Aren awoke with a start. The world he knew—the crumbling city, the shattered skies—was gone. Instead, he floated in an expanse of shifting colors, where time rippled like water disturbed by unseen fingers.
Before him, a vast altar hovered, carved from iridescent stone veined with golden light. Glyphs etched into its surface seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, though the space was silent. The altar itself was ancient—older than memory, older than the fragments of time he had come to know.
A soft voice, neither male nor female, whispered across the void.
"Welcome, Echo-Born."
Aren spun around, searching for the speaker, but the voice seemed to emanate from everywhere—inside his head and outside it all at once.
"Who… who's there?" he called, his voice trembling slightly. "What is this place?"
The altar responded by projecting a translucent lattice of glowing runes and nodes. Slowly, they arranged themselves into an intricate interface, a web of symbols that hovered in front of him like a constellation of possibilities.
System: Stat Matrix Online.
Numbers and bars flickered into being — Strength, Reflex, Resonance Stability, Edict Affinity, Cognitive Sync, and more. Aren blinked, overwhelmed by the flood of information.
His eyes darted over the stats. Some were familiar — remnants from his battles and visions — but many were new, promising avenues he had never imagined.
As if sensing his wonder, the voice spoke again, smoother now.
"Long ago, the Ancients created the Gala-Stream — a cosmic conduit flowing between realms and realities. It is a channel through which divine patrons, distant and unknowable, may offer gifts, challenges, and knowledge to those who bear the Resonance."
A shimmering banner appeared across the top of the interface:
Gala-Stream Active — Channel: Divine Echoes
From this celestial network, radiant orbs and glimmering icons drifted gently down like ethereal rain, each one a potential boon.
Aren hesitated, uncertain. He reached out tentatively, his fingers brushing a glowing shard etched with swirling temporal glyphs.
The moment his skin touched the shard, a wave of warmth surged through him. His vision sharpened; his senses heightened as if time itself had slowed just for him.
System: Gift Received — Shard of Temporal Flow.Effect: Reflex +12%, Minor Temporal Dilation Resistance.
He exhaled sharply, staring at the stat bar that now shimmered with fresh energy.
The Interface Unfolds
Suddenly, new menus appeared — pathways for growth and refinement.
Ascendant Edict Mastery
Resonance Core Stabilization
Gala-Stream Bargains
Echo Manifestation
Each pathway promised power — but also mysteries and unknown costs.
Aren selected Gala-Stream Bargains. A stream of cryptic messages filled the interface, each from an ancient patron whose presence was felt but never seen.
Patron Alpha-47:"A blade forged from forgotten stars awaits your claim. It will cut through destiny itself — but beware the price."
Celestial Weaver:"Balance your Edicts, or be torn apart. Choose wisely the threads you bind."
The Nameless Oracle:"Sacrifice a memory to gain clarity. What will you lose for the truth you seek?"
Aren's chest tightened. Each offer was a challenge and a choice — and the consequences could ripple across his fractured self and the world.
He hesitated, then accepted the offer from Patron Alpha-47.
A sword of shimmering starlight materialized in his hand. It hummed with cold power.
System: Item Acquired — Stellar Edge.Effect: Physical Damage +25%, Resonance Amplification +8%.
The Price of Power
But power never comes without sacrifice.
A vision crashed into his mind: flashes of a childhood memory erased, moments of laughter lost forever.
"Sacrifice…" the voice whispered, "or become lost in the chaos."
Aren clenched his fists.
"What will I lose?" he demanded.
The voice did not answer. Instead, the Gala-Stream pulsed again — offering another choice: a locked node called Memory Fragmentation.
He realized the true nature of the Gala-Stream. It was not just a gift — it was a pact. A divine market where souls were currency, and power a fleeting commodity.
Mastering the Stat System
Determined, Aren turned his attention to the other menus.
Ascendant Edict Mastery allowed him to enhance the power and synergy of the Edicts. By channeling resonance energy through the shards of his fractured selves, he could unlock new Edict abilities and strengthen existing ones.
Resonance Core Stabilization promised to help him maintain balance, reducing the chaotic bleed of fractured identities and preventing overload — a crucial survival skill in his unstable reality.
The Echo Manifestation menu teased the possibility of projecting his resonance outward, creating echoes of himself to fight alongside or to scout through impossible timelines.
Each system felt alive — an extension of his fractured mind seeking unity.
A Quiet Moment
As Aren absorbed the overwhelming possibilities, the void around him shimmered softly.
A figure appeared — tall, robed in starlight, eyes deep pools of infinite night.
"Choose carefully," the figure said, voice like distant thunder. "The Gala-Stream is patient, but never forgiving."
Aren nodded, feeling the weight of the responsibility settle on his shoulders.
"This power," he said quietly, "is a chance to heal the fractures — or to become one with the echo."
The figure smiled — or perhaps it was a distortion of light.
"You are ready."
And with that, the void faded, and Aren found himself back in the fractured city — the Gala-Stream's gifts and burdens now part of him.