— A fragment is not what they hold, but what they are.
The cave had gone quiet, the echoes of the storm fading like a memory. The only light came from the faint electric residue still flickering across the stone, painting fragments of glow along the jagged walls.
Shawn sat on a ledge, fingers brushing the Thunder Core. Its surface pulsed dimly, but his thoughts were elsewhere—lost in the questions no one had answered. He glanced toward Ranzi and finally spoke, voice low and uncertain.
"You said before... the Central Core is the key. But we've already found five. And there were guardians. They all had Cores... didn't they?"
Ranzi stood slowly, his gaze fixed on the shadows beyond the flickering light. His voice was calm—measured, deliberate, as if he had waited long to speak this truth.
"They didn't hold the real Cores," he said. "Only fragments. And they weren't true wielders. They were what we call... Soul Kin."
Shawn frowned. "Soul Kin? You mean they weren't chosen ones?"
Ranzi turned to look at him, his eyes steady.
"They were connected to the Cores through resonance—through something deeper than blood. Soul Kin are a kind of lineage, not by flesh, but by spirit. They don't possess the Core. They respond to it."
Lindsay leaned forward, catching on. "It's like an echo of affinity—something passed down, even if no one remembers why. We saw something about that in the Lost Records."
Ranzi nodded. "The power of the Core has never belonged to individuals. It has emerged across different times, in different forms... but always in pieces. No one has ever held the whole."
Shawn spoke quietly, as if the truth was beginning to shape itself: "Because... the Core was already broken."
"Yes," Ranzi replied. "Long ago. Crushed and scattered. Every ruling power that feared it—tried to suppress it, to seal it away. They didn't destroy the Core. They shattered it. Time did the rest."
Shawn's eyes widened. "Wait—so even the ones we've seen... the ones that are sealed... those are just fragments too?"
Ranzi's voice was firm. "They are. None of them is complete."
A long silence fell.
Then, as if reading the next question in Shawn's mind, Ranzi glanced at the Thunder Core embedded near Shawn's chest—still dimly glowing.
"Even your Thunder Core," he said quietly, "is just one part of a greater whole. It's a fragment too."
Shawn stiffened. "But then... why me? Why was I able to activate it?"
Ranzi looked him in the eye. "Because of who you are. You're not just connected to a fragment. Your other identity... determines your role. You're not just a seeker of Cores, Shawn. You're the one meant to gather them."
Shawn slowly sat upright, his tone quieter now, but clearer. "So everything we've been doing—tracking, recovering—was it... all wrong?"
Ranzi gave a solemn nod. "You were never meant to find the Core. You were meant to—summon it."
Shawn froze.
"Central Core isn't a thing to be retrieved," Ranzi continued. "It's a force. A kind of gravitational call. Only it can bring all the fragments—back together."
Silence fell again, heavier this time, not of confusion, but of revelation.
Shawn's mind drifted, unbidden, to Lucy—and the lines she had once recited in a voice full of mystery and warning:
Thread through silence, deep and wide,
Names forgotten, souls abide.
Not by blood, nor wound of time,
But Soul Kin stir to read the sign.
Nine the steps, and nine the Core—
Shadow flares where light burned before.
At Rift's Bridge, the Loop shall end—
Call my name, and time shall bend.
He had dismissed them then as one of Lucy's cryptic verses, lovely but elusive.
Now... they rang with eerie clarity.
"She knew," he whispered to himself. "She always knew."
And perhaps, he thought, she still knows more than any of them realize.
A sudden voice echoed down the tunnel, sharp and clear:
"Captain Lindsay! We've come to extract you. Orders from the Elder himself!"
Shawn and Ranzi turned toward the entrance. Lindsay had already raised her rifle out of habit, but lowered it a beat later when she recognized the uniforms — the CP-Hub National Guard.
Within minutes, they were out of the cavern, ascending into the highland wind and mist. A shuttle was waiting on the ridge, half-camouflaged under a cloak of synthetic moss. As they boarded, Ranzi cast one last glance back at the fissure they'd just emerged from — the ancient, fractured heart of forgotten truths.
The journey to X-Red Base was brief and silent. As they passed through layers of security, guards saluted Lindsay and gave curious looks at Ranzi and Shawn.
Inside the command chamber, Elder Lee was waiting.
He rose as they entered. "Ranzi. You've returned."
Ranzi bowed slightly. "With deeper knowledge... and heavier questions."
Lee gestured them to sit. "Good. You'll need both."
He looked at Shawn, his eyes lingering on the faint glow of the Thunder Core shard beneath Shawn's jacket. Then he turned to Ranzi, his tone shifting to business.
"The vote still stands. You are now the Grand Hierophant of the Meta Origin Society."
Ranzi didn't smile. "It also raises the stakes."
Lee nodded. "Which is why you must prepare for your next move."
A pause hung in the air. Then Lee continued:
"It's time. Chairman Da has agreed to a private audience. He hasn't spoken directly to me in months—but the moment I mentioned the Central Core... he listened."
Ranzi's gaze darkened. "So the original plan holds."
"It does," Lee affirmed. "And now, we begin to execute. You'll meet him—with Shawn. He's not just a wielder of a fragment… he's the Key to them all."
Shawn felt their stares converge on him. The Thunder Core shard at his chest pulsed — subtly but unmistakably — not in resistance, but in recognition. As if answering not the moment, but the destiny unfolding before them.
He looked up, his mind already chasing possibilities, colliding with implications too vast to name. The path was shifting — not toward searching, but toward summoning.
And now, it was clear:
The Central Core still lay hidden.
Kyng, the Grand Hierophant of Kepra's Meta-Origin Sect, knew where.
The plan to trade it for Da's alliance had once been theirs. But had it changed?
Only one way to know. It was time to reach across the stars and speak with Kyng.