The Assembly laboratory was built for impossible things.
Its walls were layered with energy-dampening alloys. Quantum scanners floated in circular formations around the central platform. Every instrument in the room existed for one purpose: to analyze power beyond conventional science.
And yet the room felt uneasy.
Because at the center of it stood Erickson.
And around him—sealed within the dark structure of his armor—rested the four stones embedded in Tricrypt.
---
Dr. Dr. Elena Maria Voss studied the readings projected across the air.
"Power signatures confirmed," she said quietly.
The display showed four energy clusters arranged in perfect pentagonal symmetry across the armor's internal structure.
Glacior.
Pyrax.
Umbrae.
Aeonis.
Each radiated energy patterns no known physics could fully explain.
Standing nearby, Alex Vale crossed his arms.
"So the plan is to take them out?"
Nyra Calder shook her head immediately.
"No. That's not possible."
Alex raised an eyebrow.
"Everything is possible if you try hard enough."
Voss didn't look away from the display.
"The stones are embedded within the Synchron engine. Removing them could destabilize the entire suit."
Erickson finally spoke.
"Then don't remove them."
He looked down at the armor.
"Just take the energy."
The room went silent.
After a moment, Nyra nodded.
"That… might work."
---
The first extraction device was brought online.
A ring-shaped field generator descended slowly around Erickson's arm where the Glacior node pulsed beneath the armor.
A low vibration filled the room.
Data streams surged across the monitors.
Nyra spoke calmly.
"Beginning energy siphon at two percent."
The machine activated.
For three seconds, the readings climbed.
Then the numbers collapsed.
The display went blank.
Nyra frowned.
"That's impossible."
Alex leaned closer to the screen.
"What happened?"
Voss expanded the data logs.
"The energy signature vanished."
Erickson frowned.
"Vanished?"
Nyra checked the sensors.
"The stone is still there."
She pointed at the display.
"But the moment we attempted to extract power…"
"…the energy stopped existing."
Alex stared at the armor.
"That makes no sense."
---
They tried again.
This time with Pyrax.
The energy readings surged violently the moment the containment field activated.
Heat rippled through the air.
Warning lights flashed across the laboratory.
Nyra increased the siphon rate.
"Four percent extraction."
The numbers climbed.
Power output surged beyond expected thresholds.
Then—
Everything stopped.
Not gradually.
Instantly.
The energy simply disappeared.
The sensors read zero.
Complete nothing.
The machine shut down automatically.
Alex looked between the monitors.
"Let me guess."
Nyra nodded slowly.
"Same result."
---
Umbrae produced an even stranger result.
The extraction field activated.
The sensors began recording possible future energy flows.
Then the projections vanished.
Not because the power dropped.
But because the models themselves stopped existing.
Voss stared at the empty screen.
"…the simulation futures just collapsed."
Alex blinked.
"That's not how physics works."
Voss answered quietly.
"It is if the system you're studying isn't obeying physics."
---
They never even tried extracting power from Aeonis.
The moment the device attempted synchronization, the laboratory clocks began drifting out of alignment.
Some ran faster.
Some slowed.
One reversed for several seconds.
Nyra shut the system down immediately.
"No."
She stepped away from the console.
"We're done."
---
The room fell silent.
Everyone looked at Erickson.
He had not moved.
He simply stood there inside Tricrypt.
Finally Alex spoke.
"So what are we dealing with?"
Voss zoomed out the final scan.
The display showed something unsettling.
The stones existed physically inside the armor.
But their energy readings behaved differently.
They only appeared when no one tried to measure them.
The moment extraction began, the energy disappeared.
Nyra spoke slowly.
"I think we've been wrong about them."
Alex looked up.
"Wrong how?"
Voss finished the thought.
"They're not power sources."
She paused.
"They're not even objects."
The room waited.
Erickson spoke quietly.
"Then what are they?"
Voss turned the display toward him.
"Placeholders."
Silence filled the lab.
Alex frowned.
"For what?"
Voss hesitated before answering.
"For something that isn't here yet."
Erickson looked down at the armor.
The stones were still there.
Still glowing faintly beneath the metal.
But now something about them felt different.
Like reflections.
Not origins.
Nyra finally said the words no one in the room wanted to consider.
"The stones inside Tricrypt…"
She looked directly at Erickson.
"…aren't real."
The laboratory went completely quiet.
Because if the stones inside the armor were not real—
Then the real ones were still out there.
And someone else already had them.