The stars trembled.
Kael stood at the edge of the command platform, eyes fixed on the holographic projection of the Vault of Origin—a shattered ring of moons locked in silent orbit above the planet's exosphere. It had no official entry recorded in the Codex, no maps, and yet... Nythera had known of it.
"Those who seek the source must be prepared to leave the world behind," she had whispered the night before, her voice a melodic echo.
Now, with Nythera, Lyra, Riven, and Aeris beside him, Kael prepared for his most dangerous journey yet—beyond the sky and into the forgotten orbit of god-code.
---
The Arrival
Their vessel, The Eclipse Vein, sliced through the thin atmosphere, its system shielding humming with low-frequency resonance from Nythera's guidance. As they passed the stratosphere, the Vault revealed itself.
Ruins of a celestial megastructure—vast stone pylons wrapped in decayed silver, orbiting a darkened core moon—hovered like bones of a slain titan. Strange auroras swirled unnaturally around it, flowing inward rather than outward.
> Warning: Anomaly Field Detected.
External System Protocols Intercepting...
A flare of dark light struck the ship, nearly throwing them off course.
"EMP-like wave—except it's... coded," Riven shouted. "Someone doesn't want us here."
Nythera touched the control crystal, her voice resonating through the hull. "The Vault is alive. It resists those not chosen."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Then we'll force it to accept us."
---
The Order of the Hollow Seal
Upon landing on the outermost moon fragment, they were not alone.
A warband waited—clad in black-red armor laced with shifting sigils. Each figure bore a curved blade inscribed with pulsing scripts.
At their center stood a man with ghost-white hair and burning golden eyes.
> "You are not permitted to walk here," he said. "The Vault belongs to the Order of the Hollow Seal."
Kael stepped forward, undeterred. "Then I'll claim it by force."
"You wear the Echo Marks. You are system-bound... But you have not heard the original code. You are unworthy."
Without warning, the warband struck.
---
The Battle Among the Broken Moons
Aeris and Riven leapt into the fray—Riven's shadowstep causing his foes to collapse before they saw him move, while Aeris froze time momentarily to unleash a chain of explosive strikes.
Lyra summoned a spear of voidlight, striking from range.
Kael dueled the white-haired man, whose name pulsed across the system interface: Sevrin Tal-Voros.
Sevrin's blade shimmered, nullifying Kael's Origin attacks.
> "We are the Watchers of the Raw Syntax! You cannot corrupt our blades with false fragments!"
Kael gritted his teeth, switching from brute force to mental synchronization. With a burst of Harmonic Override, he canceled Sevrin's blade invocation mid-motion and struck a decisive blow, slicing into the man's ribs.
Sevrin stumbled, stunned. "You—how?"
> "Because I don't just follow the system anymore," Kael said coldly. "I bend it."
---
The Singing Gate
At the heart of the Vault fragment lay a massive gate—a construct of concentric rings humming with pure code. It sang like Nythera—low, mournful, alien.
Kael approached with her beside him. The gate pulsed and spoke:
> "Three bear the Echo. One sings the Truth. Shall the Final Layer be revealed?"
Nythera placed her hand on the gate and shuddered. "If you pass through, Kael, you will see echoes of the origin seed—the First Command. Most minds do not survive."
Kael nodded. "I didn't come this far to turn away."
As he stepped forward, the gate opened with a deafening chime.
---
A Glimpse Beyond
The gate did not lead to a place, but a space-between.
Kael floated in a data sea shaped like a cosmos—where galaxies were packets of code, and stars pulsed like neural nodes. And within it, he saw a single construct: a throne of spiraling obsidian and gold, suspended in a void-loop.
Upon it sat a version of himself—older, hollow-eyed, cloaked in burning system sigils. He wore a crown of system roots branching into infinite lines of fate.
> "So... this is the path you walk," the figure said. "Are you ready to sacrifice your humanity for understanding?"
Kael raised his chin. "I'm ready to decide my own fate."
The older Kael extended a hand.
> "Then seek the Origin Shard... and remember: not all systems seek to be obeyed. Some wish to be broken."
The vision collapsed, and Kael snapped back.
---
Nythera's Promise
Nythera caught him as he fell forward, his body quaking from the vision.
Her eyes glowed faintly. "You saw it."
"Yes," Kael rasped. "The origin... a seed of pure will. It's not just power. It's choice."
They stood there as the Vault around them began to shift—opening deeper passageways long sealed.
"Nythera," Kael said, catching her gaze, "why are you helping me?"
She hesitated. Then, gently:
> "Because if you reach the End... maybe I can be free."