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Chapter 32 - CH 16: The First Silence

"Before the Rangers, before the Grid, before even color—there was still something. It watched. It remembered. And one day… it woke."

Scene 1: Atlas Archives – Forbidden Layer

Location: Phantom Atlas – Subdeck 09, Memory Vaults

Cast: Mira, Rin, Zara, Ayla

After Rin's collapse, Mira dives into the Atlas's forbidden layers — ancient records sealed behind Zara's highest clearance. There, only fragments remain. Data scarred by time, corrupted by dimensional bleed.

Zara appears as a flickering projection, more glitch than guide.

Zara:

"You're accessing the First Layer Echoes. These weren't meant to be seen."

Mira:

"I need to know what attacked us. I need to know what's inside Rin."

Zara pauses, then speaks as if remembering something painful.

Zara:

"You won't find an answer. Only the beginning."

Scene 2: Flashback – When the Grid Was Born

[Visual: Hazy memory-reel. Black skies. No stars. No time. Only whispers.]

The Morphing Grid, contrary to legend, was not created by Rangers. It emerged like a flame from a dark vacuum — a reaction to something colder, something that sought silence.

A world called Pravael once existed. It was the first test site. Before even colors were assigned to Rangers. The Grid sparked here.

But the moment it flared…

Something noticed.

A being — not of matter, not of color, not even of intent — stirred. It had no name, only a concept:

Erevis.

It wasn't evil. It was absence.

It didn't destroy. It returned things to what they were before.

The birth of the Grid offended it.

"You lit fire in a realm that was ash. I will not extinguish it. I will remind it."

Scene 3: Pravael's Last Days

Cast (in memory):

Zara's past self

Commander Elios (young)

A researcher named Seray (Mira's ancestor)

The Rangers of Pravael tried to shape the Grid. They built the first morpher prototypes. They experimented with color frequencies, power harmonies.

Seray, a sharp-eyed scientist eerily similar to Mira, discovered something awful:

Seray (recording):

"We've layered over something ancient. The Grid is not a foundation — it's a cage. And we've broken it."

Commander Elios (yes, the same Elios who would become the Eclipse Knight) stood before the seal.

A voice—Erevis—reached into his mind.

Erevis (to Elios):

"You seek control. But all grids collapse. You cannot color a void."

Scene 4: Mira Snaps Out of It

Back in the present, Mira gasps, yanking herself out of the memory vault. Her eyes are wide, her pulse racing.

Ayla:

"What did you see?"

Mira (shaken):

"It's not ancient like a relic. It's ancient like… gravity. Like it was here before concepts."

Rin (coldly):

"And now it's inside me."

Zara appears again, looking deeply worried.

Zara:

"You triggered it. The seal you found wasn't its prison. It was a warning label."

Mira (darkly):

"Then it's not just a threat to the Grid…"

She turns to the team.

Mira:

"It's a threat to conceptual reality. It wants to erase not just power… but the idea of power."

Scene 5: The Whisper That Never Ends

Late at night, Rin sits alone in the quiet engine bay of the Atlas.

A dark mist gathers around him. Not harmful… just there.

Erevis (whispering):

"I knew you before your color. I knew you when you were not shaped. You think I am voice. I am memory. I am what remains when you are gone."

Rin grips his morpher tightly. But for a moment…

He doesn't feel like the White Ranger anymore.

He feels like a canvas the void is painting on.

______

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