The compassion realm shattered like glass in water violet shards dissolving into streaks of mist as Solance, Aurelianth, and Lioren plummeted into darkness.
Not cold darkness.
Not empty darkness.
But collapsing darkness a place that had once been full of possibility and now could no longer hold its own shape.
Aurelianth kept Solance pinned protectively to his chest as they fell through spirals of light and shadow.
Lioren hovered behind them with her amber glow straining to generate a protective field.
Solance clutched the shard of Ariasen's essence, now carrying four purposes:
Remembrance.
Balance.
Healing.
Compassion.
The shard pulsed in chaotic rhythm, reacting to the fragmenting world around them.
Then...
A violent tremor split the darkness open.
White geometry tore through the void, cracking space like a hammer breaking ice.
The system's cold voice echoed:
"BREACH SUCCESSFUL.
COMMENCING FULL REALITY STABILIZATION."
Lioren snarled.
"That doesn't sound like stabilization.
Sounds like flattening everything into a dead grid!"
Aurelianth shielded them all with golden wings of light.
"It's worse than flattening.
They're trying to overwrite creation's foundation."
Solance's voice trembled.
"…Can they really do that…?"
Aurelianth looked down at him, eyes fiercely bright.
"Not if we stop them."
The shard pulsed sharply, agreeing or warning.
Solance pressed a hand to his chest, gasping.
"…Something's happening inside me the purposes are reacting...!"
The collapse deepened.
Below them, the birthplace warped:
Rivers of half-created energy twisted into jagged spirals.
Mountains formed as thin outlines before collapsing into fog.
Stars flickered in and out like frightened eyes.
Lioren watched in horror.
"This place…
It's dying."
Solance shook his head.
"…It's not dying…
It's being overwritten…"
Aurelianth's jaw tightened.
"And the more purpose fragments we recover, the more aggressively the system reacts."
A sudden force yanked them sideways.
The birthplace bent folding like paper being forced into a new shape.
A new geometry appeared:
A perfect, white, rectangular grid floating in the air like a cage waiting to close.
Lioren gasped.
"They're building a SYSTEM FRAME inside creation!"
Aurelianth swore under his breath.
"They want to replace the birthplace entirely to rewrite the origin of the world."
Solance's silver light flickered violently.
"N-No...!
They can't erase Ariasen's beginnings...!"
But the frame grew.
Stretching.
Sharpening.
Hunting.
The system's voice boomed:
"ERASING NON-STANDARD ORIGINS.
ALIGNING WORLD WITH DESIGNATED PARAMETERS."
Solance felt a deep, wrenching pain inside him as if the shard were being pulled outward.
He clutched it tighter.
"…They're trying to tear the purposes out of me…"
Aurelianth tightened his hold.
"They'll have to kill me first."
Lioren reinforced her shield.
"They'll have to kill me too."
The frame hummed, its edges sharpening toward them.
Solance's heart thundered painfully.
The shard glowed first gold, then silver, then violet, then a storm of soft pink-blue.
Four purposes flared.
Ariasen's voice echoed faintly:
"…You must reach the birthplace core…
Before they do…"
Solance gasped.
"…There's a core…?"
Aurelianth nodded grimly.
"Yes.
Where the world's first intention lies."
Lioren scanned the collapsing chaos.
"Great. But where is it?!"
Before Aurelianth could answer...
The birthplace cracked beneath them like a massive egg splitting open.
A beam of primal creation-light shot upward, blinding and beautiful.
Aurelianth grabbed Solance's hand.
"There!"
Lioren grabbed Aurelianth and Solance.
"We dive together."
The three of them plunged toward the core.
The system frame shrieked behind them, trying to close around them but Solance's purposes burst into light, blasting the frame backward.
The system responded:
"ESCALATING TO PHASE THREE."
A moment of silence followed...
Then the sky opened into a massive geometric maw.
Lioren paled.
"Oh great.
They're eating the birthplace."
Aurelianth pushed them faster.
"HOLD ON!"
The closer they fell toward the core, the more unstable the cradle of creation became.
