Timestamp: Cycle 4, Month 7 — Rain Season
Location: [Former Philippine Trench — Abyssal Rift Zone Delta-03]
Organization: Rift Defense Alliance — Team Vanguard (Supervised Sortie)
Weather: High-pressure storm front; residual M.A.N.A. turbulence detected
I. The Rift in the Past
"Even the past can bloom — if the world dares to remember."
The Philippine Trench, once the deepest scar of Old Earth, had become something beyond ocean or memory. It thrummed with azure light — veins of M.A.N.A. pulsing through fractured crust, illuminating an abyss that once devoured light itself.
Where tectonic plates once met, quantum resonance currents now danced like threads of lightning trapped in glass. The sea no longer flowed it hung, suspended in gravitational distortion, waves frozen in slow motion.
This was Rift Zone Delta-03 — a wound that had healed wrong.
Temporal distortion rippled along the seabed, bending echoes of ancient frequencies. Every storm season, the Rift whispered an afterimage of a time before the Helios Surge.
And this cycle… the whisper became a voice.
A tremor cut through the deep. Sensors screamed. The Abyss Bloom was awakening.
II. Deployment Order — Arcanum Core Command Channel
[RFC Transmission — Channel 07 / Priority Sigma]
"Attention, Team Vanguard. Abyssal Rift activity detected beneath Trench Delta-03. Coordinates verified: 11°N, 126°E. Resonance spike levels exceeding safety threshold.
Supervised Sortie authorized — first cadet field deployment."
— Commander Celene Yusay, Tactical Officer, R.D.A.
Inside Arcanum Base, turbines thundered across the hangar deck. Steam hissed between platforms as massive launch bays unfolded. The air shimmered with static.
Nine Frames stood lined along the mag-rails, each glowing with its pilot's distinct resonance hue.
Mateo Reyes' Aegis Halo activated first — radiant shields forming like petals of light, locking into orbit. He exhaled slowly, voice steady through comms.
"Synchronization stable. Keep drift under seventy-five percent on descent. The trench bends resonance flow — lose formation, and you're gone."
Dean Pineda's Astra Nova answered with a brilliant surge of silver and blue. "Copy, strategist. Cadets — keep your core harmonics synced to Mateo's pulse frequency."
Jasmine Pineda's Tempest Wing tilted forward, thrusters flaring indigo. "First Rift sortie? Heh. Let's make it legendary."
"Try not to crash it first," Allen Maniego muttered, his Helion Vanguard rumbling to life beside her.
Liwayway Cruz adjusted Arclight's amplifiers, her voice composed but brisk. "Telemetry channels open. Resonance link stable. You're all reading within tolerance — barely."
Dalisay Arven smiled faintly, watching the soft violet glow of Spectra Nova sync across the line. "Barely's good enough. Just don't flatline the harmonics mid-drop."
Jade Ronquillo's tone chimed in: "All feeds are online, Commander. G.A.N. uplink stable — we're streaming to the Data Spire for observation."
At the end of the line, Cross Zero Unit stood still — its crystalline armor rippling with refracted light. Gene Armas' voice was calm, almost detached.
"I'll anchor the synchronization field. We're not just descending — we're resonating with history itself."
Celene Yusay stepped forward, her RX-Prism refracting the hangar light into a cascade of spectral beams.
"Telemetry locked. Trajectories confirmed. Team Vanguard — launch sequence engaged."
[Launch Countdown Initiated — Resonant Rail Active]
Three... Two... One... Launch.
The mag-platforms fired. Nine Frames shot downward through the storm, trailing streaks of multicolored light like comets falling into the deep.
III. The Descent
The surface shattered around them — water folding upward in spiraling vortices. Beyond the storm's reach, the trench opened into a vast void-field sea.
Gravity waned. Water crystallized into floating shards, light refracting like shattered mirrors. Luminous corals pulsed with living resonance, blooming slowly in zero gravity.
Jasmine whistled through comms. "Holy— this isn't an ocean. It's a cathedral."
Dean chuckled. "Focus, artist. Eyes on scanners."
"Scanner says I'm inside a miracle," she shot back.
Mateo smiled faintly. "Keep chatter minimal. Altitude drop steady at eight thousand meters. Resonance pressure increasing."
Suddenly — a surge.
A low hum shook every Frame simultaneously. The Rift below flared bright blue, casting tendrils of light that wrapped around the descent path.
Gene's HUD filled with waveforms. "Resonance echo detected — signature predates the Helios Era."
Liwayway's voice tightened. "Temporal inversion patterns… it's reading as organic data. Commander, the Rift is recording us."
Celene's reply came through crisp and cold. "Maintain formation. Whatever's down there wants to remember. Let's give it something worth remembering."
A faint tremor coursed through the abyss. Something massive stirred below.
IV. Auxiliary Formation — Arcanum Cadet Division
Meanwhile, the Auxiliary Squad deployed from a relay substation above the trench rim.
Kiyo Tanaka's RX-00 Shadow sliced through the mist, teleportation trails flickering violet. "Subsurface anchor points set. Stabilizers deployed."
Selene Marquez's Titan Arclight locked its anchors, forming luminous rails to guide the descending Frames. "Launch rail stable — resonance holding steady at eighty-nine percent."
Mira Tan and Hana Villanueva worked in tandem, adjusting energy modulation. "Field harmonics balanced. Rift turbulence compensated."
Rafi Cortez's voice broke in, grinning. "We're reading your vitals loud and clear, Vanguard! Don't die — we just calibrated that comms rig!"
Laughter filtered through the tension. Even in chaos, humanity still joked.
Below, Team Vanguard broke through the final thermal layer. The Abyss Bloom loomed — a glowing lotus-shaped distortion spreading across the trench floor. At its center stood a fragment of a structure… an Old Earth facility fused into the Rift wall.
Gene's tone dropped. "There it is. The origin point."
Mateo frowned. "That's not natural. It's… pulsing in rhythm."
Celene's voice cut through. "Maintain distance. Prepare to initiate Resonant Scan."
Then — the abyss pulsed again.
A blinding flare tore through the dark. The Frames were thrown back as a shockwave rippled outward. Warnings screamed.
"Energy spike! Resonance overcharge at one-forty percent!" Jade shouted.
Liwayway's panels flashed. "Rift pulse incoming! Stabilize or we lose the link!"
"Hold formation!" Mateo barked. "Reinforce the outer ring — Jasmine, Liwayway, Allen, take the brunt!"
Their Frames flared, forming a radiant arc — shimmering shields overlapping into a single barrier. The light roared. The surge hit like a tidal wave of sound and color.
When it cleared, the trench was silent again. The Bloom dimmed — but a new resonance echoed faintly across every pilot's mind.
A voice. Ancient. Familiar.
"You are the bloom of what was lost… and what will be reborn."
Gene's eyes widened. "It spoke."
Celene whispered, almost reverently: "Then history remembers us."
V. Closing Note — Arcanum Database Record [Excerpt]
"The Abyss Bloom marked humanity's first descent into its own memory — not to conquer, but to understand what remained before the Helios Surge.
Within the trench, time folds upon resonance. To open a Rift in the past is to open the truth of our creation."
— Foundation Record 26.1, Masterworld Chronicle