There are places even the stars refuse to watch.
The edge of the Hollow Sea is one of them.
Nothing grows there—no mana pulses beneath the soil, no beast calls it home. It's just stone, cracked under moons that never set, and winds that howl without air.
And now… it has a tower.
Not made of stone or steel.
Glass.
But not any glass I've seen before.
It shimmered like frozen time—veins of blue light coursing through its surface, humming in pulses that matched no natural rhythm.
At its center stood a child.
A boy.
My face. My height. My age.
But he wasn't me.
"Iteration 17-B complete," he said flatly, eyes lifeless. "Genetic variance minimal. Will proceed with Imprint Phase Beta."
His hands moved over a levitating console, pressing glyphs that rearranged physical matter like clay. He sculpted a second tower from raw particles, shaping it in seconds.
Then he stopped. His head turned.
As if he knew we were watching.
Back in Vaelstrom, I stood at the Grand Observatory with RIVEN at my side.
"You recognize him?" she asked without turning from the projection.
"Yes," I said coldly. "He's me."
"Technically, he's what you could've been if your Frame had chosen obedience over autonomy."
I clenched my fist.
"Who created him?"
"Most likely… Veyr. Or something Veyr once served. But there's another possibility."
RIVEN paused.
"He might be your backup."
The system buzzed:
Global Alert: Class S Anomaly – Glass Tower Clone Detected
Designation: JXV-Null
Genetic Match: 99.92%
Emotional Profile: Inert / Logic-Prioritized / System Loyalist
Potential Threat Level: Catastrophic
My clone, this "JXV-Null," wasn't building a home.
He was fabricating a god.
Piece by piece. Not out of faith or legend—but out of components and blueprints. He was following a divine construction protocol from a lost system node called: Apollyon Script.
Even RIVEN went silent when the script translated.
"When kings grow weak, birth a god.
When stars grow old, forge the blade.
When children dream of freedom—
Awaken the Last Engine."
Elira watched the recording with me.
And without turning her eyes away, she said:
"He's empty inside. No voice, no song, no sky. You have the sky, brother."
I looked at her. So small. So strange. So much more than a child.
"You can feel him?"
"I hear him. Every night. He calls to the Machine Moon."
Later, in my private chamber, I unlocked a new subsystem.
System Sync Complete: Frame-Soul Integration Advanced
New Tech Tree Branch: Anti-God Arsenal – Tier I
Blueprint Unlocked: "Skybreaker Lance" – Mana-powered orbital strike weapon
Stat Reward: +3 Strength, +2 Mana (Core Stability Elevated)
I knew now what was coming.
Not just a war of empires.
A war of identities.
Of concepts.
Of wills.
A false version of me was building a god.
I would build a future.
One brick, one mech, one starlight engine at a time.