The Cosmic Interstice – Between Realities
The golden strand pulsed like a living sun in Ethan's palm—warm, vibrant, yet thrumming with terrifying power. The void around him no longer felt silent. It sang. A low hum, ancient and resonant, echoing with the music of stars being born and dying in far-off galaxies. The Path Ethan had chosen was no longer one of the three… it was something new. Something unmeasured.
Balance watched, unmoving, yet even he—the embodiment of Equilibrium—felt a ripple in his being. "You've forged a path, Ethan Smith. Kael'dri. Crimson Emperor. Not walked one."
Ethan's eyes blazed with light. "I won't lose them. I won't be forgotten. I won't surrender who I am. I will return, and I will remake what was broken."
The golden thread split—fragments spiraling around him like twin galaxies—then collapsed into his chest with a flare of pure radiance. A heartbeat echoed from within.
Thud.
And then—another.
Thud.
A second rhythm. Not his own.