Norvin licked up the last of the tasty juice remaining on his lips, left by the funny-looking fruit he had just devoured.
"Well? What's the deal, Echo?"
There was no reply for a few moments, causing Norvin to frown. "Echo?"
"...Echo?"
There was still no answer.
He took a moment to throw the core of the fruit he had just demolished miles away, using his physical strength and psychic power.
The core became a blur, breaking the sound barrier and disappearing from view.
Norvin tapped one foot several times on the ground, his impatience and annoyance growing as he was ignored.
"Come on, Echo..."
Norvin scrunched his face in frustration. He took a deep breath and was about to swear at the unresponsive sub-body when he suddenly felt something weird—a buzzing starting near his wrist; it was a unique sensation Norvin had not yet experienced before coming from the Hero Holodex.
The Holodex started to glow, radiating waves of golden light that shot outward in all directions. His body shimmered with energy, turning to a luminous gold, his distinctive features blending into nothing more than the overall outline of his figure.
The dark grimace that should have been on his face could not be seen.
Norvin's feet slowly left the ground; he had begun to float involuntarily now too.
"Whoa... Echo, wha?!"
Before Norvin could finish his cry, his body emitted a massive flash of golden energy. In an instant, he dissolved into a cluster of golden lights. Only the Holodex remained floating in midair, slowly spinning—now just hovering there and turning.
Norvin, now a glowing golden light, felt himself being pulled into the Holodex by an irresistible force. The new senses he was feeling, born of becoming an energy entity, made him a little dizzy somehow, despite not having a 'human' body currently... Moments earlier, when the light from the Holodex had enveloped Norvin completely, it had caused him to feel weirded out; however, the sensation of being turned into energy was also kind of... pleasant?
The few seconds he traveled while under the influence of the suction force overwhelmed his new senses, but luckily, the entire process only lasted a few moments. His body had started condensing into one point, and he didn't need to do the energy body equivalent of 'squinting' to endure the light given off from being pulled inside the Holodex anymore.
As the light faded, he found himself 'solid' again, standing inside a vast, endless expanse—an infinite hall filled with towering shelves of books and shifting images floating lazily through the air.
There was no ceiling here, only a cosmic, star filled sky full of constellations that Norvin was not familiar with at all.
The spot Norvin was standing in was a small break from the endless rows of books. There was a large table surrounded by plush chairs and several lounging couches too. A deep red rug that looked equally as plush as the chairs lay on the floor, making Norvin want to take off his shoes and bury his toes in its softness.
A small kitchen with all the appliances included stood off to the side of the lounging area; however, none of them seemed to have any power cords attached.
Finally, there was a little enclave labeled 'Inventory.' Many shelves and tables held familiar items—seasonings and other food-related items he had brought into reality using 'astral alchemy' and other skills. There were simple culinary utensils like forks and knives, several sets of spare clothes with multiple styles mounted on cosmic-skinned mannequins, and the entire workbench he had created some time ago stored off to the side, along with his hand tools.
The black sword handle he had come up with when he first got here to compliment the psychic type energy blade he could manifest sat alongside a large amount of other melee weapons. Most of them were small daggers and throwing knife type weapons. Norvin figured that having a large amount of them was a decent idea, especially if he could use his mental energy to control them in the air, creating a new overall combat method if needed.
Asides from all the weapons, Norvin had also spent some time making himself a proper crafting station and tools for creating morphers and other transformation devices. He agreed with Echo's request to be proactive regarding Oracle totems. That being said, he had already selected several Ranger teams and had created some stock for the future, if he ran into anyone worth turning into his Oracle—that is.
Norvin had joked to himself about becoming the real Zordon several times while crafting the totems, trying to recruit 'Teenagers with attitude!' It had become a habit to call Echo 'Alpha 5' while he happily crafted totems, annoying Echo to no end, to the point where Echo rarely spoke as Norvin worked.
On a shelf labeled 'Oracles' in this little storage area, several objects caught his eye: his stock of transformation items, alongside the totems of Huey and Edward. They shimmered quietly and seemed to stand at attention, as if waiting to be called.
Norvin walked over to the kitchen area, stood in front of the fridge, and opened it, looking inside. A wave of thick mist rolled out, accompanied with a temperature just above freezing. Norvin pulled his hand upward; he was now touching his cheek to feel his skin and shivered pleasantly. It was a nice change from the daily warmth of God's Garden.
Norvin's breath mixed with the cold air coming out of the fridge while waiting for the foggy mist to clear. He quickly noticed something that made his eyebrows shoot up in wonder the moment the mist dispersed enough to peer inside.
