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## **Chapter Seventeen: Fire in the Bones, Rot in the Crown**
> *Location: A temporary hideout beneath the Whispering Pines, three days post-recruitment*
> *Trigger Event: A demonic relic Taila reacts violently to — causing echoes of past timelines to break through*
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### **Scene One: The Trigger**
They found the relic deep in a ruined temple — a chunk of obsidian beating like a rotten heart. The moment Taila saw it, she *screamed*.
Not like a girl in fear.
Like a creature remembering fire.
She collapsed, eyes glowing, dragon markings flaring on her arms.
At the same time, Reacher's System pinged.
> *\[Villain System: Timeline Rift Detected. Memory Overlay Protocol Engaged.]*
> *\[Your Past Will No Longer Stay Silent.]*
Rin grabbed Bai Lu's hand instinctively. For once, she didn't pull away.
Because the forest was changing.
Reality warped.
And two pasts collided.
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### **Scene Two: Taila's Past — The Fall of Elaraxis**
They stood in a golden palace made of dragonbone.
Guards bowed as a child walked past — small, proud, and burning from within.
Taila.
She was younger. Fierce. Unbroken. She stood before a massive throne, where a *dying dragon king* rested.
> "You are not just my daughter," the king said, his voice a thunderstorm. "You are the spark that must burn away fate's corruption."
Taila cried. "But I don't want to be alone."
> "You were born alone, my firelight."
The vision shifted. The throne room burned.
Taila, grown, stood over a sea of corpses — dragons, humans, and celestial guardians alike. Her kingdom betrayed her, fearing her power would attract the World Eaters.
So she *burned it all*.
> "You called me a daughter of destiny," her future self said, flames dancing around her. "But you made me a weapon."
As the fire swallowed the vision, the team saw the truth: **Taila didn't fall from the sky. She *escaped annihilation*.**
And she was the one who caused it.
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### **Scene Three: Reacher's Past — The Crownless Court**
Next, shadows swirled, and a city rose around them. One made of cracked marble, laughter, and whispered lies.
Reacher stood at its center — younger, dressed in royal robes, a golden crown in his hands.
> "You were supposed to be king," said a voice. A brother? A friend? "But you laughed at prophecy. You danced instead of bowed. You *loved chaos* more than you loved order."
Reacher grinned even then. "Prophecies are cages."
The man stabbed him in the back.
He bled.
He *laughed*.
> "So you gave it up?" Rin asked, staring.
Reacher turned slowly, smile gone. "No. I *became* the prophecy. I made the System watch me crawl through villainy just to see what broke first — me, or the world."
Vision flashed forward.
Reacher, chained in a dark realm. The Villain System installed forcefully into him like a parasite.
> "You will become entropy incarnate," a shadowy voice said. "You will destroy *hope*."
He smiled even as they carved him open.
> "Let's make it funny, at least."
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### **Scene Four: The Return**
The forest snapped back into place. Taila was trembling. Reacher's grin was cracked.
No one said anything for a long moment.
Then Rin muttered, "Okay... so, uh, we're all totally normal, right?"
Jane elbowed him.
Bai Lu stood, quiet.
She looked at Taila. "You survived a kingdom that feared you."
She turned to Reacher. "And you chose to keep your mind while they tried to shatter it."
> "I don't trust either of you."
> "But I won't stop walking forward."
Reacher chuckled softly. "You're colder than destiny, Miss Bai Lu."
Taila whispered, "But warmer than the flames I left behind."
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### **Scene Five: Unspoken Bonds**
That night, Reacher sat under the moon, fingering a broken piece of his old crown.
Taila sat beside him.
They didn't speak.
Until she said: "If your System told you to betray us... would you?"
Reacher smiled, but there was no mirth.
> "I don't know yet. But if I do... I'll warn you first. I owe you *that*."
Taila nodded.
And in the shadows behind them, Rin whispered to Bai Lu, "We're collecting tragedies like trading cards."
She didn't reply.
But she looked at him.
> "We're not collecting them."
> "We're building something that can survive them."
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> *Taila's fire is older than kingdoms. Reacher's villainy is deeper than rebellion.*
> *They've joined Bai Lu's cause not because they trust her… but because she's the only one not trying to save them.*
>
> *And now… the past walks with them. Burning. Laughing. Waiting.*
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