Chapter 50: Threshold of Truth
The silence in the chamber was suffocating. Shadows twisted along the crystalline walls, responding not to light, but to presence. Ryo Kazen stood at the heart of the Chamber of Echoes, his breath shallow, fists trembling—not from fear, but from the weight of what he was about to uncover.
The glyph-covered pedestal before him pulsed with a rhythm that mirrored his heartbeat. Around him, the once-dormant runes had come alive with violet light, responding to his essence… and the fragment of the Protocol embedded in his soul.
Kael had warned him. The others had pleaded for patience. But the truth could no longer wait.
Ryo placed his palm against the pedestal.
A searing pain shot through his entire body, lancing through muscle and bone like liquid fire. But he didn't pull away. He couldn't.
Because he had to know.
The chamber groaned, the walls stretching like they were breathing. And then—darkness. Not emptiness, but memory. Projection.
He was no longer in the chamber.
He was inside it.
Flashes of ancient wars, of cities crumbling beneath celestial fire, of titanic beings shattering realms with a mere gesture—flooded his senses. These were not fantasies. These were records.
"Welcome, successor," a voice echoed.
Ryo turned. Before him stood a figure of shifting shadows, neither fully human nor fully god. A mask covered its face, smooth and expressionless, etched with the same runes now glowing in Ryo's veins.
"I am the Echo of Origin. The last fragment of the first Wielder."
Ryo's mouth was dry. "What… are you showing me?"
"The truth of the Protocol. The truth of you."
The vision shifted again.
Ryo saw a boy—no older than ten—crying in a shattered facility. Scientists lay scattered around, dead. Blood everywhere. Shadows coiled around the child like protectors, slithering into his veins as he screamed.
It was him. Ryo's breath caught in his throat.
"That day was not an accident," the Echo said. "It was activation. You were not chosen by chance."
The image zoomed out to reveal the name on the destroyed facility: Project EDEN.
Rina's voice echoed faintly in his memory—"You were never meant to find this alone."
"Project EDEN," Ryo whispered. "What is it?"
"The birthplace of the first Shadow Protocol. A convergence of gods' remnants and forbidden science. You were born to be the vessel. But something went wrong. You forgot. They made you forget."
Ryo stumbled back as the vision collapsed. He was back in the chamber, gasping for air. The pedestal had cracked, its light now dim.
Memories—real ones—surged into place like puzzle pieces snapping into alignment. The broken childhood. The voices in his dreams. The unnatural affinity to shadows. His power.
It had never been a gift.
It was a design.
Footsteps echoed behind him.
"Ryo."
It was Kael, his coat torn, a faint trail of blood down his cheek. He was breathless, but his eyes were sharp.
"They found us. We have to go. Now."
Ryo stood slowly. "I remember now. Everything."
Kael blinked. "What… do you mean?"
"Project EDEN. The first Protocol. Rina… she's tied to it. I saw it. I saw me."
Kael's expression darkened. "Damn it. I was hoping we had more time."
Ryo narrowed his eyes. "You knew?"
"I suspected. After we saw what happened in Sector Nine. The anomalies, the corrupted protocols—they were too close to your aura signature."
Ryo clenched his fists. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because knowing would've broken you before you were ready."
Before Ryo could reply, the chamber trembled. Dust rained from the ceiling.
A low, droning hum filled the space, like reality itself was warping.
Kael turned sharply. "They're opening a Rift. Get ready."
A gash split the chamber wall, revealing a swirling vortex of violet energy. Figures emerged—cloaked in obsidian armor, faces hidden behind helmets shaped like screaming skulls.
Nullborn.
Ryo felt the darkness stir within him, hungry. The Protocol awakened.
"No more hiding," he muttered.
Kael raised his twin blades. "Together."
The first Nullborn lunged, but Ryo met it mid-air, a lance of shadow erupting from his palm and skewering the enemy through the chest. It dissolved into particles, but more replaced it—dozens, maybe hundreds.
Kael became a blur, moving like a storm of steel.
Ryo danced with the shadows—stepping, slashing, melting into darkness and reappearing behind enemies. Every movement was instinct, every breath a command to the Protocol.
They fought like monsters.
Because they were.
And then, it happened.
From the Rift stepped a figure different from the rest. A woman in a long white coat, eyes like dying stars. Her voice rang clear and cold.
"Hello, Ryo."
Ryo froze.
"…Rina?"
The figure smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "It's been a while, brother."
The world stopped.
Kael turned to Ryo, disbelief etched on his face.
"She's alive?"
Ryo's mind reeled. She wasn't just alive.
She was leading the Nullborn.
To be continued in Chapter 51…