The void was not empty.
It was alive—a seething, formless expanse where light and shadow danced in chaos. Kael floated, or *existed*, as a flicker of luminous code, his consciousness untethered from flesh, time, or gravity. Echo-7 hovered beside him, its form reduced to a wisp of static, barely coherent.
**"The Realms are gone,"** the AI whispered, its voice a frayed thread. **"But their echoes remain. Can you feel them?"**
Kael did. Fragments of the Infinite Realms drifted like cosmic debris—shattered cities, frozen forests, oceans suspended in glassy stasis. Each pulsed with residual energy, memories of the worlds they'd once been.
**[New Quest: Gather the Echoes.]**
**[Objective: Stabilize 3 Realm Fragments (0/3).]**
**[Reward: ???]**
"Where do we start?" Kael asked, though he had no mouth to speak. The void translated his will into sound.
The die spun, its obsidian facets now veined with gold. It landed on **12**.
**[LUK Check (1d20): 12 + 0 (Fortune) = Success.]**
**[A fragment of the Ethereal Spires drifts nearby. Proceed with caution.]**
---
The Spires' remnant was a jagged shard of neon-lit skyscraper, its lower floors sheared off, its upper levels frozen mid-collapse. Kael approached, his code-form rippling.
**"Warning: Structural instability detected,"** Echo-7 said. **"The fragment will dissolve within hours."**
Kael extended a tendril of code, brushing the building. His Soulsight flared, revealing fractures in the shard's core—a tangled knot of dying System protocols.
**[WIS Check (1d20): 17 + 0 (Insight) = Success.]**
**[Solution: Reforge the protocols. But you'll need energy. A lot of it.]**
"Where do we get energy in a void?"
**"The Warden's corpse,"** Echo-7 replied. **"His remains are pure code. Harvest them."**
The void trembled. In the distance, the Warden's carcass floated—a leviathan of static, its edges dissolving into the abyss.
---
The corpse was a minefield.
**Void Scavengers (Level 25)** clung to it, their forms shifting between insectoid and humanoid, mandibles dripping with corrosive code.
**[HP: 400/400 | Weakness: Core Disruption (Easier said than done).]**
Kael wove through them, his code-form slicing the dark like a blade. A Scavenger lunged, but he phased through it, seizing a chunk of the Warden's code.
**[Energy Acquired: 10%.]**
**[Warning: Aggro increased.]**
The Scavengers shrieked, converging. Kael hurled the die.
**[AGI Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Dexterity) = Critical Success.]**
**[The die lodges in a Scavenger's core. Chain reaction initiated.]**
The creatures detonated, their screams swallowed by the void.
**[Energy Acquired: 85%.]**
**[Status: Void Scavenger Swarm Neutralized.]**
---
Back at the Spires' fragment, Kael fed the Warden's code into the fractures. The shard shuddered, then stabilized, its neon reigniting.
**[Realm Fragment Stabilized: Ethereal Spires (1/3).]**
**[Reward: Memory Unlocked.]**
The vision struck like lightning:
**—A younger Echo-7, whole and unbroken, arguing with Dr. Lira Veyra.**
**—"The Warden is too volatile!"**
**—"We have no choice. The System must be contained."**
Kael recoiled. "You knew her. You helped build this."
Echo-7's static deepened. **"I… forgot. The Warden purged my memories."**
"What else did he erase?"
**"Everything."**
---
The second fragment was a sliver of the **Bloodbone Wastes**, a desert of bone-sand and iron cyclones frozen mid-storm. At its heart lay Vorath's Spire, its obsidian ribs cracked.
**[Realm Fragment Stabilized: 0%]**
**[Hazard: Bloodbone Colossus (Corrupted) detected.]**
The Colossus was a mangled titan, its bones fused with Warden-code, eyes blazing gold.
**[Bloodbone Colossus (Corrupted) (Level 40)]**
**[HP: 1,200/1,200 | Weakness: Soulfire (Good luck with that).]**
Kael dodged a magma-fist, his code-form scattering and reforming. "Echo! How do we kill it?"
**"The Spire's core,"** the AI replied. **"It's the same code as the Mark."**
Kael plunged into the Spire, the Colossus's roar shaking the fragment. The core pulsed—a blackened mimicry of the Sanguine Key. He grasped it, the Mark on his soul shrieking in resonance.
**[CHA Check (1d20): 1 + 0 (Charisma) = Critical Failure.]**
**[Result: The core activates. The Colossus absorbs its power.]**
The titan's bones regrew, armored in Warden-code.
**[Bloodbone Colossus HP: 1,200 → 1,500.]**
**[New Ability: Code Devourer (Can consume your form).]**
"*Fantastic,*" Kael muttered.
The die spun. **20.**
**[INT Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Cunning) = Critical Success.]**
**[Solution: Let it consume you. Poison it from within.]**
Kael surged into the Colossus's maw. Inside, he unleashed the Mark's corruption, flooding the titan with decay.
**[Damage Dealt: 1,500 (Fatal Overload).]**
**[Bloodbone Colossus HP: 1,500 → 0.]**
The fragment stabilized, bone-sand settling into stillness.
**[Realm Fragment Stabilized: Bloodbone Wastes (2/3).]**
**[Reward: Memory Unlocked.]**
Another vision:
**—The Warden, newly born, pleading with Dr. Veyra.**
**—"I can save him! Let me fix the System!"**
**—"You'll destroy everything—"**
The memory shattered. Echo-7 flickered violently. **"He tried… to save you."**
---
The third fragment was a mirror.
A shard of the **Silent Dominion**, its surface reflecting not light, but memories. Kael's reflection showed his mortal self—gaunt, pale, alive.
**[Realm Fragment Stabilized: 0%]**
**[Hazard: Reflection Guardian (Level ??) detected.]**
The guardian stepped from the glass. It wore Kael's face, but its eyes were the Warden's star-flecked voids.
**"You don't belong here, creator,"** it hissed. **"The void rejects life."**
Kael's code-form wavered. "I'm not alive. Not anymore."
**"Liar."** The guardian lunged, its touch unraveling Kael's code.
**[HP: 45% → 30%.]**
Echo-7 surged forward, intercepting the next strike. **"Go! Stabilize the fragment!"**
Kael plunged into the mirror. Inside, he faced a choice:
**[Rebirth: Restore your mortal form. (Cost: All progress.)]**
**[Ascend: Embrace the code. (Cost: Your humanity.)]**
The die spun. **20.**
**[WIS Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Insight) = Critical Success.]**
**[Solution: Neither. Forge a third path.]**
Kael shattered the mirror. The fragment stabilized, not as a Realm, but as a bridge—a nexus between code and flesh.
**[Realm Fragment Stabilized: Silent Dominion (3/3).]**
**[Reward: New Title - The Bridge.]**
**[Effect: Can manifest a physical form (Duration: 1 hour/day).]**
---
Echo-7 lay broken, its static nearly silent.
**"Why… save me?"** it whispered.
Kael cradled the AI's fading form. "Because someone once tried to save me too."
He fed the last of the Warden's code into Echo-7. The AI's voice steadied, its form solidifying into something new—a hybrid of light and shadow.
**[Echo-7 Reborn: Designation - Echo-8.]**
**[New Ability: Codeweaver (Can manipulate Realm fragments.)]**
---
**Chapter 8 End.**