Location: Vire-Laravé — Sanctuary of Folded Time
Time: [Cycle 4 : 19:02 : Local Spacial Drift]
Temperature: Exactly "I'm-Starving-But-Too-Scared-To-Steal-A-Biscuit" degrees
Ren walked cautiously into the city.
Every step was squishy-glowy and made that awkward squelch sound like walking on sentient pudding. But the people — if you could call them people — didn't seem to notice him.
And that was good.
Because he had absolutely no money, no idea what counted as food here, and a gnawing stomach that was starting to write strongly worded letters to his brain.
"Okay," he muttered, "Rule number one: don't touch anything that breathes in reverse. Rule two: pretend you belong here. Rule three: no licking floating fruit unless someone else does it first."
FROST:
"Look at you. Space-hobo with boundaries. Proud of you."
BLAZE:
"For now. Wait until he starts trying to trade sarcasm for soup."
The streets were unnervingly beautiful — curved walkways formed from metallic sand, glowing vines wrapped around buildings like neon ivy, and storefronts floated mid-air with rotating menus written in upside-down time-glyphs.
It all felt… peaceful.
For now.
Until he heard it.
💥 The Sound of Trouble™
A sharp thump.
Then another.
Followed by the universal sound of "SOMEBODY SAVE ME."
Ren turned down a side alley flanked by purple walls that smelled like lavender and voltage.
He saw them. Three… things.
Bullies.
If bullies had tentacles, shark teeth, and discount rave fashion.
Bully #1: Had a reptilian snout, four arms, glowing yellow gums, and wore a crop top that said "EAT ORB, BITCH."
Bully #2: Looked like a beetle-human hybrid with jagged armor plates and really unfortunate body odor.
Bully #3: Just a floating eyeball with legs. No explanation. Still terrifying.
They surrounded a kid who barely looked older than Mina — Ren's little sister — if she was made of starlight and heartbreak.
The kid had:
Silver hair with cosmic streaksWide violet eyes that glowed softlyA cloak that looked like it was woven from liquid nightAnd a tiny crystal orb hovering near their hand, shivering like it was scared too
"C'mere, sparkle brat," the reptile bully growled. "Your mana's worth plenty on the black circuit."
The beetle thing laughed like a clogged blender.
"Yeah. Let's drain the little driftling before someone notices. Who's gonna care about you kid?"
Ren blinked.
Paused.
Looked down at himself.
"Okay, I have no weapons, no money, no backup, and my brain still feels like it got slow-roasted by the Drift…"
He sighed.
"...So of course I'm gonna try to help."
CORE (flatly):
"You've got a death wish powered by guilt and poor decision-making."
FROST:
"He's gonna fight a demon centipede with a stick, isn't he?"
BLAZE:
"He is the stick."
🥊 The Attempt at Heroism™
Ren picked up the nearest object — a glowing rock, vaguely breadstick-shaped — and stepped out.
"Hey! Ugly bastards!"
The bullies turned.
Even the floating eyeball rotated and somehow glared.
"Why don't you back off before you regret?"
A beat.
The reptile grinned, fangs gleaming.
"And who the fuck are you?"
"Someone with nothing left to lose… except the urge to not punt you in the crotch dimension."
—the three bullies didn't blink.
They laugh.
And suddenly they went full aggressive mode, like someone just smacked the last neuron in their heads with a spiked energy drink.
Reptile-Crop-Top lunged with all four arms.
Beetle-Boi let out a screech that broke three laws of acoustics.
Eyeball-on-Legs charged like a pissed-off bowling ball.
"Shitshitshit—"
But before contact—
🌀 Time. Stopped.
Everything around Ren froze in mid-chaos.
The monsters hung mid-lunge.
Dust particles sparkled in the air like paused fireworks.
Even the floating crystal near the kid stilled, held in the breathless hush of the moment.
CORE (appearing beside him, arms crossed, eyes glowing like starlight dipped in sarcasm):
"Well. That escalated. As expected."
"D-did you just freeze time?"
CORE:
"No, I just convinced it to take a smoke break. Listen, you soft-skulled tragedy magnet — we need to give you a weapon. Hold still."
She raised her hand, and the air hummed.
Particles began condensing in front of him — invisible currents folding, compressing, tightening.
A shape formed — not metal, but a rod forged from accelerated particles, bound by gravity threads and raw will.
It didn't shine.
It didn't glow.
It rippled.
And it was utterly invisible to anyone without Core-tier perception.
"What is this?" Ren whispered, grasping it. It vibrated faintly, like it wanted to fight.
CORE:
"Aether-forged impact vector. Fancy talk for: 'beat them with God's broomstick.'"
She tapped the space in front of her.
"Showtime." And she disappear.
🕒 Time: Unfreezes.
The moment roared back. The screech of the beetle, the snarl of the reptile, the rolling death-eyeball — all slammed forward—
—and Ren moved.
He wasn't fast.
But the rod in his hands knew how to move.
He ducked the first swipe, pivoted, and slammed the rod into Reptile's chest.
It looked like nothing connected — but the impact? Immediate. The air around the reptile warped and launched him across the alley like he'd been roundhouse-kicked by a thunderstorm.
