Chapter 33: A Past Uncovered
The sterile clinic room was filled with a profound silence, a quiet weight that pressed down on Null. He knelt at Sooji's bedside, holding her hand, his own trembling. The beeping of the monitors was the only sound. Fang's words had not just told him a story; they had shattered the very core of his being, replacing the person he thought he was with a stranger. He was Soren, a boy who had lost everything.
The rage and grief that had consumed Null just moments ago now felt… hollow. It was a borrowed emotion. A memory of a life that wasn't his. He was angry for a person he couldn't remember, and his mind felt split in two. One half was Null—the quiet, balanced teenager. The other half was Soren—a boy consumed by the rage of his losses. He was on a balanced end, suspended between who he was and who he used to be, and it was a terrifying place to be.
"I don't... I don't feel it," Null finally whispered, his voice cracking. He looked down at his golden, cross-shaped eyes reflected in the clean surface of the bed railing. "I hear it, Fang. I hear the story, and I feel the pain in my chest. But it's not mine. I'm not Soren. I'm just Null. And Null has a life now."
"That is exactly why you have to accept it," Fang said, his human form still knelt beside him. "The sorrow and rage you feel... they are fragments of Soren. Fragments of your soul. Your memories were too much for you to handle, so your mind shattered. Those scattered pieces of your past, your abilities, your true identity... they are the Echoes."
Fang rose and gestured to himself. "And I am not one of them, Null." His words, once again, were a revelation. "I was a boss in the Wonder World you fell into. I am a formless shadow who can shapeshift into anything, but I am most comfortable in my dragon form. When your soul came to my world, shattered and broken, I saw it. I saw the profound grief that had destroyed you. I made a choice, a contract, to bind myself to you to save you. And in doing so, I became your guide, your guardian, and your friend. I am here because I chose to be."
Null looked from Fang to Kai and Ashley, their faces still confused. "This isn't fair to you guys. This is a family war, a destiny that isn't even mine."
"It is, though," Kai said, his voice firm. "You're our friend. You're our team. We're in this with you, Null, no matter who you were."
"And no matter who you'll become," Ashley added, her grip on his shoulder tightening. "You're still the person who saved us. You're still our leader."
Null felt the sincerity in their voices and the profound weight of their loyalty. He looked at Sooji's face, so peaceful and still, and he knew he had to do something. He had to be more than just a grieving boy. He had to be a warrior.
"Fang," Null said, his voice now filled with a new, quiet resolve. "I get it now. I am Soren. I am a son, a brother... a king. But I'm going to keep the name Null."
Kai looked at him, confused. "Why?"
"Because," Null explained, his voice low but firm. "I still have a lot of empty space to fill. I don't remember the man I was. I only know the things I've lived through. I'll be Null until I find all of the pieces of Soren. The rage of the man I was isn't going to save us, but the knowledge of the man I can be will."
He took a deep breath, and a new kind of resolve settled in his heart. "We have to figure out how to find them. The ones who are taking the others. The ones who did this to Sooji. We have to stop this 'harvest' before it's too late."
The war was no longer a distant conflict. It was a personal vendetta, a matter of family, loyalty, and redemption. And for the first time in a long time, Null felt a glimmer of hope. He had a past to fight for, a present to protect, and a future to change.
The clinic room, with its sterile white walls and the quiet, rhythmic beeping of the monitors, felt more like a cage than a sanctuary. Null knelt at Sooji's bedside, his hand still gently holding the tiny, shimmering white dragon, Lumina. The creature was a fragile beacon of life, its form flickering with the profound exhaustion it was fighting to contain. Null's golden, cross-shaped eyes were fixed on the dragon, his heart a battlefield of relief and renewed despair.
His joy at seeing the tiny dragon and knowing Sooji was still "alive" was a sharp, brilliant light. But the little dragon's warning—that its light was slowly poisoning Sooji's body—was a chilling reminder that the enemy's attack was a wound that would fester. The victory over Silas was a false one; they had won the battle, but were losing the war.
