The Echo Beyond the Veil

The world was once a place of order, bound by matter, energy, space, and time. People believed in certainty, in the rules of existence that governed their every thought and action. But that was before the Panic Storms arrived. Before the fabric of reality tilted, bouncing like a pinball between moments of chaos and silence. Before whispers from The Zero Realm seeped into the minds of scholars, revealing a terrifying truth—there was something beyond.

And it was waiting.

At the heart of the world’s unraveling stood Nathaniel Hayes, a former high school prodigy who had disappeared after discovering an equation that should not exist. His experiments in time and space had torn open a rift in understanding, bringing forth The Thing—an entity neither man nor woman, neither ruler nor servant, yet whose words shaped all minds. It spoke not in commands, but in fear, uncertainty, and doubt, twisting knowledge until truth itself became unknowable.

It spread across history, from medieval battlegrounds to modern screens, whispering to kings, merchants, and commoners alike. No sword could pierce it, no spell could contain it, no machine could quantify its form. It was everywhere.

Until the first Yellow Spark appeared.

It was small, an anomaly in the gray world where everything was the same, where minds had long since accepted the FUD as absolute. No one knew where it came from. It flickered at the edge of awareness, whispering of possibilities never considered, truths never spoken aloud. And when it touched a single person—just one—their world changed.

Colors spread. Ideas awoke. Panic storms faltered as minds tilted toward curiosity instead of fear.

And The Thing?

The Thing hesitated.

For the first time in all its existence, it faced doubt of its own.

And so, as the final equation was written, as the last battle was fought, as the last breath of uncertainty collapsed into the void beyond the veil, Nathaniel Hayes—who had walked beyond time—stepped forward.

“You were never real,” he whispered. “Just a shadow of what we refused to question.”

And with that, the world reset, neither as it was before, nor as it had been twisted to become.

Something new had begun.

And this time, no one would stop believing in the light.