Chapter 5 - Chapter 5: The Shattered Veil

Einstein Voss's head throbbed like a busted engine, the subway tunnels of Earth-Alpha a maze of shadows and wet decay. His palm's cut glowed, aetheric plasma pulsing under his skin, each flare a reminder of the price he'd paid to seal Echo-29. His legs wobbled, his breath was a ragged scrape, and the memory of that void—a screaming hole in reality, oozing aetheric ichor—clung to him like oil. I think I'm done, he thought, slumping against a rusted rail, the cold metal biting through his grease-stained jacket. The air smelled of mold and something sharper, like blood gone wrong, and his heart pounded so hard he swore it'd crack his ribs.Zara Kade stood a few steps ahead, her Containment Prism casting a sickly glow across the cracked tiles. Her leather jacket was scuffed, her short black hair damp with sweat, but her eyes were steel—focused, though a tremor in her hands betrayed her. "We're not clear," she said, voice rough as gravel. "The rift's holding, but something's… wrong.""Wrong how?" Einstein croaked, wiping blood from his nose. The aetheric weaving he'd pulled off—snapping plasma threads to cage Echo-29—had left him hollow, like his bones were ash. Every move ached, and the plasma in his veins felt alive, watching him.Talen Vey crouched nearby, his tablet's fractal patterns twisting like a storm. His wild brown hair stuck to his forehead, his glasses reflecting the red glow of aetheric ichor pooling on the floor. "Cascade effect," he said, voice sharp, like he was solving a puzzle and the world was just a glitch. "Echo-29 wasn't solo. New signature—Echo-45. Nonexistent Physiology, Type 2, causality-breaker. It's unraveling time, maybe more."Kaelith drifted at the tunnel's edge, her form flickering like a bad TV signal, her void-eyes swallowing light. "The threads snap," she whispered, her voice a cold ripple in Einstein's skull. "The Nullpoint calls."Einstein's cut burned, and he heard her—Izarael, the weaver, her voice a knife slicing his thoughts: Do not falter. Weave the void. He gripped his toolbag, the weight of his wrench grounding him. "Time?" he said, voice cracking. "You're saying this thing's messing with time?""Exactly," Talen said, shoving his glasses up. "Echo-45's not just non-existent—it's erasing events, rewriting what was. If it stabilizes, it could wipe this node—Earth-Alpha—like it never existed."Zara's prism beeped, a red alert flashing. "It's in the old maintenance hub," she said, starting down a side passage. "We move, now. Voss, you good?""No," Einstein said, forcing his legs to follow. "But I'm here." I'm not dying in a subway, not today.The tunnels were a labyrinth, walls slick with moss and void-essence, a black ooze that whispered as they passed—You are nothing, you are all. Einstein's palm glowed, lighting their path, but every step felt like sinking into a nightmare. The Eidolon Cascade was out there, a web of worlds—Earth-Noir, where shadows birthed monsters; Earth-Aether, where plasma storms carved floating cities; Earth-Void, a shattered husk of absence. He was a mechanic, not a hero, but the plasma said otherwise, pulling him like a leash.Zara's voice cut through his haze. "The Aetheric Concord's been at this for years," she said, ducking under a pipe. Her tone was steady, but her eyes flicked to the shadows, like she'd seen too many things crawl out of them. "Echoes aren't random. They're tied to the Abyssal Dissolution—a force unmaking the Cascade. Echo Prime's its spearhead, and it's using Echo-45 to test us.""Test us?" Einstein muttered, his boots splashing in a puddle of aetheric ichor. "Feels more like it's trying to kill us."Zara's jaw tightened, and for a moment, her mask slipped. "It killed someone I cared about," she said, so quiet he almost missed it. "A year ago, Echo-12 took her. I wasn't fast enough."Einstein's throat closed. She's not just fighting for the world. "I'm sorry," he said, the words clumsy but real."Don't be," Zara said, shaking it off. "Just don't die on me, okay?"Talen snorted, his tablet flickering. "Sentimental later. Echo-45's signal's spiking. It's close."The tunnel opened into a massive chamber, an abandoned maintenance hub with rusted cranes, shattered pipes, and a ceiling lost in gloom. The air was thick, heavy with void-essence, and the floor pulsed with faint aetheric plasma, like the chamber was alive. Einstein's cut burned hotter, and he saw it—Echo-45, not a shape or a void, but a fracture, a jagged tear in reality where time bled. Images flickered in its