He couldn't see the very back of the fridge at all.
It was as if the shelves inside carried on forever. Norvin immediately thought of a certain red telephone box that was bigger on the inside than the outside and started smiling when he realized how much room he had to store his snacks.
Some leftovers he had stored using inventory were floating a foot deep or so into the strange fridge. Norvin reached out and grabbed one of the kabobs he had saved for later and was not surprised to find it was at the same warm temperature as when he stored it.
He was only curious about how the cold fridge kept the leftover meat... hot?
Bzzzzzz!
Suddenly, a crackling, buzzing sound could be heard. A bright, glowing energy being, similar to how Norvin had looked when he was turned into light, materialized nearby. It had already started condensing into a human-like outline and was now sitting in one of the plush chairs at the head of the table.
Norvin's attention was drawn to the light-being immediately. He slowly put the leftover meat skewer he had grabbed back into the endless expanse of the fridge, where it floated before closing the door lightly.
He turned to face the creature that seemed to be peering at him already, even though he couldn't be 100% sure it had eyes, as the light-being's face was featureless.
Or, it had been featureless until the light dimmed and it swiftly revealed itself to be one of the heroes in the Holodex. A large, muscular figure stood there, clad in what looked like a night-blue combat suit with bright silver metallic armor pieces hugging his shoulders and waist in a visually pleasing way.
The sleek helmet had a similar metallic, silver cross on the face with a red visor covering the eyes. This was the hero Dark Hawk from Marvel... Well, it was for a few seconds anyway.
The figure constantly morphed, shifting into a multitude of forms—first Dark Hawk, then a shining Super Sentai hero, Kuwagata Ohger, the Red Ranger of King-Ohgers. The red-colored Ranger shifted to black, and the helmet shifted to the white skull mask belonging to 'Red X' from 'Teen Titans.' Masked Hero Dusk Crow made a quick appearance, then the golden mask and armor of Garo appeared before shifting to a Kamen Rider form that could be found in the Holodex, Kamen Rider Gatack.
Gatack's sleek blue appearance turned darker until it was replaced with the Black Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. After that, it shifted into the bright red Power-Form mecha suit belonging to Edward Fokker of Power-Stone, then to a radiant Golden Saint from Saint Seiya. Its appearance flickered again, changing to a new hero or suit every five seconds or so.
Norvin stared, bewildered. "Echo…? What is this?"
The figure's voice echoed, layered and resonant. "Yeah, kid, it's me. Generally, within the 'Soul Space' or any place where a mental projection personifies, a sub-body will take on the look of the Curator Armor by default. As you can see, I've got a lot of looks to choose from."
Norvin scratched his chin for a moment and pursed his lips while watching Echo change into yet another form—this time, it was Spider-Man 2099.
"Well, are you going to choose?"
Echo stared at Norvin for a few moments without moving and then said, "But this is kind of mysterious—shifting forms, don't you think?"
Norvin squinted and replied, "You're just ripping off the 'Emissaries' bit from the Power Rangers comic run."
"...You aren't wrong. Still pretty cool though, am I right?"
Norvin sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He thought it was really awesome that the entity he shared all his time with had taken a liking to being both edgy, and setting its standard of cool and fun by looking at things with Norvin's point of view and emulated tastes to shape its personality .
Things that people back home perceived as cringe-y, like comics featuring the Power Rangers, Norvin enjoyed, and Echo had now embraced them too. Norvin would have actually given Echo a high five, but he was still irritated that Echo hadn't warned him before pulling him into what he assumed was Echo's soul.
He already knew that this was where the items he had made and the food he stored in inventory were kept, so it was easy to guess where he was now.
Norvin took a step forward, eyes fixed on the shifting figure. "Why am I here?"
Echo's form paused again—then shifted to Hakumen from BlazBlue, followed by the Ghost Rider. The previous face-covering plate armor acting as Echo's head melted into a skull that ignited and blazed with fire before being extinguished and changing shape again.
Tuxedo Mask from 'Sailor Moon' appeared, and Echo took off his top hat, bowing slightly while explaining, "This is the inside of a sub-body soul—your vessel core. Within it lie the records of the universe—called the Akashic Records. They are split now, fractured by the chaos of a 'Grand Spell' interrupted mid-way."
Norvin's brow furrowed. "Split? What's a 'Grand Spell'? How?"
"...That's why I brought you inside, kid. Easier to just show you, don't you think?"
As Echo said this, he snapped his white-gloved fingers with a flourish. Gold and white energy clusters appeared opposite the couches nearby; they swirled for a moment before flattening and shaping themselves into a twenty-foot-wide screen.