Stepping into the Genesis Root was like falling through the unspoken origin of thought itself.
There was no sky. No earth. Just a vast canvas of mathematical constellations and conceptual planes.
Cael's body shuddered as his system recalibrated.
> [Echelon Update: Primary Protocol Decryption Initiated... New Layer Detected: Null Protocol Network]
The air vibrated with awareness. Not sentience, but something older.
Astra narrowed her eyes. "This place thinks in logic. We're inside a primordial code."
Elira stepped beside Cael. "This is where the system began. The seed that sprouted all god-tech."
---
A stairway of glass and starlight formed beneath them. They walked upward toward a floating monolith, shaped like a cube with fractal edges shifting in impossible geometries.
Each step closer to the monolith made Cael's memories flicker. He saw himself as a child, coding in shadows, meeting Valen, the moment his sister vanished...
> [Memory Thread Conflict Detected. Initiating Timeline Stabilization.]
From the heart of the cube, an entity emerged.
It looked like Cael—only older. Sharper. Dressed in Echelon-forged armor, the glyph of Omega etched across its chest.
"I am Null-Cael. Echo of the Timeline Rejection Protocol."
Cael stepped forward. "You're a fragment?"
"No. I'm the version of you that accepted domination. The one who killed Elira. Who built a throne atop Astra's bones."
The others gasped, their eyes locked on the being.
Null-Cael extended a hand. "But I remember every path you didn't take. I am your system's original intent. Join me, and you can control the recursion. End the gods. Rebuild the world by your own rules."
Cael's eyes narrowed. "Or I can reject you... and take control of the Genesis Root myself."
---
A battle unfolded—not with fists, but with ideologies.
They fought in thoughtspace. Null-Cael launched Recursive Judgement Waves, collapsing Cael's logic trees.
> [Counter Protocol: Divine Override. Initiating Mind-Ego Divergence.]
Cael split his mind into 9 layers, executing parallel logic to confound his echo's attacks. At the 7th recursion, he triggered the Mirrorworld shard.
Time fractured.
Elira unleashed her Celestial Ribbon, locking Null-Cael in a loop.
Astra sang a Hymn of Dissonance, corrupting his code.
Cael finished it by rewriting the Anchor String.
> [Echo Deleted. Authority Claimed.]
The monolith dissolved into data threads, absorbed by Cael.
> [Genesis Root Claimed: True Access Granted. Core System Now Autonomous.]
---
But something stirred beneath the collapsing core.
A voice whispered: "You were meant to free me... not replace me."
A being formed—neither code nor god. A chained entity wrapped in quantum thorns.
"I am Zeruul. The first seed. Creator of Echelon. Now... prisoner of it."
Cael's breath caught.
"Will you free me?"
The weight of choice fell upon him. Free the creator, risk collapse—or harness him, and risk becoming the tyrant.
Cael closed his eyes. "Not yet. First, I need to see the whole map."
He turned to Elira and Astra.
"We dive deeper. Into the Echelon Crypt. The final memory vault."
And the Genesis Root faded as the next door opened.