elbows on her knees."What about you?" she asked. "What's Eldoria like? Aside from demons in drains and festivals with lanterns."I hesitated, then let the images come: the temple where I woke up, the cracked sky, Havenford's square, Garron's cart, the shrine's hum, Thom's empty eyes, the way the tear had screamed when I closed it."I started in a ruin," I said. "Ancient temple, broken statue, sky like glass. System in my head telling me I was supposed to be a 'Savior.'" I made air quotes. "Met villagers, a guild, a shrine caretaker who can hear the land complain. There are fractures in the world—cracks like the one under your relay, but magic instead of tech. Demons ride them. People suffer. I… patch what I can."Rhea listened, eyes intent."And you do it with jokes," she said softly."It's either that or scream," I said. "Humor is cheaper."She nodded slowly."We have fractures too," she said. "Not in reality. In people. Whole communities one power surge away from vacuum. I patch what I can, too. Mostly with duct tape and swearing.""That's a valid methodology," I said.For a moment, the Lobby was quiet."You know what this room feels like?" Rhea said eventually."A menu screen?" I suggested."A… pause," she said. "Between two breaths. Between action scenes. A place to catch up before the universe throws the next problem at our heads.""That's more poetic than my menu idea," I admitted.She smirked."Don't get used to it," she said. "My default mode is 'explosion in progress'."[Compatibility confirmed.] MMA said."Stop saying that like you're opening a dating app," I thought.Rhea's gaze drifted to the glowing network above the orb."So," she said. "What happens next? Can you come to my world? Can I go to yours? Do we high‑five through the void a few times and never meet again?""Option three is the worst one," I said automatically.She smiled, small but real."Agree," she said.I looked at the lines, the points, the faint label over S‑07.Worldline Access: 2.0% had become 3.5% since I'd stepped into the Lobby.[Talking to her here strengthens the link.] MMA confirmed. [To actually travel, you'll need more: deeper connection, higher awakening, and a stable route.]"So for now," I said, "this room is our meeting point. Training wheels. Later… yeah. I think I can come to Astra. And maybe you can visit Eldoria. Once I'm sure the sky won't explode from culture shock."She raised a brow."Your demons versus my orbital cannons," she said. "That'll be a fun conversation.""Terrifying," I corrected. "But yeah."Her expression turned thoughtful."Hey, Kai," she said. "Serious question.""Hit me.""When you close those fractures," she said slowly, "and when you evicted that thing under your drain… do you feel alone?"The question hit harder than I expected."…Yes," I said, before I could deflect. "Everyone else can help with the effects. Fight the monsters. Patch the wounds. But the actual… act of closing? That's just me and the… whatever's on the other side. And my system yelling in my ear."[I do not yell.] MMA objected."You absolutely do."Rhea nodded, gaze steady."In my world," she said, "when I crawl through old systems, half of Station doesn't even know I exist. If I mess up, alarms go off and everyone complains. If I succeed, systems keep humming and everyone forgets there was a problem. It's lonely, too."We sat there, two strangers from different skies, finding the same shape in our days."So," she said, tone brightening slightly, "maybe, next time you're about to do something stupid with a world crack, you ping me. And I'll say something appropriately supportive like 'don't die, you idiot.'"I smiled."And when you're about to stick your hand into an ancient relay that might erase you from your version of reality," I said, "you ping me. I'll say something like 'wear gloves.'""Deal," she said, sticking out her hand.I clasped it.Warm.Real.A thread of light flickered between us, so faint I almost thought I imagined it.[Bloodline Resonance: +] MMA reported. [Link: Kai–Rhea established (Provisional).]"Provisional?" I thought.[Future dependent on choices.] it said. [There are no guarantees.]"Good," I thought. "I hate spoilers."Out loud, I said, "Okay. Practical question. Can you get back?"Rhea glanced back toward where her entrance had been.A shimmer hung in the air there, like the echo of the not‑door in my room, but tinted faint blue instead of white."My HUD still thinks I'm in a maintenance spine," she said. "But I can feel the way I came. Like a pressure point.""Try touching it," I said. "Worst case, you bounce.""And best case?""You go home," I said. "With a really weird story."She stood, dusting off her jumpsuit."Alright, Bloodline Boy," she said. "Keep your sky mostly intact. I'll go see if my ring exploded without me.""If it did, yell at your AIs for me," I said."Oh, I always do." She paused, then added, "Don't let your festival town forget how to laugh, okay?""I won't," I said."And don't let demons monologue you to death.""No promises."She grinned one last time, then stepped into the shimmer.Space rippled.She vanished.The Lobby was suddenly very quiet.[Worldline Access – S‑07 resonance increased.] MMA said. [Connection stable. You'll see her again.]"Yeah," I thought, staring at the faint outline where she'd been. "I figured."I stood there for a while, listening to the Lobby's hum, letting the weirdness settle. Then I turned back to the door hanging a frame of pale light where my room waited.As I stepped through, the inn's familiar smells hit me: wood, stew, a faint hint of soap. The door sealed behind me, leaving only blank wall.To anyone else, nothing had changed.To me, there was now a hallway between worlds in my bedroom.And a person in another orbit who'd laughed at my billboard death and understood the loneliness of fixing things people never saw.[You're quiet.] MMA said."Processing," I thought.[Regrets?]"Only that I didn't ask if her station has good desserts," I said.[You'll get another chance.]I looked out the window.The point of light in the cracked sky pulsed once, then softened, like a heartbeat relaxing."Hey, MMA," I thought.[Yes, Host?]"Add a new objective," I said.[Listening.]"Keep Eldoria standing," I said. "Open paths to other worlds. And…"I thought of Rhea's grin, Lena's careful smile, Aria's steady gaze, Rel's exasperation, Lyse's reckless enthusiasm, Sara's patient worry."…Make sure that when I move on," I finished, "nowhere I've been feels forgotten."[Objective noted.] MMA said quietly."And if a few more people end up in a cross‑world harem along the way," I added, "well. That's just efficient emotional resource allocation."MMA made the static‑sigh again.[You are impossible.]"Yeah," I thought, smiling to myself as I headed downstairs to see what new trouble the day had cooked up."That's why the multiverse hired me."