The Hollow Tree wasn't hard to find.
It rose above the forest like a blackened fang, dead and hollowed out by time. Theo could feel it before he saw it — the way the threads around it twisted, thinning into delicate strands like spider silk in the cold.
This wasn't just an old tree.It was a wound in the land.
Nova was already there when he arrived, sitting cross-legged at the base, her silver hair catching the dying light. She didn't look up as he approached. Just kept tracing slow, invisible patterns in the dirt with the tip of a stick.
Theo stayed a few steps back.
"You came," she said.
"You asked," he answered.
That got a small, sardonic smile from her — brief but real.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The world around them hushed, like it was holding its breath.
Finally, Nova broke the silence.
"Tell me something, Theo Marlowe," she said, voice low. "Do you believe fate can be changed?"
Theo thought of the dead villages. The broken cities. The sky cracked open like glass.He thought of standing at the end of everything, holding nothing.
"I have to believe it," he said.
Nova nodded once, like that was the right answer — or at least, the only one she would accept.
"Good," she said. "Because the world doesn't think so."
She stabbed the stick into the dirt sharply, leaving a shallow mark.
"Most people," Nova continued, "live like their threads are chains. They think everything's already written. That no matter how hard they fight, the end will always be the same."
Theo shifted his weight slightly, feeling the Origin Core thrum against his ribs.
"And you?" he asked.
Nova finally looked up at him.
"I think the threads are just... tangled. Not broken. Not yet."
There was something fierce in her voice — a fire that had survived too many storms.
Theo found himself leaning in, listening without meaning to.
Nova stood up, dusting her hands on her trousers.
"You said you're here to stop something worse," she said. "I believe you."
Theo blinked. He hadn't expected her to say that so easily.
"But believing isn't trusting," Nova added, sharper now. "Trust has to be earned."
He nodded slowly. "Fair enough."
Nova circled him once, eyes flickering over him like she was searching for cracks.
"You're carrying something," she said, more to herself than to him. "Something... old. Heavy."
Theo said nothing.
If she could see even a glimpse of the Origin Core woven into his being, then she was more dangerous — and more valuable — than he had realized.
Nova stopped in front of him, close enough that he could see the faint scar cutting through her left eyebrow, like a thread frayed but not broken.
"Here's what's going to happen," she said.
"You and I are going to work together. Carefully. Quietly."
Theo raised an eyebrow. "You're sure you want to risk that?"
Nova's mouth curved in a humorless smile.
"Not really. But if I leave you alone, you'll stumble into something you can't fix. Or worse — you'll fix the wrong thing."
She tapped her temple lightly.
"I can see threads, Theo. But I can't always tell which ones need saving. That's where you come in."
Theo hesitated.
Part of him screamed to work alone. Trust no one. Keep moving. Keep fixing. Keep surviving.
But another part — the part that remembered how alone it felt standing at the end of the world — whispered that maybe this time, he didn't have to do it alone.
"Alright," he said finally. "Partners."
Nova's eyes darkened slightly.
"Don't call us that yet," she said. "Not until you prove you're worth trusting."
Theo didn't argue.
She had every right to be cautious. So did he.
Nova tilted her head toward the forest.
"First test is tomorrow. North of here. A caravan's about to be ambushed. Small thing, maybe — but the people in that caravan matter more than they know."
Theo frowned. "How do you know?"
"I saw it," she said simply.
Theo looked toward the darkening woods. Toward the future that hadn't happened yet.
"Then we stop it," he said.
Nova smiled — small, grim, but real.
"Yeah," she said. "We stop it."
The wind stirred between them, threading their fates together — thin and fragile, but real.
For the first time in a long time, Theo felt the faintest flicker of something he hadn't dared name in years.
Hope.