Path
The world around them fractured like glass under pressure. Varon stood motionless, as if the chaos responded to his will.
Lina stepped forward, shielding Kai as she shouted, "You don't scare me."
Varon tilted his head. "Then let me offer fear in a form you recognize."
With a single wave of his hand, shadows slithered across the ground. From them rose twisted reflections—versions of Lina and Kai, scarred, corrupted, and merciless. The dark Lina smiled with blood on her lips.
"What is this?" Kai growled, his voice returned but roughened.
"Your other selves," Varon said calmly. "The ones who lost. The ones who chose power over love, vengeance over mercy."
The corrupted Kai launched first—fast, brutal. Real Kai blocked the strike just in time, both blades clashing with a blast of sparks. Lina lunged at her doppelgänger, but their powers collided midair in a burst of unstable energy.
"You will fight your worst selves," Varon's voice echoed. "Only one version may walk away."
Lina's eyes blazed with defiance. "Then I'll rewrite the rulebook."
Dark Lina lunged again, her movements erratic but deadly—mirroring Lina's instincts, yet warped with fury. Each time their blades clashed, Lina could feel something darker pulling at her core. As if the corrupted version was speaking to something buried deep within her.
"You know I'm not lying," Dark Lina whispered close to her ear. "You wanted to burn the world once. Just like me."
"I'm not you," Lina spat, slamming her foot into the copy's chest and sending her flying backward. "I chose to rise above it."
Meanwhile, Kai was locked in a brutal stalemate. Every blow from the corrupted Kai felt heavier, more reckless. "He's not fighting to win," Kai muttered under his breath. "He's fighting to destroy."
A ripple tore through the dimension—a second presence entered.
From the darkness, another figure stepped into the battlefield. Cloaked in grey with a face hidden beneath layers of shattered mirror-like armor, the figure exuded silence. Even Varon turned slightly, his expression tightening.
Lina's breath caught. "Who...?"
Varon's smile faded. "That," he said quietly, "is the true final key. The Watcher of All Outcomes."
The cloaked being raised a hand, and time hiccupped.
Dark Lina and corrupted Kai froze in place.
Then, the being spoke—its voice layered with countless tones. "You are not yet ready. But you will be. If you survive what comes next."
A storm of white light swallowed them.
The white light expanded like a tidal wave crashing down on reality itself. Lina could feel her entire body stretch and compress at once, as if her soul was being unraveled and stitched back together again. She reached out instinctively for Kai—but his hand slipped through her fingers, and then—
Silence.
The next moment, Lina slammed hard against something solid. Cold. Metallic. She gasped, lungs aching, her body trembling from the sudden disorientation. Around her was an enormous circular chamber, walls pulsating with ethereal glyphs glowing faintly like veins of the universe.
Kai crashed down beside her, groaning. "What… was that?" he muttered, struggling to stand.
Before Lina could answer, footsteps echoed through the chamber.
The Watcher emerged from the light, gliding rather than walking. Its mirrored face shimmered, reflecting endless possible versions of Lina—some victorious, others broken, some barely human anymore. One version even had wings of obsidian, her eyes hollow and glowing.
"You have seen fragments," the Watcher said, its voice now less fractured, more focused. "But you remain blind to the shape of the storm."
Lina stepped forward. "What storm? Why show us the corrupted versions? Who are you really?"
The Watcher tilted its head. "I am the lock. The seal. The last gate before the truth is unbound. And you… are the variable that cannot be predicted."
The glyphs on the walls pulsed rapidly. A vast projection of star systems and timelines swirled into view above them, spinning like a living map. Kai narrowed his eyes. "What is this place?"
"A core that exists outside time," the Watcher answered. "Where outcomes collapse and reforge. You were brought here because the final adversaries are moving. The ones who pulled the strings long before your first breath."
Lina clenched her fists. "You mean there's someone beyond Varon?"
The Watcher raised its hand, and three shadows appeared in the air—towering silhouettes, each shrouded in a different aura:
—One was wrapped in serpentine smoke, eyes glowing red, his presence radiating manipulation and deceit.
—Another was armored in void-black, with a crown of fractured stars and a blade forged from pure entropy.
—The last was shrouded in shifting light, her face always changing—Lina saw echoes of her mother, her enemies, and even herself.
"These are the Three Architects," the Watcher intoned. "The true weavers of this multiversal chain. Varon is but a vessel. The war has not yet begun."
A beat of silence passed.
Then, the Watcher turned to Lina and Kai. "Your strength alone is not enough. You must gather the lost fragments—the scattered champions, the keys of resistance—and prepare for the Collapse."
Kai's jaw tightened. "And if we fail?"
The chamber darkened. The Watcher's form flickered. Its voice became a whisper that echoed into infinity.
"Then everything you've loved—every universe you've touched—will be rewritten into oblivion."
The vision ended abruptly, dropping them both into another dimension—an abandoned city in ruin, skies torn open with streaks of violet lightning.
Lina stood slowly, her eyes burning with determination.
"We find the fragments," she said, turning to Kai. "And we end this."