The celebration in the Sound Dimension had barely finished when the Infinite Brick in Alfie's pocket began to shake so violently that it nearly bounced right out.
"Dad!" Alfie grabbed his father's arm. "It's never done this before!"
The golden brick was flashing with colours Alfie had never seen—not just the warm amber of time, or the deep purple of space, or the shimmering silver of magic. All the colours were swirling together like paint in water, and at the centre was something new. Something dark.
"That doesn't look good, mate," Dad said, his voice unusually serious.
Harmony Hilda rushed over, her musical instruments clanging with alarm. "The breach! It's spreading faster than we thought. Look!"
Above them, the sky was cracking. Not like glass—like reality itself was being torn apart. Through the cracks, Alfie could see glimpses of other dimensions: clock towers crumbling, stars going dark, magical forests turning grey.
"All the dimensions," Alfie whispered. "They're all in trouble."
The Infinite Brick pulsed once, twice, three times—and suddenly Alfie wasn't in the Sound Dimension anymore. He and Dad were standing in a place Alfie had never seen before: a vast white space where all the dimensions seemed to meet at once. Floating platforms held pieces of every world—a chunk of Captain Chrono's clock tower here, a fragment of Nebula Knight's space station there, a piece of Mystica's enchanted forest nearby.
"The Crossroads," Dad breathed. "I've heard legends, but I never thought..."
"Guardian!" A familiar voice rang out, and Captain Chrono himself appeared, his clock-hands spinning wildly. "The breach is affecting all of time! Past, present, future—all breaking apart!"
Before Alfie could respond, a flash of purple light announced Nebula Knight's arrival. Her constellation armour was flickering like a broken television. "The stars are going out one by one," she reported grimly. "Whatever this thing is, it's eating the very fabric of space."
A shower of silver sparks brought Mystica floating down, her enchanted staff crackling with unstable energy. "Magic is failing across every realm. Spells are coming undone. Even ancient protections are crumbling."
Alfie looked at the three Dimension Champions—heroes he'd helped across three different adventures. They were all staring at him.
"Me?" His voice came out small. "What can I do? I'm just... I'm just Alfie."
"You are the Guardian of the Infinite Brick," Captain Chrono said, kneeling so he was at Alfie's height. "You connected our worlds. You are the bridge."
"But I'm scared," Alfie admitted, feeling his face go red. "Really, properly scared."
Dad put a hand on his shoulder. "That's okay, buddy. Look around—everyone here is scared. But they came anyway."
Alfie looked up. More figures were appearing on the floating platforms. Harmony Hilda materialized with a determined chord. Echo the Void Sprite flickered into view beside Nebula Knight. Discord Dan stood nervously at the edge, his redeemed monsters humming softly behind him.
"Everyone I've ever helped," Alfie realized. "They're all coming."
"Because you helped them," Mystica said gently. "Now they want to help you."
The Infinite Brick grew warm in Alfie's hand—not hot, but comforting, like being wrapped in a blanket. He understood something then: he wasn't meant to fight this alone. Being brave didn't mean not being scared. It meant being scared and standing up anyway, especially when you had friends.
"Okay," Alfie said, his voice stronger now. "What are we dealing with?"
The three Champions exchanged worried looks. It was Nebula Knight who spoke first.
"We call it the Unmaker. It exists in the space between dimensions—in the cracks. Every time you used the Infinite Brick to travel, you created a tiny gap. Normally, those gaps heal. But something has been keeping them open."
"What kind of something?" Dad asked.
The ground beneath them shuddered. The white space of the Crossroads began to darken at the edges, shadows creeping in like spilled ink.
And from those shadows came a voice—cold, hollow, and terrifyingly familiar.
"Did you really think you could connect all these worlds without consequence, little Guardian?"
Alfie's blood went cold. He knew that voice.
Stepping out of the darkness was a figure made entirely of broken pieces—shattered bricks, twisted clock hands, dead stars, faded magic. And at its centre, where a heart should be, was a brick just like Alfie's.
Except this one was completely black.
"I am what happens when bridges break," the figure said. "And I have been waiting for you for a very, very long time."