The wind above Praton wasn't wind at all—it was memory.
Kael stood on a cliff that hadn't existed yesterday. Below him, the valley blinked in and out like a dying heartbeat. Trees appeared and vanished. A mountain range folded into a canyon. Birds froze midair.
Behind him, Juno tightened the grip on her coat. "This place is glitching."
"No," Kael whispered. "It's restarting."
Luma knelt beside a puddle that shimmered with more than water. Her fingers trembled as she touched it. "This isn't natural. This... this is someone's dream bleeding through."
They all turned as a voice echoed down from the mist.
"Correct."
From the haze stepped a woman draped in cloth that shimmered like galaxies—her eyes were black, but stars swirled inside them.
Kael stepped forward, instantly uneasy. "Who are you?"
"I am Vaera," she said calmly. "Caretaker of forgotten timelines."
Juno raised her weapon. "We don't need another riddle-speaking god."
Vaera smiled—not kindly. "Then don't ask questions you're too small to hold."
Luma rose. "What is this place?"
"Praton," Vaera said. "Or at least… what's left of it. You ruptured the timeline so many times, it doesn't know what form to take anymore."
Kael frowned. "We didn't—"
"Oh, but you did," she cut in, voice like thunder wrapped in silk. "Every time you ran from death. Every time you looped. You fractured reality like glass under pressure."
Vaera waved a hand. The sky above broke open.
They saw themselves—millions of them—across infinite skies, screaming, dying, begging, forgetting.
Juno dropped to one knee. "Stop…"
Vaera's tone softened. "You came here to stop Echo, yes?"
Kael nodded, jaw tight. "He's killing people. Breaking timelines."
Vaera looked him dead in the eye. "And yet, you're the one creating the loops."
Silence.
Even the birds forgot how to sing.
Kael felt his knees give way. "That's not… no. I'm trying to fix this."
Vaera crouched next to him. "You don't understand the code that makes you. You're the loop's anchor. Every time you die, the loop spins again."
"Then what am I?" Kael asked, voice hoarse.
"A patch. A paradox. A scar stitched over a mistake the universe can't erase."
Luma backed away slowly, whispering, "Kael… are you even real?"
He couldn't answer.
The wind tore louder, bringing with it ghost-voices of timelines passed:
—"Run!"—"You promised you'd stay."—"Why does it always end this way?"
Then, everything went silent again.
Juno stood. "What happens if we kill Echo?"
Vaera didn't blink. "The loop will lose control."
"And that's a good thing?" Luma asked.
Vaera's voice turned cold. "It means all timelines will collapse into one."
Kael looked up. "You mean merge?"
"No. I mean crash. Like rivers into a canyon, like thoughts into madness."
Vaera stepped back, her eyes dimming.
"I've told you enough," she said. "Now you must choose."
With a snap of her fingers, the ground split in two—literally dividing the group.
Juno fell one way. Kael and Luma the other.
"No!" Kael shouted, trying to grab her hand, but the crack was too fast.
Vaera faded into stardust. Her final words echoed in Kael's head:
"The next loop begins when you sleep. Stay awake… or lose yourself forever."
Kael gasped and turned to Luma.
"We have to find a way out. Fast."
She was shaking. "I think… I saw my parents in the sky. The version of them that never died."
He looked at her, heart stinging. "That wasn't real."
"But it felt real."
"That's how the loop traps us."
Suddenly, a low hum rolled through the valley. Above them, a skyship—massive, cracked, ancient—hovered down. It wasn't Echo's. It wasn't military. It was something else entirely.
A symbol glowed on the underbelly: a triangle swallowing a star.
Kael's eyes widened.
"I've seen that in a memory shard," he whispered.
The ship opened.
And out walked someone Kael thought was long dead.
"Maya?" he breathed.
But she didn't smile. Didn't recognize him.
"State your names," she said. "By order of the United Loop Authority."
Kael turned to Luma, stunned.
"There's a government?" she whispered.
He stared at Maya.
Or the version of her that didn't remember him.
"Not just a government," Kael said slowly. "A war."
To be continued...