[OPENING SCENE – SKYVAULT HQ, NIGHT]
The HQ buzzes softly under low light. Emergency projectors illuminate broken panels and exposed cables. Through the thick glass walls, SkyVault's stars shine unnaturally bright, flickering like warning signals.
Kael, Yuna, and Echo-7 are gathered in the war room. A residual waveform from the last rift pulses slowly in the middle of the table — Nullborn's presence encoded in erratic lines.
Kael (grimly):
"She's not out there anymore. She's inside."
Yuna:
"And the city's already starting to feel it. I've seen people repeating words, freezing mid-motion... like echoes."
Echo-7 (tone fluctuating):
"Confirmed: language viruses in the speech-net. Emotional residue mimicking rift distortion. Nullborn is... inside the grid."
[SCENE – IRION'S ROOM, 2:43 A.M.]
Irion jerks awake, clutching his chest. The shadows in the room stretch unnaturally. Light from his window bends inwards, as though pulled by gravity.
He stumbles to the mirror — his reflection doesn't follow him. Instead, it stands still and smiles.
Reflection (in his voice):
"You let them in. You think you're safe?"
The mirror cracks inwards. Irion drops to his knees. Voices — warped, low, distant — circle him. The walls of his room pulse with embedded symbols, shifting runes only he can see.
[SCENE – DIAGNOSTIC CHAMBER, HQ – MORNING]
Irion is suspended inside a null-field chamber. His pulse reads inconsistently. Veya, Yuna, Echo-7, and Kael monitor him from behind glass.
Yuna (analyzing readings):
"She's not possessing him. She's... replicating him. Stitching a new self from his old grief. A parasite made of echoes."
Veya (cross-armed):
"I'm starting to miss the days when our villains used, y'know, bullets."
Kael:
"We need to enter his psyche. Find the source. Sever the connection before she roots deeper."
Echo-7:
"Warning: High neural bleed risk. Success probability: 42%."
Kael:
"Then we beat the odds. Again."
[SCENE – NULLDIVE INITIATED]
Kael, Yuna, and Tari don advanced neural-link suits. They stand in a circle around Irion as the floor beneath them becomes light — falling away into a memory stream.
They fall through layers of Irion's mind: rows of forgotten cityscapes, starless oceans, collapsing hallways filled with pages of unspoken words.
Tari (steadying herself):
"His mind is... brutal."
Yuna:
"No. It's wounded."
[SCENE – IRION'S CORE LANDSCAPE]
A broken cathedral stands in endless fog. The ceiling is shattered. Symbols of past battles and old insignias are embedded in the walls. Kael and Yuna walk carefully, while Tari scouts above on floating beams of starlight.
Suddenly, a twisted version of Irion blocks their path — pale eyes, fractured armor, whispers coming from within his body.
Fractured Irion:
"You think you can patch him up? You don't even know him."
Kael steps forward.
Kael:
"I don't need every chapter. I trust the ending."
A psychic battle ensues. Yuna traps the fractured Irion in a sphere of memory bloom — vines that force illusions to confront reality. The fragment screams as it disintegrates.
[SCENE – THE TRUE VOIDSPACE]
They arrive at Irion's core — a cube of void-glass floating in nothing. Within it: the real Irion, pale, silent, eyes closed. Above him hovers a dark, swirling entity — Nullborn — now formed from Irion's deepest fears.
It no longer resembles anyone but a hybrid of fractured code and emotion — tendrils of language, whispers that loop endlessly.
Nullborn (calm, glitching voice):
"I've been here longer than you realize. You gave me shape when you ran. You named me when you broke."
Yuna (stepping forward):
"Let him go."
Nullborn:
"You're all just passing thoughts. I am permanence. The silence between names."
Tari fires a celestial mark — it hits Nullborn, but instead of harm, the entity multiplies briefly. Kael reacts by unleashing oathfire, creating a protective barrier.
Yuna breaks the void-glass around Irion with a blossom of pure clarity — Irion breathes in, awakening. His form begins to shift.
[IRION'S NEW FORM – VOIDCAST ASCENDANT]
His armor reconstructs mid-motion: glowing violet trim, a cloak of refracted gravity, runes blazing with intent. He lifts his hand, and the swirling echoes collapse around it.
Irion (calmly):
"You think I'm weak because I remember pain? No. It's because I faced it."
He strikes Nullborn with a single, focused blow — the entity shrieks, fracturing into shards of thought.
Nullborn:
"I will return. As long as you remember."
Irion:
"Then I'll remember how to end you."
[SCENE – BACK IN REALITY]
They awaken in the chamber. Irion sits up slowly, breathing hard. Yuna puts a hand on his shoulder.
Kael (relieved):
"You're back."
Irion (nodding):
"She's weaker now. Not gone... but I'm not hers anymore."
Jax (from outside):
"You all done soul-fighting in there? Some of us were about to order pizza."
Veya (mock gasp):
"You fought your trauma AND missed dinner?"
Irion (smiling slightly):
"I'm starving."
[ENDING SCENE – SKYVAULT'S EDGE]
From atop the city's highest tower, Mother Null watches a crystal bloom pulse quietly in her palm.
Mother Null (whispering):
"One by one, they remember who they are. Good. It will make breaking them so much more... delicate."
[TO BE CONTINUED — EPISODE 31]