[OPENING SCENE – SKYVAULT CITY, MIDDAY]
The Vanguards are gathered in a temporary command center near a ramen shop. Civilians walk by and wave at them. Everyone's still processing the events from Fort Chimera.
Jax (slurping loudly):
"So... who's voting we just retire and run this noodle place instead?"
Yuna (smirking):
"You'd eat the profits in a week."
Echo-7:
"Correction: four days, eleven hours, zero point two seconds."
Jax:
"Wow. Rude."
Kael (more serious):
"We need to move. Nullborn's not done — and that shard is still whispering."
Irion (quiet):
"I can still hear it. Something... cracked."
[SCENE – VANGUARD HQ, UNDERGROUND LAB]
Echo-7 and Veya are analyzing the remains of the shattered shard from Krakk's horn. It hums erratically.
Veya (peering through goggles):
"It's like it's trying to speak, but not in any language. More like... a bad opera singer underwater."
Echo-7:
"Or corrupted data looping into itself. Want me to translate the screaming?"
Veya:
"You're... oddly cheery about this."
Echo-7:
"I process stress with sass."
[SCENE – INTELLIGENCE BRIEFING, GENERAL HALRON PRESENT]
General Halron (firm):
"We've tracked faint fractal anomalies across three zones. Could be Nullborn... or copycats. Either way, it's tearing the sky apart."
Tari:
"Copycats? Someone out there thinks pretending to be a time-warping nightmare god is... fun?"
Jax:
"Honestly, I've seen worse trends. Remember the 'scream crystal challenge'?"
Kael:
"Focus."
[MISSION SCENE – THE CRACKED ZONE]
The team splits up into two units. Kael, Yuna, and Echo-7 take one side. Irion, Veya, and Jax go the other. The Rift is unstable — gravity shifts randomly, colors warp, buildings float sideways.
Jax (grinning):
"This place looks like my brain after three cups of espresso."
Veya:
"Focus, clown."
Jax (mock offense):
"I'm a charming chaos bomb, thank you."
[BATTLE BEGINS – "SHARDSPEAKERS" APPEAR]
Monsters made of broken voices and fractured memories rise from the street — humanoid but echoing with past phrases and laughter. Each step cracks the air around them.
Irion:
"They're echoes. Fragments of Nullborn's thoughts."
Veya (loading guns):
"Time to return them to sender."
A wild fight erupts.
Jax punches a shardspeaker into a floating building, then apologizes for knocking over someone's laundry.
Veya bounces between balconies, shooting pressure points to shatter enemies without harming the city.
Irion slows time in bursts, guiding his team with spoken riddles.
Irion:
"Strike left — no, your left."
Jax:
"I don't have a left anymore, the sky's sideways!"
[OTHER SIDE – KAEL'S TEAM]
Yuna uses her vines to anchor people stuck mid-air.
Kael melts crystal-growths sprouting across vehicles.
Echo-7 hijacks a floating neon sign to display a giant smiley face above them.
Kael:
"Really?"
Echo-7:
"Morale boost."
Kael (deadpan):
"It's blinking."
Echo-7:
"Animated morale boost."
[CLIMAX – RIFT STABILIZATION]
The two squads converge at the epicenter: a glowing fracture in the air that screams in multiple voices. Kael and Irion nod to each other. Together, they focus — Irion phases the rift's edge while Kael's flame tempers it into stasis.
Kael:
"Hold it… almost there—"
A sudden surge — a vision flashes to them both: Mother Null's face, smiling serenely in a shattered mirror.
Mother Null (echo):
"You close cracks. I create them."
Kael and Irion (shouting together):
"NOW!"
They collapse the rift. The zone stabilizes.
[ENDING – QUIET NIGHT ON THE HQ ROOF]
The team gathers under the stars. For now, it's calm.
Tari (sipping tea):
"Today was... colorful."
Jax:
"I fought a memory that called me 'sweetie.' I'm traumatized."
Yuna:
"You are sweet."
Jax (fake crying):
"Finally someone says it!"
Irion (smirking):
"You're all idiots."
Kael (quietly):
"We earned this night."
They all look at the stars. But far above, a dark star pulses — unseen.
[TO BE CONTINUED]