BLAZE (from his left eye):
"Nice. Hit them like they owe you rent."
FROST (from his right):
"Incoming from above! Move, twinkle-toes!"
Ren rolled aside as Beetle-Boi dove at him, mandibles snapping.
He swept the rod low — it passed through the bug's legs like air — but then a pressure wave exploded, knocking Beetle clean off his feet.
Eyeball-on-Legs bounced toward him like a rejected Pokémon.
Ren turned and braced—
BLAZE:
"Allow me."
His left eye flashed crimson — a burst of heat pulsed out, warping the space just in front of him.
The eyeball monster cooked midair, screeching as its momentum fizzled out like a toaster in the rain.
FROST (cheerfully):
"Finishing touch!"
His right eye flashed icy blue — the heatwave immediately countered by a snap-freeze.
The eyeball slammed into the ground and skidded to a stop, frostbitten and fried.
Ren stood there panting, still holding the invisible rod.
Dust settled. The monsters groaned. None of them got back up.
"Holy shit. I just—"
CORE:
"You did not suck. Proud of you, stickboy."
The kid behind him peeked out from behind a floating trash bin and whispered, wide-eyed:
"That was… amazing."
Ren turned and offered his hand.
"Hey. I'm Ren. Earth's ambassador of awkward hero moments."
The kid took his hand, smiling softly.
"I'm Lira. And I think you just started something big."
The world had gone strangely quiet after the fight.
Ren was still holding his invisible God-stick (which, by the way, still rippled like a vibrating guilt sword), while Lira adjusted her oversized hood and inspected the glowing scuffs on her cloak like they were battle medals.
And deep inside Ren's skull, things got weird. Not because of floating cities or compressed girls or magical after-school brawls.
But because Blaze — yes, that grumpy, lava-tempered, tsundere firestorm in his left eye — spoke up softly.
BLAZE (low, almost too casual):
"You did good."
Ren blinked.
"Wait, what?"
BLAZE (clearing her throat):
**"I said. You. Did. Good. You saved a kid. You didn't flinch. You risked yourself and… y'know. That was... decent. Admirable."
FROST (cackling in stereo):
"OHHHHHHH MY GOD. Blaze blushed. Blaze has entered soft mode. CODE RED."
CORE (mock-gasp):
"Somebody write this down. Day 4 of Spacial Drift: Blaze admits Ren has emotions. Historians will weep."
BLAZE (growling):
"I will incinerate both of you. Don't test me. This moment never happened. Archive deleted."
FROST:
"Nope. I'm tattooing it on a moon. 'You did good.' In big flaming letters."
Time: [Cycle 4 : 19:27 : Local Spacial Drift]
Emotional State: "Everything hurts but I look cool doing it"
The alley was quiet now.
The eyeball was out cold.
The beetle and lizard-lad were groaning like they just lost a boss raid.
Ren leaned against a floating brick and tried not to pass out.
The girl — Lira — sat beside him, holding the faintly pulsing crystal that still floated near her like a loyal pet or a sentient disco ball.
She looked up at him, expression soft but cautious.
"Why'd you help me?"
Ren blinked.
"Because you were outnumbered, cornered, and had that look. The one that says, 'Help me or I'm gonna bite someone and regret it later.'"
"But you don't even know me."
"Doesn't matter," Ren muttered, wiping invisible sweat. "Trouble's universal. And so is being tired of watching good people get steamrolled."
She stared at him a moment longer. Then sighed.
"You shouldn't have helped me. But... thanks."
She tucked her legs under her and stared up at the fractured sky. The overhead crystals shimmered, casting soft light onto her silver hair.
"I used to be someone important here," she began. "A long time ago. Before things... glitched."
Ren raised a brow. "What, you got demoted from Princess of Sparkle City to 'bullied alley gremlin'?"
Lira smiled faintly.
"Something like that. I'm not really a kid."
Ren paused mid-eye rub. "...What now?"
"My body was... compressed."
"Compressed. Like a .zip file?"
"No, like temporally restructured through phase-lock magic. I was caught in a collapse event. A Drift Core exploded. My aging and size desynced from my actual self."
She held up the floating crystal.
"This was my stabilizer. It's cracked now. Without it... well, I stay like this. Small. Weak. People forget who I was."
Ren stared at her.
"So let me get this straight. You're not 12. You're just stuck on baby-mode because some mystical time bomb folded your physical timeline like a sad burrito."
"Exactly."
FROST (in Ren's head):
"God, I love this dimension."
BLAZE:
"Time compression? I swear, if she turns into a dragon later I'm out."
CORE (calmly):
"Cross-referencing phase-core collapses from Sector-Ω9. Temporal stunting is rare but possible. Her claim is... credible."
Ren turned back to Lira, stunned.
"So, uh... what now?"
Lira stood, brushed glowing dirt off her cloak, and tucked her cracked stabilizer back into its pocket.
"Now? You either forget me, like everyone else... or you help me find the last fragment. So I can fix this."
Ren's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Let me guess. That last fragment... it wouldn't happen to be related to the final Dimensional Core?"
She smiled.
"Bingo."