Vortex Origins

Ash's eyes widened. That wasn't something he expected to hear. Out of everything so far, this felt the most unreal.

"You said… You have a soul space inside mine? How's that even possible? Every soul only has one soul space. Even if yours is inside here, how are we both sharing it?"

No answer came right away. The silence didn't feel empty. It felt like the voice was thinking, searching for the right words. Then, finally, it spoke.

"I'm sorry, Ash. I really don't know what's going on. I don't understand any of this soul stuff. I don't even know how I got here. I just… I want to see the world out there. I want to leave this place, but I can't. I don't know how."

The voice cracked like it was holding back something that had been buried for too long.

"You see, I get jealous of you. You walk. You eat. You breathe. I can't do any of that. I'm stuck in here where it's always dark and always quiet. It feels like I'll be here forever. That's why I spoke to you. You're the only person I can talk to. Do you… know a way out?"

Ash tilted his head toward the dimming sky. That question—the weight behind it—it stuck with him.

The soul space wasn't just a prison. It was worse. A place where nothing moved. No light or motion. Just an endless, frozen reflection of the soul's edge.

A child trapped in that place, with no memories or name, and no way forward… it pulled at something in Ash. He hated the thought of anyone staying in a place like that. But this was still his soul. Whatever was inside it. Whoever this voice belonged to. It didn't belong there.

He needed a way to get it out.

But nothing came to mind. This wasn't something tech could fix, so Max was out. And Kael… Kael wouldn't know what to do either.

Ash had never heard of anything like this. Not even the deepest war records or the forbidden logs mentioned soul-sharing. No one had ever described this before.

"I'm sorry. This is new to me too. I didn't even think something like this was possible. I don't know who you are."

He let the words hang, hoping they would settle into the silence. Ash knew what it felt like to lose everything and then reach for someone, only for that someone to say they don't remember you. Or worse, that they can't help.

Still, the voice didn't reply.

Ash continued.

"I don't even know what a shared soul space looks like. How do I know this is real?"

The voice answered, quiet but clearer now.

"Wanna see?"

Ash tilted his head, uncertain what the voice meant by he wanted to see it. How could he—

The thought unraveled before it finished.

Of course. The voice shared soul space with him now on the same soul. If he truly wanted to see, all he had to do was enter his soulspace.

A pulse of hesitation ran through him.

What if this was the trap? What if the voice had been waiting for him to come closer, to open the door from the inside, or something like that? What if this was just another crazy trick made by some creature, and he was falling for it?

Ash buried the thought.

This was his soul. Nothing entered it without his permission. Nothing stayed without his will. And whatever the voice was it sounded more like a frightened child than a threat.

Even if he found something twisted waiting within, he would tear it out from the inside. If he could.

Ash closed his eyes.

"Alright. I'm coming in. Let's see what's really going on in there."

When he opened them, the world had changed.

Darkness wrapped around him like a living shroud. Water reached halfway up his legs, still and cold, rippling with each breath. Above, the Soulcores burned like pale suns suspended in black sky. Four different colours shine through the abyss. Their light stretched across the endless void but never touched the edges.

The chant had begun. That same voice echoing the same words, the same rhythm, whenever he stepped into this place.

But Ash wasn't here for that.

He turned, scanning the horizon. The soulspace hadn't changed at all. It was the same abyss. The same endless black sea. Nothing seems to be out of place.

Then, at the edge of his vision, something shimmered.

He froze, then turned towards the light.

There, far in the distance—something new. A white light, soft and strange. Like a doorway cut from bone and mist.

Ash had never seen anything like it in his soul space before. He hasn't even heard others talk about having a strange glowing door in their soul space. If the voice in his soul had sent a message, this was it.

He moved, fast and without thought. Water splashed around his legs as he pushed forward, drawn to the glow. Every step dragged deeper into the dark, toward something that hadn't belonged here before today.

Ash had always believed his soul space stretched endlessly, an infinite abyss of shadow and nothingness. But now… a light hovered in the distance like a door torn into the dark. And around it, the shadows didn't stretch. They stopped.

At first, he thought it was a wall. But as he drew closer, that certainty cracked.

There was no wall or frame. The door stood on its own—weightless, glowing, and untouched by the void it pierced.

Ash moved to the side, circling the light slowly. His eyes scanned every edge, every flicker, looking for signs of danger. He had never seen something like this. Not once. That meant he had no rules to follow, no guide to listen to. Only instinct.

He crouched, leaned forward, and studied it like prey deciding whether to strike or retreat. But nothing lashed out.

His hand reached into the light.

Warmth. No resistance or pain. It accepted him.

So he stepped through.

And everything changed.

His eyes opened wider to the view in front of him.

The space beyond the door was not his soul. He could feel that in his bones.

The ground beneath him was covered in lush green grass that moved with the quiet breath of wind. Above, the sky stretched wide and blue, perfect in its stillness.

It looked like a world—an entire realm hidden inside the fracture.

He raised his eyes again. Two Soulcores hovered in the sky like distant moons, burning bright. One glowed green with a pulse like forest flame. The other was white. No, not just white. It was Pure. Untouched and Radiant.

Yet neither was the source of the light around him. And more importantly, something else was wrong.

There was no endless river. No water. Just this endless field. That broke every truth he thought he knew about soul spaces.

Then came the voice.

"Ash. You're here."

It came from behind him.

"I've waited so long to speak with you… face to face."

Ash turned his head slowly, scanning the vast landscape. He wasn't shock of the sudden voice behind him, because he already knew he wasn't alone.

There was a presence behind him. Watching and Breathing with the wind.

He spoke without turning around, with a low tone.

"How… how is all this possible? This isn't how a soul space is supposed to look."

A laugh answered him. Soft. Childlike. And somehow wrong. Then he spoke.

"Judging by the way you're staring, I guess you like it."

Ash stayed silent. He was still staring.

The voice continued, now moving closer.

"Well, yes. It was like yours just seconds ago. Dark. Empty and Miserable. So I remodeled it. Shaped it into the only beautiful place I remember… though I removed the thorns. This version looks better without pain in it, don't you think?"

Ash turned.

What he saw made the silence feel louder.

The speaker was a child—but smaller than Ash expected. He was no taller than his waist. Looks to be an eight-year-old. His skin looked like pale silk under moonlight, flawless and almost unreal. His hair was white, like untouched snow. He wore a thin, ivory cloth draped loosely over his body, elegant but barely covering him. And he wasn't standing. He floated slightly above the ground, legs hanging still like he hadn't walked in centuries.

But none of that unnerved Ash like his eyes.

The boy's eyes blazed with golden light. Not glowing. Burning. As if something ancient stared out from behind them.

The boy tilted his head, confused, and spoke with a maturity that didn't fit his small frame.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Did I do something wrong? Is this place somewhere… bad? I can change it back if you want. Just say the word."

Ash didn't answer.

He couldn't.

He just stared at the child—if it was a child—and tried to understand how something like this got into his soul.

How could something this young exist here?

And more importantly…

Why did it feel like the thing floating in front of him was older than the world itself?