The world of Vaelith was a graveyard of stars. Its sky flickered like broken film, vast suns hanging on cracked orbits, casting inconsistent light. Arin stepped through the dimensional threshold with Elyra and Seris at his side.
"This place shouldn't exist," Seris whispered, her voice strained.
Elyra nodded. "Vaelith was the first realm to be destroyed during the Epoch Wars. If it's returned, something ancient woke it."
Descent into the Sunken Throne
They ventured into the capital ruins—Eclipsed Meridian. Great spires floated in inertia, bound by gravity's memory. At the center of it all lay a throne, shattered but still pulsing.
Arin approached it. As his hand brushed the surface, visions struck:
A woman in crimson robes wielding time like a sword.
A council betrayed by one of their own.
A planet folding inward upon itself, collapsing into sentient singularity.
Chrono-Archive Entry Accessed.
Identified: Sovereign of Collapse – Maeryn Voss.
The throne shattered further, revealing a dormant heart. Elyra stepped forward.
"She was sealed in time's memory. You must bring her back."
Arin focused his power, invoking the Epoch Rewrite Mode, channeling raw fragments of fate and bending the dimension's core. The air trembled as an outline formed—a woman with jagged ethereal wings, her eyes voids of entropy.
"Who dares fracture the silence?" she whispered.
"I'm Arin. I seek to restore balance—and rewrite what you were forced to destroy."
A Pact in Collapse
Maeryn Voss studied him, her voice like folding metal.
"I remember the Epoch Lords. I remember betrayal. Why should I align with you?"
"Because I'm not trying to control the past," Arin said. "I'm trying to free the future."
She smiled, fractured and whole.
Sovereign Bond Established: Maeryn Voss – Collapse Affinity Unlocked.
New Skill Gained: Event Horizon Pulse.
With a single gesture, Maeryn rebuilt a fallen city spire from its echoes. "You've begun something that cannot be undone. The Lords will hunt you across realities. But I will walk beside you."
The System chimed again.
First Fractured Sovereign Reunited.
Fragments of Origin reassembling...
Interlude: Shadows of the Triumvirate
Far away, in the stronghold of the Temporal Triumvirate, the Lords of Confluence gathered.
"The Arbitrator moves faster than expected," one hissed.
"He's awoken the Collapse. If Maeryn walks again…"
"The Epoch Core must not be reformed," said the final voice. "Send the Reaper of Tomes."
Toward the Next Fragment
As Maeryn joined their ranks, Arin now had Elyra, Seris, and a Sovereign by his side. But the Sovereigns of Light and Decay remained lost, and the Triumvirate would not wait.
Seris gestured to a new ripple on the cosmic map.
"Next stop: Nocthera, the tomb-moon of illusions. There, the Fragment of Truth waits. But be warned—reality bends in Nocthera, and memory becomes weapon."
Arin looked to the stars, then back at the rising figure of Maeryn beside him.
"Let them come."