Chapter 16
The shrine trembled as Kian rose, his eyes twin pools of molten gold. The disciples faltered, their blades lowering in unison, as if the air itself had turned to lead.
Elder Zhao stepped forward, his voice a whip crack. "You have violated the natural order, Kian. Surrender the Shard, or be *unmade*."
Kian tilted his head, and when he spoke, his voice carried the haunting duality of a man and a child. *"You fear what you cannot control."*
The Chrono Shard blazed, its light weaving through the shrine like a living thing. Shadows fractured into echoes—visions of the disciples' own pasts flickering around them. A younger Zhao kneeling before the monastery gates, begging for entry. Mei clutching a bloodstained letter, her hands shaking. Yuen's first kill, his face pale with regret.
The disciples stumbled back, their resolve crumbling under the weight of their own ghosts.
"*Enough!*" Elder Zhao lunged, his staff aimed at Kian's throat.
Time slowed.
Kian raised a hand, and the staff disintegrated mid-swing, its particles scattering like sand. Zhao froze, his fury twisting into dread.
*"You cannot fight time,"* Kian whispered. *"It fights back."*
**The Voices Within**
*Kian.*
The voice in his mind was small, urgent. *Lian*.
*We're hurting them.*
Kian's glowing eyes dimmed. The visions ceased. Around them, disciples knelt, trembling, their faces streaked with tears.
Elder Zhao collapsed to his knees, gasping. "What… *are* you?"
Kian clutched his chest, the Shard's pulse syncopated with the two heartbeats thundering in his ears. *"I'm… not sure anymore."*
Jin Yue edged closer, her sword still drawn but her voice softer. "Kian. Look at me."
He turned, and she flinched at the fractured light in his gaze.
"Lian's still in there, right?" she said. "Don't let the Shard drown him out."
*She's right,* Lian murmured. *I don't want to be a weapon.*
Kian's fists clenched. The Shard hissed, hungry and impatient, but he forced its power down. The glow in his eyes receded, leaving only the faintest shimmer.
Master Liangu limped forward, his robes singed. "The merge is unstable. You cannot sustain two souls in one body for long."
*"I know,"* Kian said. The emptiness where his mother's memory had been yawned like a wound. *But losing Lian isn't an option.*
**The Bargain**
Elder Mei rose, her composure razor-thin. "Exile," she said. "Take the Shard and go. Never return."
Jin Yue bristled. "Or what? You'll hunt us?"
"Yes." Mei's gaze locked onto Kian. "But if you stay, the boy *dies*. The elders will see to it."
Lian's fear spiked in Kian's mind. *I don't want to die.*
*You won't,* Kian vowed.
He faced the elders, the Shard's light coiling around him like a serpent. "We'll leave. But if you follow us, I'll show you what *real* corruption looks like."
The threat hung in the air, sharp and lethal.
Elder Zhao nodded once, his jaw tight. "Go. Now."
**The Road Ahead**
They fled under a moonless sky.
Kian walked apart, his mind a storm. Lian's presence was a quiet hum, a second heartbeat, but the void where his mother's memory had been ached.
*What did I lose?* he asked the Shard.
It showed him fragments—a woman's laughter, a hand brushing his cheek, a whispered *"Be brave."* But her face was gone.
Jin Yue fell into step beside him. "Where to now?"
"The Shard… it wants us to find the First Shrine," Kian said. "Where it was forged. There might be answers there. A way to separate us without—"
*Without killing me,* Lian finished silently.
Master Liangu sighed. "The First Shrine is a myth."
"No." Kian touched the Shard. "It's real. And it's calling."
**The Fractured Dream**
That night, Kian dreamed.
He stood in a field of shattered glass, each shard reflecting a different version of himself—warrior, tyrant, martyr, ghost. At the center stood the Fractured, his mask whole again.
*"You think merging with the child saves him?"* the Fractured rasped. *"You've only delayed the inevitable. Time demands balance. A soul for a soul."*
Kian reached for him, but the glass crumbled. *"What does that mean?"*
The Fractured dissolved, his final words echoing:
*"You'll have to choose. Him… or her."*
Kian woke gasping, Jin Yue's name on his lips.
**The Edge of the Unknown**
At dawn, they reached a cliffside, the valley below choked with mist.
The Shard pulsed, insistent.
*"It's down there,"* Kian said.
Jin Yue peered over the edge. "Of course it is."
As they began the descent, Lian's voice whispered, trembling:
*Kian?*
*Yeah?*
*I'm scared we'll forget each other too.*
Kian paused, the mist swallowing his tears.
*"Never,"* he said aloud—to Lian, to himself, to the void where his mother once lived.
The descent began.