📘 Chapter 33: The Crystal of Passage
Deep within the Justice League headquarters, in a shielded lower chamber, the original crystal rested on a spectral platform pulsing with mysterious energy. Green Lantern had discovered it while surveying the ruins of an abandoned sector in space, and Superman's analysis confirmed it contained a "dimensional echo" of Kairoz's energy core.
Ben stepped closer, his eyes locked on the violet light breathing like a living thing.
Batman spoke, his voice steady but cautious:
"What we're about to see inside… may not be real. But it could be a warning, a message—or a trap."
Ben only nodded.
Supergirl moved, wanting to follow him, but Wonder Woman gently held her back.
"Let him face this with us. If there's something about his fate… he needs to see it."
The three of them entered the crystal's field. The light shrank—then burst into soft darkness.
---
There was no ground. No sky.
Only a city suspended between fragments, as if time itself had shattered and left pieces floating.
The land beneath them bore traces of Galvan civilization—now turned to ash.
Broken crystalline towers, time-trees shedding leaves like falling corpses.
A feminine voice echoed through the air, as if the crystal spoke:
> "This is the future… not of imbalance unhealed, but of balance destroyed."
Batman remained silent, while Wonder Woman rested her hand on her sword.
The next vision came quickly:
The Justice League defeated.
Flash frozen inside a crystal spire.
Cyborg crushed in half. Superman collapsed atop the moon's wreckage.
And Supergirl… crawling forward, her hand outstretched, calling:
"Ben…"
Then he appeared.
But it wasn't quite him.
A figure, half made of gleaming crystal shadow, half still human—eyes glowing with pain and silence.
Ben-Kairoz stood in the center of this broken world, staring as if he no longer recognized them.
Then he spoke:
> "I didn't want this… but I became this. When I feared facing my other half, I surrendered to him."
Ben gasped as he saw himself become the threat.
The crystal whispered again:
> "If you do not uncover your true self… you will be the end of balance, not its salvation."
---
The light pulled back rapidly, as if the crystal was rejecting them now that the vision was done.
The three emerged back into reality, breathless and shaken.
Supergirl rushed to meet them, worry written all over her face.
"Are you okay?" she asked urgently.
Ben replied hoarsely, "I saw… me. Lost. Not just lost—I was the danger."
Batman gripped his shoulder, firm but calm:
"That's only a possibility. The future isn't set in stone."
But Wonder Woman looked into Ben's eyes with a gaze both gentle and resolute:
"If you're one half of Kairoz… then the other half is your choice."
---
In the corner, the crystal still glowed faintly, as if awaiting a decision.
And for the first time since losing the Omnitrix…
Ben didn't just fear Kairoz.
He feared what he might become—if he didn't find his own path.
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