The Stranger didn't blink much.
He didn't speak again for a while, either.
Just sat at the fire across from Aiden, roasting something on a stick that hadn't existed seconds before.
The flames bent slightly away from him. Like they didn't know how to behave.
Torran watched him like a hawk, blade half-sheathed, boots ready to spring.
"Where did you come from?" Aiden asked, finally breaking the silence.
The Stranger smiled. "Not a where. A when. And technically… not yours."
---
> [Dialogue Thread Unlocked – Tier III Entity: "The Stranger"]
Classification: External Disruptor
Thread Origin: Folded Point / Bleedspace
Alignment: Ambiguous
Danger Level: Uncertain
---
"You're not one of me," Aiden said.
"No," the Stranger agreed. "You were too rigid to become me. Too stubborn. But I envy that."
Aiden leaned forward. "Then why are you here?"
The Stranger turned the spit once more. "Because someone's stirring the Weave. And I'm a loose thread. That tends to get me pulled toward dangerous places."
He glanced up.
"And right now, that means you."
---
Elsewhere – Mirror Depths
Caelia's spies reported nothing useful.
Her scryers wept in their sleep.
The Weave would no longer speak her name aloud.
Only one fragment remained consistent:
> "Stranger confirmed. Gate destabilizing. The Chronicle of Unwritten Things has begun to flicker."
She whispered a single command:
"Wake the deep tier."
And all across the Dominion, mirrors cracked.
---
Back at Camp – Thread Warning Incoming
> [System Update – External Entity Presence Persists]
Thread Drift: Accelerating
Effect: Manual Threading becoming volatile
Outcome Forecasts: Unavailable
---
The Stranger's voice softened.
"You've started walking a path the Weave doesn't recognize. You've become… unscripted. The Shardbinder is unstable now. Not in danger—just… impossible."
He looked at Aiden with something like pity.
"And the last person who walked that far off the thread?"
Aiden nodded once. "What happened to them?"
"They stopped being someone."
---
Torran finally spoke. "Are you warning us or threatening us?"
"Yes," the Stranger said.
Then vanished.
No shimmer. No blink.
Just gone.
---
Aiden stood in the silence after, heart quiet but heavy.
He didn't fear the Stranger's smile.
What haunted him—
Was how familiar it had started to feel.