Zyphora Prime was healing.
Slowly.
Painfully.
The city's living structures knit themselves back together, glowing veins of energy reconnecting where reality had been torn apart. But beneath the surface, fear spread faster than any repair system.
Because Dr. Caelum had proven something terrifying.
Gods could be challenged.
Alex stood on a high platform overlooking the city, arms resting on the translucent railing. The Core inside him felt… quieter. Not weaker—controlled. As if it were waiting for permission instead of screaming for release.
"That scares me," Alex muttered.
Lyra stood a few steps behind him, watching silently.
"What does?" she asked.
Alex didn't turn. "That it's listening now."
Lyra's breath caught for just a second.
"That's not fear," she said carefully. "That's growth."
Alex shook his head. "Or manipulation."
Lyra had no answer to that.
The council chamber of Zyphora Prime was unlike any room Alex had seen before. It existed in layers—multiple realities overlapping in the same space. Some council members appeared solid, others semi-transparent, their true forms unable to fully manifest in one timeline.
Archon Veyl floated at the center, its many eyes focused on Alex.
"You should not still be alive," Veyl said bluntly.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Good to see diplomacy survived the apocalypse."
A ripple of murmurs passed through the chamber.
Lyra stiffened beside him. "He saved your city."
"Temporarily," Veyl replied. "By drawing more attention to it than ever before."
Alex stepped forward. "Then let me leave."
Silence.
Veyl studied him. "You do not leave storms. You survive them."
Alex clenched his jaw. "Then help me control it."
Another voice joined the chamber.
"You won't find that help here."
A figure emerged from the overlapping layers—humanoid, tall, wrapped in robes that shimmered like fractured glass. Its face was partially obscured, but its eyes glowed a deep emerald.
Lyra inhaled sharply.
"Kael Ardyn," she whispered.
Alex glanced at her. "Friend or problem?"
Lyra hesitated. "Both."
Kael inclined his head toward Alex. "The Multiverse Core. I was wondering which version of you would arrive this time."
Alex felt a chill. "You know me?"
Kael smiled faintly. "I have died because of you. I have lived because of you. I have followed you across six collapses."
Alex swallowed. "That's… unsettling."
Kael's gaze sharpened. "I am a Stitcher—one who repairs fractures between realities. My kind exists to undo damage caused by beings like you."
The chamber tensed.
"You want to kill him," Veyl said.
"No," Kael replied calmly. "If I wanted that, he would already be gone."
Alex met Kael's eyes. "Then what do you want?"
"To teach you," Kael said. "At a cost."
They met in a smaller chamber—isolated, shielded from council surveillance.
Lyra crossed her arms. "You can't be trusted."
Kael nodded. "True. Neither can he."
Alex sighed. "This is going well."
Kael turned to Alex. "You want control. Not suppression. Not domination. Balance."
Alex nodded slowly.
Kael stepped closer. "Then understand this—control means sacrifice. Every stabilization you perform will cost you something personal."
Alex frowned. "What kind of sacrifice?"
Kael's eyes softened, just a little. "Memories. Emotions. Attachments."
Lyra stiffened. "No."
Alex turned to her. "You knew this already, didn't you?"
Lyra looked away.
"Yes," she whispered.
Alex felt something crack inside his chest. "So every time I save a world—"
"You lose a piece of yourself," Kael finished. "That is why the last Core became what he was. Power without memory becomes cruelty."
Alex sat down heavily.
"So the more good I do… the less human I become."
Kael nodded. "Unless you anchor yourself."
Alex looked up. "How?"
Kael's gaze flicked to Lyra.
"With someone who remembers you," Kael said. "When you forget."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Lyra's voice trembled. "I can't be that anchor."
Alex frowned. "Why not?"
Because Lyra already knew the answer.
Because the order still burned in her mind.
FINAL PROTOCOL AUTHORIZED.
Training resumed—different from before.
Kael guided Alex not to the Core itself, but to the spaces between threads. Places where universes brushed against each other but did not merge.
"Stitching," Kael explained, "is not forcing reality to obey. It's convincing it to stay."
Alex focused, sweat forming on his brow as he reached outward gently.
A fractured timeline stabilized.
Alex gasped—and staggered.
Lyra caught him instinctively.
"What happened?" she asked.
Alex blinked slowly. "I… forgot something."
Lyra's heart skipped. "What?"
Alex searched his mind—and frowned. "My mother's face."
Silence fell.
Kael closed his eyes. "The cost has begun."
Lyra's hands shook.
Alex laughed weakly. "That's okay. I barely remembered her anyway."
But Lyra could see the lie.
She turned away, fighting the tears burning her eyes.
Elsewhere.
The Void Empress watched the training through fractured reflections.
"So," she mused, "they teach him restraint."
A shadowed figure knelt before her. "Shall we intervene, my queen?"
"Yes," she said softly. "Send the reminder."
It came without warning.
The chamber lights dimmed.
Reality twisted.
Alex felt the Core recoil violently.
Lyra cried out, clutching her head as a familiar voice flooded her mind.
"DAUGHTER."
Lyra fell to her knees.
Alex rushed to her side. "Lyra!"
Her eyes glowed black for a heartbeat.
Then silver again.
"She's here," Lyra whispered in terror. "My mother."
Kael swore under his breath. "Void intrusion."
The air split open, revealing a figure wrapped in living darkness.
The Void Empress stepped through.
She was beautiful.
Terrifyingly so.
Her gaze fixed on Alex—and she smiled.
"There you are," she said warmly. "The boy who keeps breaking my toys."
Alex stood, every instinct screaming danger. "What do you want?"
The Void Empress glanced at Lyra. "I came to collect what's mine."
Lyra shook her head. "I won't go back."
The Void Empress sighed. "You always say that."
She looked back at Alex. "Do you know what she was created for?"
Alex's fists clenched. "She's not a thing."
The Void Empress laughed softly. "Neither are storms. But they are still weapons."
Lyra screamed. "Stop!"
The Void Empress's eyes hardened. "Choose, child."
The room froze.
"Either you complete the Final Protocol," the Void Empress said, "or I will."
Alex turned sharply to Lyra. "What does that mean?"
Lyra was crying now.
"It means," she whispered, "if I don't kill you… she will destroy an entire sector to force me to."
Alex felt sick.
Kael stepped forward. "Threatening genocide is not negotiation."
The Void Empress smiled. "It's leverage."
Alex looked at Lyra.
At her shaking hands.
At her terror.
And he made a decision.
"Take me," Alex said.
Lyra screamed his name.
The Void Empress raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
Alex continued, voice steady despite the fear crushing him. "Leave Zyphora Prime. Leave Lyra. I'll come willingly."
Lyra grabbed his arm. "No!"
Kael shouted, "Alex, don't—!"
The Void Empress studied Alex for a long moment.
Then she smiled wider.
"Oh," she said. "You really are different this time."
She snapped her fingers.
Reality shattered.
Alex felt himself being pulled away.
Lyra reached for him, screaming.
Their fingers brushed—
And the Core flared violently.
Alex vanished.
The chamber was left in ruins.
Lyra collapsed, sobbing.
Kael stared at the empty space.
"Well," he said grimly. "That's new."
Far away, in a realm made of living shadow, Alex opened his eyes.
The Void Empress stood before him.
"Welcome," she said softly.
"To the VoidVerse."
END OF CHAPTER 6
NEXT CHAPTER TEASE:
Alex faces the darkest realm of the multiverse… and Lyra must decide whether to betray everything to save him.