"I saw people. Shadows of the past. Maybe the future too. It felt like they were watching me, waiting to see what I would do."
Lyara frowned. "Did they say anything?"
Jude hesitated. "One of them did. He looked like me. Or maybe he was me. He asked me why I was afraid."
Lyara's expression darkened slightly, but she didn't speak.
Jude continued. "And then he asked what I saw. I told him about the shadows, and he said they were the past and the future, that they were part of the cycle."
She exhaled. "And the cycle… that's what you have to break?"
"That's what they keep saying." Jude ran a hand through his hair, his mind replaying the golden figure's words. "But I don't know what it means. How do you break something that's been repeating forever?"
Lyara's gaze flickered with thought. "Maybe the answer isn't about destroying it. Maybe it's about changing it."
Jude considered her words. "Changing the cycle…"
