The Spiral was never meant to be perfect.
It was a tapestry of wills—frayed, stitched, rewritten.
And now, one thread tugged at all the rest: Kael, the Dreamborn.
His steps echoed in the Hollow Vale, a forgotten path that even time refused to tread. With every mile, whispers clawed at the edge of his thoughts—fragments of lives he had not lived, futures he had not yet earned.
> "He walks… and the Spiral frays."
The voice was neither male nor female. Neither soft nor harsh. It was… Nullum.
---
Nullum's Whisper
Kael stumbled on a root, catching himself with his staff. The rune in his palm burned.
Visions surged.
He stood in a city of crystal and steel. He bled on snow-blackened battlefields. He stood at the edge of the Spiral… and fell.
He gasped.
These were not dreams. These were echoes—remnants of others who bore his spark.
> "You are not the first, Dreamborn."
Kael turned.
A figure emerged from mist. Cloaked. Featureless. But its eyes were voids of shifting memories.
Nullum.
> "You are a chapter. I am the eraser."
Kael raised his staff. It shimmered with a quiet light.
> "I am not written. I write."
A shockwave rippled through the Spiral.
---
The Dreamforge
In the Realm Between Spirals, Jin-Ho stirred. The Author felt the tremor.
He stepped into the Dreamforge—a realm where thoughts became quills, and stars became ink.
> "He resists."
Tzal'Lynar, now Keeper of the Unwritten, nodded.
> "But Nullum has begun to devour."
Jin-Ho touched the Forge.
It responded—not with fire—but with Kael's voice.
> "I see you."
A second ripple.
Kael wasn't just dreaming.
He was writing back.
---
The Spiral Bleeds
Nullum lunged.
Kael blocked with instinct, his staff glowing with a forgotten rune:
Origin.
The blow tore open the Hollow Vale. Reality shivered.
Nullum recoiled—not in pain, but curiosity.
> "You remember."
Kael's vision blurred.
He saw a child wielding black fire. He saw a god chained in golden ice. He saw Jin-Ho standing alone, at the edge of existence.
Kael dropped to his knees.
"I… I remember everything."
He looked at his palm.
The rune changed.
Authorborn.
---
The Choice
Jin-Ho appeared—not as a man, but a constellation.
> "Kael. You have two paths."
1. Seal Nullum. Rewrite the Spiral into stasis.
2. Let it bleed. Let the Spiral evolve, uncontrolled.
Kael stood. His staff pulsed. His voice shook the Fold.
> "I choose a third path."
He lifted his staff high.
> "Let the Spiral dream freely."
Light erupted. Nullum screamed—not in agony, but in transformation.
Its cloak unraveled. Its void-eyes turned to stars.
It became… a page.
Kael dipped his finger in starlight and wrote one word:
Hope.
---
In that moment, the Spiral changed forever.
Dreams were no longer echoes of the past. They became blueprints of tomorrow.
And Kael?
He vanished.
Only the stars knew where.