---
The Mirror Spire loomed over Neo-Pandora, its surface reflecting a thousand fractured versions of the city. Nyx's clones swarmed its base, their laughter harmonizing into a dissonant chorus. Inside, Zara Voss fought through corridors of living glass, her neural implant pulsing with Elias's fading voice.
"The Spire's core is a temporal loom," he whispered. "It weaves time itself. Trap the Core there… but it'll cost you."
"Everything does," Zara muttered, dodging a blade of solidified light.
---
Lila and the team breached the Spire's heart—a chamber where time condensed into threads of glowing silver. At its center floated the Core's essence, a writhing mass of spiral energy.
"The loom can bind it," Elara said, her hybrid form destabilizing as she interfaced with the machinery. "But it needs a consciousness to anchor the loop. Someone… permanent."
Zara stepped forward, her implant syncing to the loom. "Do it."
"No!" Jax grabbed her arm. "There's another way—"
"There isn't," Zara said, smiling sadly. "This is why Elias chose me. The Thief of Seconds… finally pays her debt."
---
The loom activated, threads of time ensnaring the Core. Zara's body glowed as her consciousness fused with the machine, weaving the Core into an infinite loop—a single moment, repeating forever.
"You'll die here," the Core hissed through Nyx's voice. "Alone. Forgotten."
"But you'll die everywhere," Zara replied.
The chamber flashed white.
---
The Spire shattered. Neo-Pandora's citizens blinked as the mirrors dissolved, the merged timeline stabilizing. Lila collapsed to her knees, the Chrono Compass silent in her hand.
"She did it," Jax said, voice hollow. "She actually did it."
Elara stared at the sky, where the Spire's remnants glittered like stardust. "No. Look."
A single shard remained—a jagged mirror reflecting Zara's face, frozen mid-scream.
---
As the team mourned, a figure emerged from the shadows. Clad in armor forged from the Spire's glass, they removed their helmet, revealing a face etched with timelines.
"Zara's sacrifice was… poetic," the stranger said, their voice a blade of ice. "But time cannot be contained. It must be controlled."
They raised a hand, and the shattered Spire began to reassemble.
"Who the hell are you?" Jax snarled.
"Arius Voss," they replied, Zara's surname dripping like a threat. "Chrono-Lord of the Unbound Era. And this city is my loom now."
Arius snapped their fingers. The Chrono Compass leapt from Lila's grip, hovering above their palm.
"Thank you for weakening the Core. Its power is mine to claim."
---
Arius vanished, taking the Compass. The Spire's remnants pulsed with new energy, its mirrors now reflecting a single timeline—Arius standing atop a throne of Hourglasses, Neo-Pandora burning below.
And in the loop, Zara's frozen scream twisted into a warning:
"They're coming."
To Be Continued…
---