depths: Einstein as a kid, stealing candy from a corner store; Zara laughing with a woman who wasn't there; Talen screaming in a place of fire and stars. It wasn't just non-existent; it was wrong, a Type 2 NEP that broke the rules of being. Its voice wasn't sound but a hunger: All ends in me.Zara raised her prism, light forming a cage, but Echo-45 twisted, the cage unraveling like thread. "It's breaking causality!" she shouted, dodging a flicker of aetheric ichor that burned the floor. "Talen, get me a lock!"Talen's tablet sparked, his equations collapsing. "It's too fast!" he yelled, his voice cracking. "It's pulling from the Noetic Shroud—beliefs, dreams, it's using them!"Kaelith moved, her form dissolving into mist, wrapping around the fracture. "Dreams hold," she hissed, her essence fraying as she pulled Echo-45 inward. Einstein's plasma surged, and he wove, threads snapping into a barrier, but the cost was brutal—his vision blackened, his heart stuttered, and blood dripped from his nose. I'm dying, he thought, but he held on, the fracture thrashing like a trapped animal.The chamber shook, cracks spreading across the walls, and aetheric wraiths emerged, their forms flickering like burned film—ghosts of plasma overload, their screams a silent wail. The threads fray, they whispered, and Einstein's cut flared, plasma sparking wildly. He saw flashes—himself falling, Zara bleeding, Talen gone—futures that weren't real, or maybe were. Hax magic, he realized, Echo-45's power rewriting reality's story."Voss, focus!" Zara yelled, slamming a new prism into the ground. A pulse of light stabilized the cage, but Echo-45 fought, time rippling. Einstein stumbled, caught in a loop—back in the junkyard, the Echo from that night lunging, then back here, the chamber spinning. It's in my head.Talen shouted, "Try void conjuring! Pull from the nothing!"Einstein didn't know how, but his cut burned, and he reached—not for plasma, but for the absence around Echo-45. The void-essence answered, a cold rush that made his bones scream, his memories flickering—his mom's laugh, his first beer, gone like smoke. I'm erasing myself, he thought, but he pushed, pulling the fracture inward. The effort was worse than weaving; his name felt distant, his body a ghost. I won't let it win.Kaelith's mist tightened, her voice a plea: "The Void Dreamer sees. Hold the spark."Zara's prism flared, sealing Echo-45 in a shimmering cage, but the chamber didn't stabilize. The cracks widened, aetheric ichor flooding the floor, and a new ripple formed—a second fracture, smaller but sharper, pulsing with Echo Prime's shadow. It's not over, Einstein realized, his vision swimming.The wraiths surged, their whispers a chorus: The veil is torn. Einstein wove again, plasma threads snapping, but a wraith grazed him, its touch burning like acid, leaving a scar of aetheric ichor on his arm. He screamed, falling to his knees, but Zara pulled him up, her prism sparking. "Stay with me!" she shouted, firing a beam that scattered the wraiths.Talen's tablet died, his face pale. "The Archetypal Crucible's leaking," he said, voice shaking. "Eidolons—Mikhail, Azryth—they're watching, but they're not helping."Kaelith re-formed, dimmer, her voice a warning: "The weaver's spark burns too bright."Einstein's cut pulsed, Izarael's voice cutting through: The veil is torn. Weave, or all falls. He staggered to his feet, the plasma fading, his body screaming. The second fracture pulsed, and he saw it—a glimpse of Earth-Noir, shadows moving, a city of teeth and eyes. It's spreading."We're out of time," Zara said, grabbing a crate from the chamber's edge—Concord tech, etched with mnestic protocols. "We seal this now, or Echo Prime takes the node."Einstein nodded, blood dripping from his chin. I'm not ready, but I'm not done. He wove one last time, plasma and void-essence merging, a dialetheistic cage that burned his soul. The fracture collapsed, sealed, but the chamber groaned, aetheric ichor rising like a tide.They ran, the tunnels shaking, wraiths screaming behind them. Einstein's vision blurred, but Zara's hand on his arm kept him moving. The Concord's van was outside, engine roaring, and they piled in, peeling away as the subway station trembled, a rift pulsing in its depths.Einstein slumped in the backseat, his cut still glowing, Izarael's voice a faint echo: The spark endures. The Eidolon Cascade was alive, and he was its pawn, caught in a war where every world was at stake. I'm in too deep, he thought, but the spark burned, and he wasn't letting it go out