For a long time, nobody moved.
The Fractured Expanse stretched endlessly before them like the corpse of a broken world abandoned by reality itself. Floating mountains drifted silently through fractured skies while enormous cracks spread across the air like shattered glass. Rivers flowed upward into dark clouds. Entire ruins hung suspended motionlessly between distorted horizons where time itself refused to behave naturally anymore.
Even standing at the edge of it felt wrong.
The world around the Expanse seemed quieter somehow.
No birds.
No insects.
No natural sound beyond distant echoes moving through broken winds.
And deep within that impossible wasteland—
the final fragment of Vijaya pulsed violently through Arin's soul.
Every few seconds the resonance shifted unnaturally. Sometimes near. Sometimes impossibly distant. Sometimes multiplying into several directions at once before collapsing back together again.
The fragment was unstable.
No.
More than unstable.
Alive.
Arin slowly tightened his grip around Vijaya afterward while staring into the shattered world ahead.
The weapon reacted instantly.
Golden energy moved faintly across its surface while the black-and-gold staff hummed softly beneath his fingers, almost like it recognized the Expanse itself as an enemy.
Liora quietly noticed his expression changing beside him.
"…you can feel it stronger now."
Arin nodded slowly.
"It's calling."
The answer came quieter than usual.
Because the closer they moved toward the final fragment, the heavier the connection became.
Fragments of memory stirred faintly inside him again.
Broken worlds.
Collapsed timelines.
Versions of himself dying endlessly while trying to reach something hidden inside impossible skies.
And beneath all of it—
a strange feeling he couldn't fully explain.
Fear.
Not his own.
Vijaya's.
Selene slowly stepped forward afterward while staring toward the Expanse carefully.
"…how are we supposed to even walk through that?"
Nobody answered immediately.
Because honestly—
none of them knew.
The wasteland ahead didn't resemble a place humans were meant to survive.
Kael quietly adjusted her cloak afterward while studying the distorted horizon.
"The space fractures are moving."
Everyone immediately looked closer.
She was right.
The glowing cracks across the landscape slowly shifted position every few seconds. Entire sections of land disappeared before reappearing somewhere else moments later. Floating ruins rotated unnaturally through the skies while distant mountains folded inward like paper bending beneath invisible pressure.
Even looking directly at some areas too long made their vision blur strangely.
Riven frowned deeply afterward.
"I officially hate this place already."
"That makes all of us," Aira answered quietly.
Arin finally stepped forward first afterward.
The moment his foot crossed the invisible boundary separating the normal world from the Expanse—
everything changed instantly.
The air became heavier.
Not physically.
Existentially.
Like reality itself suddenly noticed him.
Golden energy flashed briefly across Vijaya while the surrounding space distorted violently for several seconds before stabilizing again.
The others immediately followed behind him afterward.
And the deeper they moved into the Fractured Expanse—
the less the world made sense.
At first, the distortions remained manageable.
The ground shifted strangely beneath their feet every few minutes while distant landmarks constantly changed position without explanation. Sometimes ruins appeared close enough to touch before suddenly becoming miles away again moments later.
But after several hours—
things became worse.
Far worse.
Time itself stopped behaving properly around them.
At one point the sun froze motionless overhead for nearly twenty minutes before abruptly plunging the entire sky into night without warning. Then just as suddenly, daylight returned again like nothing happened.
None of them spoke much anymore after that.
Because every step deeper into the Expanse carried unnatural tension now.
Even sound behaved incorrectly here.
Sometimes their voices echoed before they finished speaking. Other times entire conversations vanished into silence like the world itself swallowed the noise before it existed.
And throughout all of it—
Arin kept feeling the fragment pulling him forward.
Stronger.
Closer.
But also…
stranger.
Almost like something else was waiting beside it.
Hours later, the group eventually stopped near the remains of floating ruins suspended above a black river flowing upward into fractured skies.
Nobody sat immediately.
Because exhaustion here felt dangerous somehow.
Riven slowly looked around uneasily afterward.
"…tell me I'm not the only one feeling watched."
"You're not," Darin answered instantly.
