"Some of us are forged by the Grid. Others are chosen. Me? I was left behind when it shattered."
— Zara Vey
Part I: The Garden of Glass
Setting: Core-Null Archive | Time-Locked Chamber
The Fracture Rangers gather in a sealed, crystalline archive suspended beyond time—safe from Null distortions.
Kael, Mira, Thorne, Rin, and Ayla sit around a glowing memory obelisk. The light pulses softly—waiting.
Zara stands alone in front of them, arms folded, her eyes distant.
Zara:
"You've seen pieces. Heard rumors. I think it's time you understood what the Grid really was… and what I did to it."
With a motion of her hand, the obelisk blooms to life—projecting images, moments lost to history.
Part II: Before the Fracture
"The Grid was not just power. It was memory. A living force woven from every act of courage, every sacrifice, every choice made by Rangers across dimensions."
The projection shows thousands of Rangers standing side by side on countless worlds. Lines of energy connect them like veins of light.
Zara (narrating):
"I wasn't born with power. I was chosen to guard it. The last of the Vey Sentinels, protectors of the Nexus Crystal at the Grid's core."
A young Zara is shown kneeling at a towering monument of light—her armor gold and black, her eyes full of wonder.
Zara:
"We watched. We preserved. But we never interfered. Until… the Eclipse Knight."
Part III: The Betrayal
The light shifts.
The Eclipse Knight—Elios—stands in the center of the Grid Nexus, cloaked in black-laced armor with shattered violet energy swirling around him.
Zara:
"He was one of us. Once."
The memory flickers—Zara and Elios standing side by side, laughing, walking through corridors of light. Trust. Bond. Maybe even love.
Then—destruction.
Elios: "They call it a gift. I call it a cage."
The scene fractures.
The Eclipse Knight raises his corrupted blade, cleaving through the Nexus Crystal.
The Morphing Grid screams.
Reality shudders.
Zara (voice cracking):
"He didn't just break the Grid. He broke time. He started absorbing fragments to reshape the multiverse—to force his own design onto creation."
Kael clenches his fists. Ayla lowers her head.
Zara:
"I tried to stop him. I failed."
We see her standing over the dying Crystal, her armor in ruins, her face bloodied, her spirit shattered.
Zara:
"So I triggered the Fracture Protocol. My last option. I scattered the surviving fragments and summoned you."
Part IV: The Secret She Never Told
The memory fades. The archive falls silent.
But Zara doesn't turn to face them yet.
Zara (quietly):
"There's more. Something I haven't said."
The Rangers glance at each other.
Zara:
"The Fracture Protocol… it was never meant to be used. It's a reset—a failsafe buried in the original Grid's core. But it came at a cost."
Mira (frowning):
"What kind of cost?"
Zara turns.
Her eyes shimmer.
Zara:
"Every time you use your Morph energy now… every time we fight… the Protocol feeds it."
Thorne:
"Feeds what?"
Zara:
"The lock. The thing I built to keep Elios's spirit caged in the deepest corner of anti-time."
Rin (realizing):
"You're using us as… power cells."
She nods.
Zara:
"To keep him sealed. But Cipher and the Null Rangers… they're breaking through. If they reach the seal before it holds…"
Kael (coldly):
"Then we didn't stop him. We just delayed the apocalypse."
Silence.
Ayla (softly):
"What happens if the seal fails?"
Zara finally looks up. And this time, her voice shakes.
Zara:
"Then the Eclipse Knight returns. But not just as a man… as a concept. The Grid's first and last echo. He'll become something even worse than Cipher."
Mira:
"Then we don't let it fail."
Part V: Decision Point
The memory crystal dims.
The team stands in silence, each of them now understanding the true stakes.
Kael steps forward.
Kael:
"We fight. Not because of duty. Not because of some oath. But because we're all that's left."
Zara (whispers):
"Thank you."
______