Nova's skyline had changed.
No longer glowing with life, its towers flickered like the last embers of a dying fire. Roads were deserted. The sun barely reached the ground now, as if the sky itself was afraid to look down.
Then it happened.
At exactly 4:17 p.m., the Rift screamed.
It wasn't a sound. Not really. It was something deeper—like existence itself recoiling. Every light in the city died at once. A black storm cloud began to spiral from the Rift scar, spreading like a wound across the atmosphere.
In the Citadel, alarms went berserk.
"Energy spike—directly from the Rift!" Reyka shouted. "It's not just leaking anymore—it's answering him!"
"Null's inside it," Jalen said. He could feel it. The Ember Core in his chest was burning hot, pulsing in sync with the Rift.
Ari grabbed her gauntlets. "So what's the plan? Wait until reality folds or punch him in the face before it does?"
Reyka snapped to the console. "I've triangulated his coordinates. He's anchored to a nexus chamber just below the Rift scar—it's like a heart. If we take it out, we sever his link."
"And if we fail?" Ari asked.
Reyka's voice softened. "Then the Rift opens. And we all get rewritten."
Jalen looked to the team: Reyka. Ari. Nyx. The healer girl, now codenamed Pulse. The weaponsmith they called Gravemind.
All of them were scared.
All of them stood anyway.
"Gear up," Jalen said. "This is what we were born for."
---
The Rift Nexus – One hour later
The air shimmered like broken glass as they descended into the Rift's core. Everything twisted around them—light bent wrong, time skipped like a scratched record. Ari had to grip the tunnel walls to stay balanced.
At the base of the scar was a massive chamber, glowing with pale light. And at the center of it all floated Null—his body fully merged with Rift energy. Tendrils of darkness extended into the chamber, feeding on the very laws of physics.
"You're too late," Null said.
"You always say that," Jalen replied—and struck first.
The chamber erupted.
Fire met shadow. Ari dove in, shielding Pulse with a burst-field as Nyx unleashed a wave of cosmic darklight that slammed into Null's defenses. Gravemind deployed Rift disruptors, their pulses sending tremors through the floor.
Null roared, raising his hand—and time froze.
Jalen gasped. His flames flickered out. Reyka's voice stopped mid-shout. Everything... stopped.
Except for him.
The Ember Core flared.
He moved through frozen time, fire trailing behind him like comet tails. With every step, he saw what Null had done—this wasn't just power. This was rewriting. Null wasn't trying to destroy the world.
He was trying to erase it and rebuild it without pain.
"No more war," Null whispered into the void. "No more hunger. No more fear."
Jalen faced him, eyes blazing.
"But no more choice. No more people."
He raised his hand—and the Ember Core answered.
Time snapped back.
And so did the fight.
Jalen struck Null with a beam of pure Emberlight, the chamber cracking apart from the force. Nyx added hers—a ribbon of Riftfire—and the two energies merged, something never meant to happen.
A scream tore from Null—not of pain, but of clarity.
And then he fell.
The Rift began to collapse inward, destabilized. The chamber crumbled.
"NOW!" Reyka shouted. "Everyone out!"
They ran.
Jalen hovered at the core's center, looking down at Null—still alive, barely.
"I tried," Null said. "I just wanted peace."
"I know," Jalen said. "But we have to earn it. Not steal it."
He placed his hand on the chamber's last seal—and released the Ember Core fully.
A shockwave of light burst from the Rift, stretching across the sky, sweeping through Nova. It tore the black clouds away, restored light to the towers, reawakened every spark hiding in the shadows.
The Rift...
closed.