The atmosphere around them had shifted again.
The Expanse felt quieter now. Too quiet.
Even the floating ruins overhead had stopped moving completely.
Arin slowly looked toward the horizon afterward while his expression hardened slightly.
"…something's here."
Everyone immediately became alert.
Liora stepped closer beside him while gripping her weapon carefully.
"What kind of something?"
Before Arin could answer—
the world glitched.
There was no better word for it.
Reality itself suddenly flickered violently around them for a single second.
The black river reversed direction instantly.
The sky fractured wider.
The ruins overhead vanished completely.
And standing several meters ahead of them now—
was another Arin.
The group froze immediately.
The figure looked identical.
Same face.
Same eyes.
Same weapon resting against his shoulder.
Except this version looked older somehow.
More tired.
And covered in blood.
Silence swallowed everything.
Liora's breath caught instantly.
"…Arin?"
The second figure slowly looked toward them afterward.
Then smiled faintly.
"…wrong one."
The voice sounded distorted, layered strangely like several people speaking simultaneously beneath it.
Everyone immediately stepped backward instinctively.
Riven stared in horror.
"Okay nope. Absolutely not."
Arin himself remained motionless while staring toward the figure.
Because deep inside his soul—
recognition stirred.
Not memory.
Possibility.
A version of himself.
One that failed.
The blood-covered figure slowly looked directly toward Arin afterward.
"You came farther than most."
The distorted voice echoed unnaturally across the broken landscape.
"But it ends the same."
Vijaya suddenly reacted violently in Arin's hands afterward. Golden energy erupted briefly across the weapon while the false version's smile slowly disappeared.
"…ah."
The figure's expression darkened slightly.
"So you still have hope."
Liora immediately moved beside Arin afterward.
"What is that thing?"
The blood-covered version answered instead.
"A remainder."
The world flickered again violently around them.
Then suddenly—
dozens appeared.
Different versions of Arin standing across the broken landscape surrounding them now.
Some older.
Some younger.
Some carrying broken weapons.
Some missing limbs entirely.
But all of them shared the same eyes.
And every single one stared directly toward him.
The group collectively froze.
Even Kael looked shaken now.
"…these are…"
"Versions that failed," the first one answered calmly.
The fractured sky darkened overhead afterward while reality itself distorted harder around them.
"Fragments left behind by the Expanse."
Another version slowly stepped forward now. This one looked far younger. Almost exhausted.
"We all tried reaching it."
Another voice echoed afterward from somewhere deeper within the distortions.
"We all thought we'd survive."
"And every single one of us died."
The words surrounded the landscape from every direction now.
Arin's grip around Vijaya tightened slightly afterward while the weapon glowed brighter instinctively.
Because deep inside himself—
he understood something terrifying.
The Expanse didn't merely distort reality.
It distorted possibility itself.
Every failed version of him who died trying to reach the final fragment left traces behind here.
Echoes trapped between timelines forever.
Liora slowly looked toward Arin afterward.
"…don't listen to them."
But the blood-covered version smiled faintly again.
"She says that now."
The distorted sky cracked violently overhead afterward.
"But eventually…"
All the versions spoke together.
"…everyone leaves you behind."
The atmosphere instantly became suffocating.
Fragments of memory surged violently through Arin's mind again.
Mira dying beneath collapsing sunlight.
Aditya standing alone against the System.
Countless lifetimes ending in failure.
Then suddenly—
a hand grabbed his.
Arin blinked once.
Liora stood beside him firmly now while holding onto him tightly despite the distorted figures surrounding them.
And quietly—
"Then we'll prove them wrong."
Silence followed instantly afterward.
The false versions stopped moving.
Stopped speaking.
And for the first time since appearing—
they looked uncertain.
Then the world fractured violently again.
And every single one vanished.
The Expanse fell silent once more.
Only the broken wind remained afterward.
Riven slowly exhaled shakily.
"…I hate this place so much."
Nobody disagreed.
But ahead of them—
far deeper within the broken wasteland—
the final fragment pulsed again.
Closer now.
Waiting.