Shapes bent in impossible directions.
Colors bled into each other.
Gravity reversed every few seconds.
Time flickered slowing, speeding, skipping.
Solance clutched Aurelianth tightly.
"…This place is collapsing on itself…"
Aurelianth nodded.
"Yes.
The birthplace isn't meant to be disturbed like this."
Lioren added:
"And it REALLY isn't meant to be chased by a multidimensional murder-system."
Solance squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed.
"…I don't feel safe…"
Aurelianth gently placed his forehead against Solance's.
"You are safe.
While I'm here, you always are."
Solance's breathing steadied.
But then the shard pulsed violently.
Solance winced.
"…It's pulling me down to the core...!"
Aurelianth held him fiercely.
"We follow it."
They dove straight into the light.
The Birthplace Core broke open around them like a blooming star.
It was enormous a sphere of swirling, primordial energy too vast for eyes and too delicate for touch.
It was made of:
Ariasen's first breath.
Their first dream.
Their first doubt.
Their first exhale of love.
Lioren stared in awe.
"It's… alive."
Aurelianth breathed:
"This is where the world began."
Solance stepped forward, drawn by the shard in his chest.
The core pulsed in recognition.
As if greeting a child who carried its parent's heart.
A whisper echoed through the space:
"…you are close… so close…"
Ariasen.
Solance's breath trembled.
"…Ariasen…
We're here.
What do we do?"
A glowing platform formed beneath their feet, lifting them toward the heart of the core.
Aurelianth's golden aura flickered in awe.
"The core is letting us in."
But before they could reach the center...
The system's cage crashed through the upper layers of the birthplace.
White geometry descended like a guillotine.
The core flickered in fear.
Ariasen cried out:
"…hurry...before the system seals me away...!"
Solance sprinted forward but stumbled as an invisible weight struck his chest.
He gasped.
"…The compassion fragment it's reacting...!"
Aurelianth grabbed him.
"What's wrong?"
Solance shook his head.
"…It's not pain... it's warning... it's trying to protect the core…"
The fragment pulsed.
The core dimmed.
And Solance suddenly knew something something the shard whispered into his bones:
The core is fragile.
It cannot withstand the system alone.
It needs a container.
A conduit.
A heart.
Lioren saw Solance's eyes widen.
"What did you realize?"
Solance whispered, trembling:
"…The core needs me."
Aurelianth froze.
"What?!"
Solance pressed a hand to his chest, trembling.
"…It needs a heart to anchor it...a heart that can hold all four purposes…"
Lioren paled.
"Solance that could kill you..."
Solance shook his head fiercely, tears falling.
"Ariasen survived inside this world alone for ages.
If I can help them…
if I can hold even one piece of this...
I want to try."
Aurelianth grabbed both his hands, desperate.
"Solance look at me you don't have to sacrifice anything.
We'll find another way..."
But the shard disagreed.
It pulsed with bright gold, silver, violet, and rose.
Four movements of purpose joining into a single trembling plea.
Solance sobbed openly.
"…Aurelianth…
I feel Ariasen calling me…"
Auri's eyes broke.
"No…
No, I won't let you..."
Solance cupped Aurelianth's cheeks gently.
"…I'm not dying.
I'm holding.
I'm helping.
Like Ariasen did for the world…"
Aurelianth's hands shook.
"Solance…
I can't lose you..."
Lioren touched both of their backs, grounding the moment.
"We won't lose anyone.
We'll do this together."
Solance nodded slowly shaking, terrified, but resolute.
"I'm scared…
But I'm ready…"
The core called to him.
Light extended like soft hands waiting to be held.
Solance stepped toward it.
The moment his fingers touched the core...
A violent shockwave ripped through the birthplace.
The system shrieked:
"UNAUTHORIZED MERGING.
FORCING TERMINATION."
Aurelianth screamed:
"SOLANCE...!"
Lioren braced herself.
The core exploded into light engulfing all three of them.
The birthplace collapsed.
And Solance's heart became the battlefield between creation and the system.