Chapter 14: The Storm Below Silence*
*Year: 3650 BC*
It had been eighty-five years since Pluto walked away from the Hollow Throne, and Earth hadn't been the same since. The sands of the north trembled with shifting Deviant routes. Formerly dormant regions stirred with seismic unrest. Somewhere beneath the crust of reality, a fracture had formed. Not a crack in stone—one in fate.
But Pluto had vanished from the north.
His cloak now flowed with the salty wind of the far eastern coasts, where craggy cliffs kissed oceans untouched by civilization. Here, there were no temples, no thrones—only wild nature. Untamed. Clean.
He didn't come for peace.
He came because the *System* brought him here.
*[Alert: World-Bound Signature Detected]*
- Category: Unknown
- Origin: Pre-Celestial
- Location: Coastal Abyss – Depth 900m
*System Analysis: Incomplete*
*Recommendation: Investigate*
Pluto stood at the edge of a stone ledge, silver eyes reflecting the crashing waves far below. The salt didn't touch him. The cold didn't move him.
He'd lived through volcanic winters, celestial storms, and ancient wars. This… was gentle.
But what lay beneath wasn't.
With a single step, he walked off the cliff.
He didn't fall—he *descended*. Gravity bent softly around him, shaped by his adaptive field. His boots touched the surface of the ocean without ripple. Then he sank slowly into its depths, body adjusting, lungs converting water into raw energy, vision shifting to see across the darkness.
By the time he reached 900 meters deep, the world had gone silent. Black. Not even fish stirred.
But something else did.
*[Environmental Alert: Artificial Pressure Detected – Radius 2 km]*
*Anomaly: Spatial Compression Field*
*Stability Rating: C-*
There was a dome of light ahead—faint, golden, shifting like oil on water. As Pluto neared it, the current ceased entirely. Time felt… slower.
He stepped through.
It wasn't water anymore.
Inside the dome was *air*—but not Earth's air. The scent was different. Metallic. Sharp.
He stood inside what looked like a cavern carved into coral and glass, and at its center sat a *machine*—ancient, alien, humming softly like it had waited millennia for him.
He approached. The System pulsed.
*[Artifact Identified: Mnemonic Archive Core (Fragmented)]*
*Estimated Age: Pre-Celestial Era*
*Function: Knowledge Vault*
*Warning: Security Mechanisms Detected]*
Pluto raised a hand.
The machine responded—not violently, but curiously.
Lines of light curled around his fingers, syncing. Downloading.
Then it spoke—not aloud, but directly into his mind.
*"You walk without chain, without time, without God. You are not built… but becoming."*
Pluto's jaw tightened.
"Who created you?" he asked.
"Not a who. A 'when,'" it replied.
A pulse surged through him, and visions exploded across his mind—ancient worlds burning, beings of light building monoliths, and entities not born, but written into existence.
He fell to one knee.
The cavern trembled.
*[Alert: Intrusion Detected – Spatial Anchor Broken]*
*Hostile Force Approaching | 3 Targets | Class: Unknown*
He rose.
"Come, then."
The cavern's shimmer pulsed red as reality began to *shatter inward*—not like broken glass, but like a lens warping under pressure. From the edge of the dome, *three figures* stepped through the fracture. Their presence was oppressive, cold, and unnatural.
They weren't Deviants.
They weren't Eternals.
They weren't even bound to the world.
Pluto turned toward them slowly.
*System Interface Blazed.*
*[Uncatalogued Species Detected]*
- Classification: Null-Origin Sentience
- Codename: The Veiled
- Description: Transdimensional reapers—cleansers of forbidden memory
- Status: Hostile
*Estimated Combat Rating: Omega Prime*
*Threat Priority: Maximum*
The tallest of the three stepped forward. Its face was smooth, silver, featureless. Its body shifted like smoke held in bone.
"You are in possession of memory not meant for continuity," it said.
Pluto's voice was low, almost emotionless. "Whose memory?"
The second figure answered, voice feminine but mechanical. "One lost in the fracture between cycles. Memory before gods. Before Deviants. Before… your kind."
The third tilted its head. "You must be cleansed."
Pluto smiled slightly. "Try."
They came at him in a blink—reality around them warping as if obeying their will. The cavern twisted, angles folding inward. Time bent.
But Pluto's feet didn't move.
His body shimmered.
And the *Self-Existence Core* activated.
*[Status: Immutable]*
*[Temporal Influence: Nullified]*
*[Dimensional Overwrite: Rejected]*
The first strike came—a blade formed from condensed memory, designed to erase from history. Pluto caught it with one hand.
It fizzled. The blade cracked.
The Veiled hesitated. They weren't used to resistance.
Pluto spoke, calmly. "You are not part of this cycle. Neither am I. That doesn't mean I'll kneel."
He moved. Faster than light. Faster than thought.
His fist slammed into the first entity, fracturing its incorporeal form. The System absorbed its data immediately.
*[New Trait Acquired: Null-State Vision – Enables detection of interdimensional interference]*
The other two swarmed him. One screamed in a thousand forgotten languages. The cavern cracked, but Pluto adapted again, forming a kinetic shield from pure force feedback. Every time he took a hit, the shield grew stronger, denser.
The second entity collapsed into dust first. Then the third.
Silence returned.
Pluto stood amid flickering lights and twisted energy.
*[Dimensional Field Restored]*
*[Memory Core Fully Synced]*
*Knowledge Upload: 17%… 21%… 38%...*
*Warning: Excessive memory exposure may evolve host beyond linear stability*
He exhaled slowly—not out of need, but instinct.
The memory didn't stop with facts. It came with *names*.
Places erased.
Stories untold.
And one word repeated over and over:
*"Amnir."*
Not a god.
Not a Celestial.
Not a creator.
But the one who broke the first law—existence before purpose.
Pluto's eyes narrowed. "I'll find you."
The Archive pulsed once more, then collapsed into itself, fusing with his System entirely. The dome dissolved.
Water rushed in.
He let it.
Within moments, the sea swallowed the evidence, and Pluto surfaced calmly in the moonlit waves, as if he had only gone for a swim.
The sky was quiet again.
But deep within the System, a new subroutine blinked:
*[Long-Term Objective Unlocked: Seek The Amnir Core]*
*World Status: Unstable*
*Celestial Surveillance Level: Rising*
Pluto turned toward land.
His journey was far from over.
——
A/N: don't forget my power stone