Aiden didn't descend the ridge.
He collapsed beside the altar instead, sweat pouring down his face, the newly-formed Emberheart Core pulsing low and warm inside his chest like a second heartbeat.
He felt different.
Not just stronger—anchored. As if a thread had been tied between him and something ancient. Not the System. Something deeper.
> [Health: 48/70]
[Mana: 3/115]
[Condition: Fatigued – Recovery Rate Reduced 25%]
He had pushed himself to the edge. But he had survived.
He leaned back against the ruined stone, eyes half-lidded. For the first time since waking in this cursed second life, he allowed himself to rest.
---
The dream came immediately.
He stood in a black void. Not cold, not warm. Just… empty.
Before him floated a shard of crystal, jagged and flickering with soft violet light.
It hummed.
Not a sound, but a resonance—like a thought forming before words arrived.
> "We remember you."
Aiden took a step forward. "What are you?"
> "One who failed. Like you. One who shattered the Weave. Like you."
The shard cracked in midair.
Aiden raised his hand—
—and woke with a jolt.
---
The morning mist was thick by the time he rose.
The forest was still quiet, but not silent. Birds had returned. Wind rustled the pine boughs. The land had accepted his presence—for now.
He checked his status:
> [Level: 3]
[Mana Core: Emberheart (Tier I)]
[Skills: Flashburn Spark, Flame Pulse, Temporal Slip]
[Passive: Battle Instinct (F)]
[Legacy Sync: 12%]
> [New Directive Available: Follow the Fracture]
Origin Point Detected Below Emberheart Ruins
Danger Level: Unknown
Reward: ???
Accept?
Aiden narrowed his eyes.
"The Fragment," he murmured.
It hadn't been part of this location in his old timeline. That meant one thing: the System was actively altering his path.
It wasn't just a guide.
It was a force with its own agenda.
> Accept.
---
Descent Point – Beneath the Emberheart
The altar groaned as he stepped forward. Sigils lit beneath his boots—silent, ancient runes long buried beneath moss and time.
A round of stone slid away, revealing a spiral stair descending into black.
He conjured a spark between his fingers, lighting the way.
The air grew colder with each step, like the heat of the world had been drained away.
At the bottom: a cavern.
No—a chamber.
Perfectly round. Polished obsidian walls. A single pedestal in the center. Upon it, a floating shard of violet crystal. Fractured. Radiating the same resonance from his dream.
> [Temporal Fragment Detected]
Status: Inert
Origin: Unknown Timeline
Caution: Contact may trigger Temporal Instability.
Aiden stepped closer.
The shard pulsed faster.
He hesitated.
Then reached out.
The moment his fingers touched it—
---
FLASH
He was everywhere.
A thousand timelines pressed in.
He saw himself die on a battlefield. He saw himself kneeling before the Empress. He saw himself becoming Emperor. Then burning.
He saw Caldus—his old friend—stab him in the heart again.
He saw a version of himself without emotion. A tyrant.
And he saw something else.
A throne of bone.
And something sitting on it that wore his face, but was not him.
---
> [Fragment Synchronization: 1%]
[New System Tier Detected: Chronoshard Interface]
> You may now access alternate decision echoes.
Feature Locked: Timeline Forking (Requires Sync 10%)
He stumbled back, blood leaking from one nostril.
That thing on the throne. That wasn't just a vision. It was a version of him that the Weave had remembered.
And it wanted back in.
---
He exited the chamber in silence.
Above ground, the wind had picked up. Storm clouds gathered in the east.
Aiden didn't look back.
The world was shifting. Threads were stirring.
And the future was splintering.