The Shardgate closed behind him with no sound.
Not a slam. Not a seal. Just absence.
Aiden stood at the center of the chamber, breathing in air that didn't feel like air at all. He expected to feel relief. Victory.
Instead, he felt scraped raw.
The battle with the Last Light had left a mark—not just in his body, but in his thread. It wasn't a scar.
It was a signal.
---
> [System Alert: Cross-Timeline Echo Surge Registered]
Multiple Entities Detected
Trace Pulse: Classbound Interference – Tier Unknown
Response Faction Activated: Pale Assembly
---
Aiden blinked.
"What the hell is the Pale Assembly?"
---
Elsewhere – Thread Denied
Across the world, deep within a ruin that shouldn't exist, three figures stirred.
Each wore a different color.
None wore faces.
They moved through threads like sharks beneath waves.
> "Shardbinder Aiden Varos has breached Echo Protocol."
> "Confirmed Timeline Drift past 25%."
"Deploying a Herald."
And in silence, they sent one.
---
Back at the Hollow – Hours Later
Torran sat beside the campfire outside the ruins, sharpening his blade like it was routine. But his eyes kept drifting to the gate. To the stone. To the weight that had followed Aiden out of it.
"You're quieter," he finally said.
Aiden didn't respond.
Not right away.
Then: "He wasn't evil. The one I fought. He was... tired."
"And you won?"
Aiden looked at him.
"No. He let me."
---
> [Class Update: Shardbinder – Echo Resonance Expanded]
New Ability: Starbind – Flicker (T2)
Effect: Instant recall to a previous physical location within 5 seconds. Can anchor once per hour.
Sync: 27%
Mental Load: Moderate
Echo Feedback Risk: Low
---
That night, Aiden dreamed in pulses.
Signals.
Flashes.
A thousand lives flickering just outside his skin. A girl with wings of shadow. A boy who burned whole cities to erase a mistake. A king who stepped into a god's place—and flinched.
And one version of himself who never took the Shard.
He died quietly.
No one remembered his name.
---
When Aiden woke, a single word echoed in the System.
> [HERALD INBOUND]