A ripple of shadow solidified into Fang's human form, and the air grew heavy with his presence. He wasn't looking at Null, but at the tiny dragon in his hand. His expression was a familiar mask of grim determination.
"We have to talk," Fang said, his voice low and serious. "You have a new mission. A new purpose."
Null didn't move. He simply looked up, his gaze intense. "What is it?"
"You are not alone, Null," Fang began. "The power you wield, the Prime Stones, they are part of a greater whole. This war is not just about you, or your family, or even this city. It is a cosmic conflict, a clash of primordial forces. There are ten of you in total. Ten people in this city who hold a power that could either save this world or destroy it. You, Sooji, and Ashley are three of them. The Stone King is aware of this. And if he gets all ten stones, you are destined to fail. The entire world is."
The weight of this new revelation was immense. Null had always felt alone in his power, but the thought of seven others, nine unknown individuals, sharing his burden was both a comfort and a terror.
As if to confirm his words, the faint glow emanating from Sooji's chest intensified. Lumina, the little white dragon, seemed to be fighting to stay afloat, its form flickering violently as it struggled to communicate. A tired, almost breathless whisper echoed directly into Null's mind. "I am... so tired... Null... I am protecting her... her soul is... sleeping... But her body... it is taking on my light... it is too much... she will... have problems... breathing... if I... do not get out." The tiny dragon's head drooped, its form barely a solid wisp of light.
Null felt a powerful wave of grief and hope. He reached out and gently touched the shimmering creature. It settled into his palm, a feather-light warmth. "Thank you," he whispered. "Rest. We will find a way to help you both."
"She will be stable for a time," Fang said, his voice cutting through the emotional moment, a pragmatic anchor in the sea of Null's emotions. "But her light is poisoning her body. It is a slow death. We must find a way to heal her, but that is a different problem for a different day. Right now, we must focus on the ones we can still fight."
As if to demonstrate his point, Fang's shadow began to stretch and warp. It coalesced in the air, forming a large, shimmering white surface—a whiteboard made of pure energy. On the surface, ten glowing orbs of various colors appeared, each representing a Prime Stone. Null felt a faint, almost imperceptible pull from each of them, a silent hum of recognition.
"The Prime Stones are powerful, but they are also shadows, echoes of a larger power," Fang explained, his voice now a low rumble. "You are the center of it, the only one who can truly sense them. But the other Prime Stones are scattered. And they are hidden from my senses."
He pointed to the orbs on the whiteboard, and as he spoke, chilling words appeared beside them. "They are not like us. We are monsters. And their power is not like ours." His voice dropped even lower. "They are powerful, but their power is death. They are just people, but they are destroyers. They are not fighters, they are killers. They are lost... lost from the good within them." The whiteboard pulsed with the unsettling words.
Null's blood ran cold. He had assumed he was an anomaly, corrupted by a god, a unique existence. But here were others, just like him, but worse. They weren't heroes. They were weapons.
"The Stone King's vanguard was a test run. He wasn't after power; he was after data. He was identifying the lesser individuals in this city. He knows we exist now, and he's going to find the others before we can."
The shadows on the whiteboard shifted, and symbols began to appear. One orb glowed brightly and moved towards a symbol of a school. "One is at your school," the shadowy whiteboard revealed. "He is close. But the others are all over the city. A flicker of light in a silent library. A whisper of darkness in a bustling market. A cold presence near the city's main reservoir. It is a terrifying puzzle, and it is up to you to solve it."
The weight of the new mission settled on Null's shoulders. The war was no longer just about defeating a king. It was about saving people, about finding his family, and about protecting the world. And it was all on him. He looked from Kai to Ashley, their faces a mix of fear and resolve. They were in this with him, no matter what.
"So," Null said, his voice stronger now, no longer a hollow whisper but a command. "One is at our school. We start there. Tomorrow."
They had a plan, a mission, and for the first time in a long time, Null felt a glimmer of hope. He had a past to fight for, a present to protect, and a future to change. The war had begun, but so had the fight for a better future.
End of chapter 43
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