The workshop's light shimmered with molten gold and blue embers. Karl stood still, his newly forged Rider armor humming faintly with dormant energy. Hephaestus loomed beside him — his molten eyes steady, his voice resonating like a hammer striking an anvil.
Hephaestus loomed over him, arms crossed, the golden glow of his body flickering like a forge fire.
Hephaestus: "Alright, Karl. Try channeling your Vythra."
Karl blinked, confused.
Karl turned his head, brows furrowed.
Karl: "My what now?"
The Primordial of Creation blinked, almost offended.
Hephaestus: "Your Vythra. Your internal flow — the living pulse that drives all beings. You did have one, didn't you?"
Karl frowned deeper, glancing at his hand as faint nanite traces shimmered under the skin.
Karl: "You're talking like it's something I should know. I've… never even heard that word before."
The forge quieted. Even the molten rivers stilled for a moment. Thanamira, who had been watching from above, descended gracefully — her spirit-like robes trailing green wisps.
Thanamira: "It's not strange, Hephaestus. Mortals don't sense their Vythra the way we do. They live with it, not aware of it."
She smiled faintly at Karl, her voice calm and luminous.
Thanamira: "Vythra, child, is the current of existence. The rhythm that keeps your body and soul intertwined. It's what allows living beings to think, move, feel… and remain whole."
Karl stared, absorbing her words slowly. "So it's… life energy?"
Karl: "You said… Vythra?"
Hephaestus: "The heart of all living creation. A current that flows through life itself. It is the essence that lets flesh breathe, machines think, and souls endure."
Thanamira: "Close. But not quite. It's more than energy — it's the will to exist. When it fades, life fades with it."
Karl glanced down at himself again. "Then… do I still have mine?"
For a long moment, no one answered.
Then Hephaestus sighed, placing a heavy hand on Karl's shoulder.
The Primordial's gaze softened slightly — an almost fatherly expression.
Hephaestus: "You did. Once. But when your body was destroyed and your soul torn apart… your original Vythra scattered. It couldn't anchor itself without flesh or form."
Karl lowered his eyes, silent. The hum of his armor seemed to fade with his mood.
Hephaestus (continuing): "You could not awaken Vythra because there was no you for it to cling to. No pulse, no current. Only willpower holding form."
A memory flickered in Karl's mind — the day of the accident. The light, the searing heat, and then the void.
A faint glow appeared near the forge floor — emerald light forming into an orb. From that light emerged Thanamira, and beside her, two other souls — familiar, faint, but radiant.
Karl's breath caught. "...Mom? Dad?"
Ayaka and Itsuki smiled gently.
Thanamira: "They helped us make a substitute for your lost rhythm — something that could house your soul safely. A vessel to mimic life itself."
Hephaestus: "They sought my aid, and the aid of one other — Thanamira, the Primordial of Spirits. Together, we forged something that does not exist in any realm."
The Engine Core flared, casting long shadows across the room.
Hephaestus: "The Engine Soul. A construct of spirit and steel. It
Hephaestus: "That's what they built. The Engine Soul — a cocoon forged from your parents' essence and my design. It doesn't create life, but it imitates it well enough to keep your soul beating. It acts as your heart, your second soul — a cocoon that encases your essence and replicates the missing Vythra that life once gave you."
Karl's eyes widened as the truth sank in.
Hephaestus: "Your soul rests within the Engine Soul, and the Engine Soul rests within this body. It bridges the gap between machine and man — allowing you to live, feel, and grow once more."
Karl took a shaky breath, staring at his own hands. He could almost feel it now — a subtle vibration deep within his chest, like a heart he'd forgotten how to hear.
Karl (quietly): "Then… this is what keeps me alive?"
Thanamira: "Yes. Until you can awaken a true Vythra again — one that belongs to you."
Hephaestus smirked faintly, crossing his arms.
Hephaestus: "So, Karl. Let's see if you can make that substitute heartbeat into something real. Try to find your own rhythm again."
Karl closed his eyes, hand still resting over his chest.
The workshop glowed with molten light, nanite swarms swirling like fireflies around the massive chamber. Hephaestus' hands moved with mechanical precision, guiding the nanites into perfect lattices, while Thanamira's fingers traced delicate sigils in the air, weaving Yggdrasil's sap into the structure.
In the center, the faint outline of Karl's mother and father hovered, their ethereal forms luminous, bending themselves into the framework of the Engine Soul and Gear Drive. Ayaka's form folded gently into a fetal position as the cocoon crystallized around her essence, while Itsuki's soul extended through the skeletal frame of the Gear Drive, every gear and limb a reflection of his precision and intellect.
"Hephaestus," Thanamira whispered, her voice almost tender as she guided the streams of Vythra into the cocoon, "the boy's soul is still fragile. We need this cocoon to replicate his life force — it must breathe for him, think for him, even when he cannot."
Hephaestus' mechanical hands rotated tiny nanite gears along the Gear Drive's spine. "It will. The Engine Soul and Gear Drive will mirror his consciousness once it returns. But it must be perfect — any misalignment could tear the system apart."
Ayaka's voice drifted into the chamber, a faint echo of maternal warmth. "We'll protect him… no matter what."
Itsuki added, with a quiet determination, "And guide him. Every motion, every transformation — he'll never be alone in this body. We'll be with him, always."
The nanites pulsed to life, binding the parents' essences into the crystalline cocoon and mechanical frame. Blue-white light rippled through the Engine Soul, veins of Vythra threading through it, while the Gear Drive's torque systems hummed like a living heartbeat. The room vibrated with energy, the union of love, sacrifice, and mechanical brilliance forging a perfect symbiosis.
Hephaestus stepped back, surveying the completed cores. "The Engine Soul will cradle his consciousness, stabilize his Vythra, and amplify his will. The Gear Drive will guide him, keep him precise, and ensure every movement is exact. Together, they are him and not him — a trinity of soul, heart, and mind."
Thanamira nodded, her eyes glinting with quiet pride. "And when he awakens… he'll be everything he was meant to be. A son of heroes, and a hero himself."