The first attack came without warning.
One moment, the lavender sky stretched peaceful and strange above them. The next, something tore through reality like a blade ripping fabric.
A sound preceded it—a high-pitched whine that started just beyond human hearing and quickly escalated. Kai felt it before he heard it, a vibration that started in his bones and expanded outward. The six-eyed creature went absolutely still, its scaled body transforming from liquid-metal shimmer to something harder. Defensive.
Lyra moved with a speed that defied human possibility. One moment she was standing next to Kai, the next she was positioned between him and the approaching... something.
"Stay behind me," she commanded. But it wasn't a request.
The tear in reality looked like a wound. Jagged. Impossible. A fracture that leaked something that wasn't quite light, wasn't quite darkness. Something in between. Something alien.
Shapes began to emerge from the fracture. They weren't creatures in any way Kai could understand. More like living mathematical equations. Geometric forms that shifted and recalculated with each movement. Sharp angles. Impossible symmetries.
"Null Fragments," the six-eyed creature said. Its multiple eyes tracked the approaching entities with a concentration that felt ancient. Calculating.
Lyra's circuit-tattoos blazed. The blue lines that covered her copper-toned skin transformed from passive patterns to active networks. Living weapons.
"What are they?" Kai asked, surprised by how steady his voice sounded.
"Immune responses," Lyra responded. Her hand moved to the disk at her waist—the same device that had "calibrated" him earlier. It unfolded like origami, transforming into something that was half communication device, half weapon. "When boundaries between realities become permeable, some systems try to seal the breach. Violently."
The Null Fragments advanced. Each movement was a recalculation. A precise, mathematical invasion.
Kai thought about his mother. About her last words. About potential.
"What do I do?" he asked.
Lyra's laugh was sharp. Unexpected. "Survive," she said.
The first Null Fragment reached her. Its body was a living equation, all sharp angles and impossible geometry. Where it touched the ground, reality itself seemed to ripple. Distort.
Lyra's response was instantaneous. The circuit-tattoos became weapons. Blue energy lines that moved faster than thought, intercepting the geometric invader.
The six-eyed creature moved. Not to attack. To protect. Its scaled body creating a living shield around Kai.
"Your potential is critical," it said. Not a reassurance. A statement of fact.
The battle happened in frequencies Kai could barely comprehend. Lyra moved like liquid lightning, her tattoos creating defensive networks that transformed attack vectors into something else entirely. The Null Fragments calculated. Recalculated. Invaded.
But something was different about Kai. He could feel it. The "calibration" wasn't just changing how he saw the world. It was changing how the world saw him.
A memory surfaced. His mother's hospital room. Her thin hand squeezing his. "You're meant for more," she'd whispered.
The six-eyed creature turned one of its gazes directly to Kai. A communication that bypassed language. A understanding that went beyond words.
"Now," it said.
Kai didn't know what he was doing. But he understood, somehow, exactly what to do.
His hand moved. Not a physical movement. Something else. A gesture that was part mathematics, part language, part something completely impossible.
The fracture in reality... paused.
The Null Fragments hesitated.
Lyra's eyes went wide.
"Interesting," she said.