The sky broke open sometime after noon.
Aiden stood at the tree line, watching stormclouds tumble in over the ridge. Thunder whispered across the horizon—not loud, but insistent, like footsteps drawing closer.
He turned from the Emberheart ruins and descended the slope, one careful step at a time.
Behind him, the Legacy site closed on its own. The stone altar sealed with a grinding sigh, as if it knew its time was over.
> [New Directive Acquired: Return to the Threadline Path]
Objective: Regroup. Replenish. Reach a populated zone.
Distance: 12.6 kilometers
Threat Range: Tier F – Tier D Wild Zones
Optional Objective: Investigate Trace Signature – [Entity: Unknown | Temporal Wound Detected]
Aiden's eyes narrowed.
"Another wound?" he murmured. "The timeline's bleeding faster than I thought."
---
Nightfall – Forest Outskirts
He built the fire carefully.
The flame in his palm, Flame Pulse, roared out too violently for tinder. So he returned to Flashburn Spark, dampening it, narrowing the range, until the flickering heat caught on twigs and pine needles.
Even the act of casting felt more fluid now.
He could feel the difference.
The Emberheart wasn't just a source of power. It was a soul-fused core. It wanted to grow.
He sat by the fire, cloak draped over his shoulders, and opened his status window.
> [Aiden Varos – Level 3]
Class: [Undesignated]
Core: Emberheart (Tier I)
HP: 70/70
Mana: 115/115
Sync: 12%
Skills:
– Flashburn Spark (T0)
– Flame Pulse (T1)
– Temporal Slip (T1)
Passive: Battle Instinct (F)
Legacy Perk: Flamebound Resistance (+10% Fire Resistance)
It still said Undesignated under Class.
Soon, that would change.
He leaned back against a stone and tried to rest—but sleep didn't come easy.
Not with the memory of the Fragment still flickering behind his eyes.
Not with the vision of the throne.
And not with the echo of his own voice—the other him—laughing in a tone that made his skin crawl.
---
Elsewhere
The capital did not sleep.
Its towers gleamed under moonlight. Skybridges crossed between cathedrals and academies. Arc-lanterns glowed soft gold across the merchant ward.
At the peak of the Grand Spire, Empress Caelia knelt in silence before a pool of mirrored glass.
It rippled—then darkened.
A shape formed.
Not a face, but an outline. Broad-shouldered. Cloaked in fractured light.
> "Confirmed?" she asked, voice low.
> "Yes," the entity replied. "The Emberheart's signature has flared again. The fracture is real."
Caelia's expression didn't change. "And the subject?"
> "A child. Temporally anomalous. Name redacted by Weave resistance. But… the echo resonates."
Caelia rose. She walked to the window, looking out over the Empire's heart.
"He's alive," she whispered. "Or worse—he's becoming."
---
Dawn – Returning to the Threadline Path
By sunrise, Aiden was already moving.
The forest gave way to lower hills and forgotten trade roads. Cracks split the old path beneath his boots. Signs of decay long ignored by the Sol Dominion.
A half-collapsed milestone stone jutted from the earth: a faded marker pointing toward a settlement called Kaelridge.
Aiden's eyes darkened. He remembered Kaelridge.
It was a logging village with a hidden leyline beneath its roots—and in five days, if things followed the old script, it would be razed by raiders funded by the Inner Eye, then blamed on rogue mages.
He gritted his teeth.
This time, he could get there first.
This time, he would be the variable.
---
> [Quest Unlocked: Divergent Thread – "The Fire That Never Happened"]
Objective: Prevent the destruction of Kaelridge
Bonus Objectives: Save the Leyline Anchor | Prevent Civilian Casualties
Timeline Convergence Risk: Moderate
System Incentive: +3 Sync if successful
Aiden smiled for the first time in days.
It wasn't joy.
It was hunger.