The wind was no longer just air.
It whispered in foreign tongues, carrying syllables lost to decayed centuries, rustling through the obsidian grass of the Hollow Wastes like a living hymn. Null walked without urgency, yet each step sent cracks through the brittle soil beneath him—like time itself refused to hold weight anymore.
The silence that followed him was not peaceful. It was observant.
A sky without stars loomed above. Only the strange, bleeding moon—shaped like an incomplete hourglass—glowed faintly, as if unsure whether it was morning or night.
Then it appeared.
A colossal ribcage, half-buried under collapsed time-sand, jutted out like the skeleton of a dead deity. Each rib was a spire, and in the middle lay a pit—dark, humming, pulsing. The moment Null laid eyes on it, his steps halted.
A deep vibration rolled through the void.
[You have discovered a Lost Epochal Site: The Cradle of Time.]
[Warning: Temporal Decay in effect. Mental interference: Medium.]
He didn't move. His eyes locked on the pit.
A familiar sensation crept through his spine. Not fear.
Recognition.
The pit pulsed again—and the echo struck his chest like thunder.
[Temporal Scar Detected: Unknown Chrono Signature Matches Subject 'Null.']
[Analyzing...]
[Echo Core Fragment Found.]
His heart shouldn't beat.
But it did.
It slammed once, violently—reminding him he was still... something.
He descended the slope into the Cradle. The spongy ground was warm, breathing slightly, as if the graveyard of time still dreamed.
With each step, hallucinations clawed at the corners of his vision.
A child laughing beneath falling stars.
A battlefield made of broken watches and bleeding clocks.
A woman's hand reaching through a cracked hourglass—calling his name, though the sound didn't exist anymore.
[Mental Stability Dropping... 92% → 89% → 85%]
"Shut up," he muttered to the system.
But the system was silent now.
Not out of obedience.
It was scared.
At the center of the pit stood a pedestal—simple, stone, older than time's laws. Floating above it was a shard. A small, translucent triangle, pulsating gently.
Null reached out.
The moment his fingers touched it, the world collapsed inward.
Time didn't break.
It bled.
Memories that weren't his flooded him.
He saw himself—draped in golden armor, leading Sovereigns into war.
He saw himself—on his knees, stripped of power, bound by chains made of screams.
He saw himself—clutching a child's corpse, eyes blank, soul shattered.
And then... nothing.
Everything vanished in a singular heartbeat.
Null blinked.
He was still in the pit.
Still alive.
But something inside him had changed.
The shard now floated calmly in his palm, embedding itself into his forearm like a brand.
[You have absorbed Echo Core Fragment: Timeline Alpha-3.]
[New Ability Unlocked – Hollow Reversal.]
[Skill Description: Once per cycle, rewind your physical form by 6 seconds. Caution: Does not affect external causality.]
[System Integration in Progress...]
[Your Presence has been Noticed.]
That last line wasn't comforting.
It wasn't bold like the others.
It felt... personal.
The sky above flickered. For just a second, the bleeding moon vanished—and another presence stirred far beyond the stars.
Null clenched his fist.
"I'm ready," he whispered, though no one had asked the question.
And he turned.
From the edge of the pit, standing silently in black ceremonial armor, was Zeruth.
The Laughing Sovereign didn't laugh.
He just smiled. And it was the worst thing Null had ever seen.
"Well," Zeruth said, voice echoing across a thousand lifetimes. "You found it. Bravo."
Null's fingers flexed. The new skill hadn't fully integrated yet. His body wasn't ready. His soul was raw.
But he stepped forward anyway.
"This isn't your grave, Zeruth," Null said calmly.
Zeruth tilted his head. "Oh? Then why does it smell like you've already died here once?"
Their eyes locked.
The Hollow Sovereign and the Laughing One.
Both monsters born from different ends of time.
The wind stopped.
The pit went silent.
And the next war didn't begin with violence.
It began with a single breath.