"A single voice is a whisper. A thousand echoes become fate."—Reed Richards (Earth-2199)
Jakarta – 11:48 PM (Local Reality Re-Stabilizing)
They dropped back into their world with a thud.
Concrete. Gravity. Smog.
Riri coughed, brushing glass fragments from her shoulder plate. Kael sat up slowly, steam rising from the edges of his suit.
"Did we make it?" he asked.
"Physically? Yeah," Riri muttered. "Mentally? Ask me tomorrow."
They were back—but not alone.
A dozen sparks lit the air in a semi-circle around them. From each, figures emerged.
Some wore armor. Others bore cloaks. One rode a hover-disc. One... had no face, only light.
Kael looked up in disbelief.
"Who are they?"
Riri activated a sensor, voice tight. "I don't think they're from this Earth."
The lead figure—a woman in a black-and-silver variant of the Nova Corps uniform—stepped forward.
"You carry the Fragmentum Nexus," she said, voice oddly layered.
Kael stood. "You know what it is?"
She nodded solemnly. "We've each carried a version. Some survived. Some didn't. But only one bearer at a time holds the true convergence point."
"You mean me."
"No," she corrected. "We mean you all. Together."
Behind her, the other versions of Kael stepped into clearer view. Multiversal duplicates. A battlemage Kael. A Kael with machine limbs. One with golden wings.
"These are echoes from other universes," Riri whispered. "Not illusions. Real."
"Why now?" Kael asked.
The Nova-like woman gestured to the sky. A crack split across the stars, jagged and trembling.
"Because the multiverse is reaching collapse phase," she said. "And the one behind the Eidolon is awakening."
Meanwhile – Latveria
Doctor Doom stood before a slowly spinning orb of dark chronal energy. Inside it, a shape stirred—something ancient, half-formed.
"Fools. You've triggered the first convergence."
He extended a hand. Metal creaked and shifted into armor around him.
"If they will not stop the coming storm, I will seize it."
Behind him, a dozen robotic sentinels powered up—each bearing an arcane seal burned into its chestplate.
Back in Jakarta – Rooftop
The Nova-variant stepped forward.
"The Fragmentum was never a weapon. It's a map—to the heart of the multiverse."
She looked at Kael.
"And you're the key to decoding it."
Kael stared at the glowing shard in his chest, still humming with quiet power.
"Then let's figure out what it's pointing to."
Riri placed a hand on his shoulder. "And stop whoever's waking up in the dark."
The Nova warrior smiled.
"Good."
She turned.
"Because we only have seven days until the Convergence Event begins."
[To Be Continued in Chapter 8 – The Convergence Clock]