Chapter 81 – Echoes of the Coordinate That Vanished
Location: Verge Ring Fringe – Sector H-Delta, "The Hollow Market"
Time: [Drifttrace Inactive / Core Status: Passive Monitoring]
Ren and the crew weren't heading to a city this time.
They were heading beneath it.
Specifically, to a cracked, sideways, barely-legal underground bazaar known only as The Hollow Market — a place built between the fractured underbelly of Vanyress's ancient sectors. No signs. No maps. You either got invited, or you fell in by accident.
Ren, naturally, did the latter.
REN (sliding down a half-collapsed tunnel):
"Okay. This is definitely not on the tourist guide."
FROST (dropping next to him):
"Unless the guide is titled 'Top Ten Places to Get Mugged by Interdimensional Ghosts.'"
BLAZE (hovering over them):
"I'm pretty sure this place sells illegal memories and soup made from ideas."
SNARKSTEEL (muttering):
"Do not eat the soup."
The Hollow Market
It wasn't a "market" in the usual sense.
It was a drift-haze maze, lit by flickering lanterns made from broken memories and energy leaks. Creatures, half-human and half-forgotten, haggled for data scraps, emotion vials, or cursed socks. Seriously. One guy sold socks that cried.
REN (squinting):
"We're looking for someone who's seen the Rupture.
Someone who remembers it."
TIME (floating upside down in a cracked mirror stall):
"Technically, no one's ever returned from the Rupture."
SPACE (poking her head through a nearby shadow):
"Except for one guy."
REN (blinking):
"There's always one guy."
SPACE (nodding):
"His name's Crayle. Drift-sick. Chrono-damaged. Bit twitchy. Might bite."
REN:
"Perfect. Where is he?"
SPACE:
"Being hunted."
REN:
"…What?"
SPACE (shrugs):
"He borrowed a memory from a time priest and forgot to return it."
REN (groaning):
"Alright, let's go save a twitchy timeline delinquent."
The Chase
Crayle was easy to spot. He was the guy running backwards up a wall while screaming "I STOLE NOTHING THAT EXISTED" at a floating jellyfish wearing judge robes.
BLAZE (staring):
"Okay, ten seconds in, and I already love him."
Ren sprinted forward, tackled Crayle out of midair, and rolled him into an alley made entirely of drifting thought-fabric.
CRAYLE (twitching, blinking, holding a compass made of bones):
"YOU! YOU'RE THE RIFTBOY!"
REN:
"…Sure. Let's go with that."
CRAYLE (grabbing Ren's collar):
"Don't give it the Core! You give it the Core, and it unravels us all!"
REN (dead serious):
"What is it?"
Crayle stared into space.
Whispered.
CRAYLE:
"The Rupture.
It's not a place.
It's a thing that's pretending to be a place."
Everyone went silent.
Even Space frowned.
FROST:
"…Can you be a little more specific?"
CRAYLE (suddenly calm, too calm):
"It doesn't stay still. It moves between timelines.
Hiding in the spaces where no one's looking.
Sometimes a planet. Sometimes a voice. Sometimes a dream you forget halfway through."
REN (quietly):
"And you've seen it?"
CRAYLE:
"I saw its reflection. In a dying god's eyes."
TIME (clapping slowly):
"Okay yeah this guy's legit."
Ren took a slow breath.
REN:
"So how do I find it?"
Crayle blinked again.
Pulled out a scrap of metal — twisted, glowing with drifting coordinates.
CRAYLE:
"You don't find the Rupture.
You follow the places it almost was.
This map? It points to the echoes it left behind."
He shoved it into Ren's hand.
The Aetherium Core pulsed.
AETHERIUM CORE:
> ECHO-TAG DETECTED > PROXIMITY THREAD LOCKED: > SECTOR H-19, CRADLE GORGE > STATUS: COLLAPSING SHARD ZONE
CRAYLE (grinning wildly):
"If the map doesn't glitch, it means it's watching you already."
Then Crayle vanished.
Straight up.
Just poof — one glitchy flip of reality and the man was gone.
BLAZE:
"I want his energy."
REN (staring at the map):
"Cradle Gorge, huh…?"
FROST:
"That's a dead zone.
Time skips in there. Space folds.
It's where reality goes to scream."
REN (smiling faintly):
"Perfect.
Let's go shopping for a scream."