Karl stood in awe, still clutching the USB fragment, his chest still echoing with the residual hum of the Trinity Core. Erevos towered behind him, silent but alive, a perfect partner forged through centuries of labor and will. The quiet reverence of the chamber was almost meditative — until a deep, metallic chuckle echoed from above.
Hephaestus hovered there, arms crossed, his molten-gold body glowing faintly in the Nexus's ambient light.
"You know," he began, a teasing lilt in his voice, "while you were busy building your precious Erevos… time passed."
Karl blinked. "What do you mean 'time passed'?"
Hephaestus's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Oh, just a trivial thing. About… two hundred and one years."
Karl froze. His fingers loosened on the fragment. "Excuse me?"
"Fifty years in the Nexus itself," Hephaestus continued, pacing slowly in the air, "plus the reconstruction of your body — that took one hundred and forty-nine years. Totals to roughly… nearly one hundred and fifty years for the body alone! Not bad, right?"
Karl's jaw dropped. "Two… two hundred and one years?!"
Hephaestus nodded, a faint smirk curling across his molten visage. "Yep. And you thought this trial was long. Welcome to the reality of being a Chosen. Time is… flexible."
Karl stumbled backward, almost tripping over the cockpit edge of Erevos. "Two centuries?! I— I don't even know what that means anymore!"
The Primordial floated closer, landing beside him with a soft metallic thunk. "But enough reminiscing," he said, tone turning serious again. "You've stayed in the Nexus long enough. There are others like you—Chosens who need to be found. Your work here was only the beginning."
Karl's hands clenched around the fragment. "Others… like me?"
"Yes. Each bound to their Primordials, each waiting for someone to awaken them. Earth is full of fragments of potential — and now, it's your responsibility to seek them out. Travel. Observe. Connect. Guide. And when the time comes…" Hephaestus's eyes glimmered with a quiet pride, "you will unite them. Just as you've united Erevos with yourself."
Karl exhaled, still struggling to process the sheer weight of the centuries and the task ahead. "So… I… I'm supposed to go… find them?"
Hephaestus's smirk widened. "Yes. And try not to blow anything up this time. We've learned that lesson, haven't we?"
Karl groaned, rubbing his temples. "I… I'm going to need a vacation."
The Primordial chuckled, the molten light from his form flickering warmly. "No vacations for Chosens, Karl. Welcome back to reality… or at least, your version of it."
With a final, approving nod, Hephaestus hovered back slightly, letting Karl absorb the enormity of what had just been revealed — centuries passed, a fully forged partner at his side, and a mission that would span the globe. The cradle hummed softly, echoing the pulsing light of the Trinity Core and the USB fragment resting in Karl's hands.
Karl sighed, muttering under his breath, "Two hundred and one years… and I have homework."
Karl stared at the USB fragment in his hands, still glowing faintly with the pulse of the Trinity Core. His chest heaved with anticipation and exhaustion, the culmination of centuries of work and the weight of 201 years finally pressing down on him. Slowly, almost reverently, he lifted it to the slot in his Drive Regulator.
With a soft click, the fragment slid in. The Trinity Core Node pulsed violently, spinning in perfect synchronization with the Engine Soul and Gear Drive. A storm of cobalt, cerulean, and admiral nanites erupted around him, wrapping him like a cocoon of light and motion.
The familiar hum of the Drive Regulator intensified, and Karl could feel the energies of Erevos, the Rider Frame, and the mech frame all harmonizing into one flow. The world around him warped as the Nexus seemed to fold in on itself, reality glitching like a half-loaded image.
Then—a sudden pull, like being yanked through water.
He felt his form shift, the weight and bulk of the mech frame dissolving. The Rider armor retracted, nanites streaming upward, disassembling like liquid steel. Finally, Karl's body returned to his human form, the long-forgotten sensation of his own flesh and bones grounding him.
He stumbled slightly, catching himself on Erevos's cockpit edge, and blinked. The Nexus dissolved completely, replaced by a swirling portal of blue-and-gray light. Through it, Karl could see the skeletal ruins of a city—skyscrapers crumbling, fires burning faintly in the distance.
Post-apocalyptic New York.
Karl's hands trembled as he flexed his fingers, feeling the weight of being human again. "I… I'm… me?" he whispered, disbelief threading through his voice. He felt the warmth of his Engine Soul's echo deep in his chest and the precise hum of the Gear Drive like a reassuring heartbeat.
Hephaestus's molten form flickered beside him, hovering with that familiar smirk. "Indeed," the Primordial said. "Though I must admit, you make a compelling human."
Karl narrowed his eyes. "Wait—how? How did I… untransform? And why didn't you tell me? I was stuck in Rider form for… fifty years in the Nexus!"
Hephaestus chuckled, a low metallic rumble. "You needed to discover it yourself. The process is simple, in principle: the Trinity Core synchronizes all parental and personal energies, then the Drive Regulator channels them to revert your form. But experience, patience, and willpower… those were always yours to master."
Karl groaned, running a hand through his newly Admiral Blue hair. "Fifty years… and you never said a word? I could've been—"
"Frustrated? Impatient? Possibly a bit cranky?" Hephaestus interjected, raising an amused brow. "Yes. But you needed to earn it. That's the point of the Nexus of Creation."
Karl shook his head, letting out a long breath, a small smile breaking through his exhaustion. "Unbelievable… two hundred and one years, and all I get is a sarcastic Primordial and a USB stick."
Hephaestus's glowing eyes flickered, humor in their molten depths. "You also get a partner that listens to your thoughts, a fully functional Drive Regulator, and the knowledge that the rest of the world is waiting for you. That USB isn't just storage—it's your key to power, and a tether to the fragments of creation you'll find on Earth."
Karl looked through the portal, the ruined city sprawling beyond. A mixture of apprehension, excitement, and resolve filled him. He tightened his grip on the Drive Regulator. "Alright… then. Let's go find them."
With that, he stepped forward. The portal pulsed once, enveloping him in a cocoon of blue light, carrying him toward the post-apocalyptic streets of New York, where his journey as a Chosen, reunited with his own body and powers, was finally beginning.