The wind howled through the fractured towers of Velmire as dusk bled into night. Kade stood at the edge of a broken bridge, staring at the reflection in the frozen river below. His face was pale, but his eyes glowed faintly with a silver hue—the mark of a shard-wielder awakening.
Behind him, Lira and Aurelle argued in hushed tones.
"We need to tell him," Lira insisted. "He's not ready to carry the burden alone."
Aurelle's jaw tightened. "If he learns too much, too fast, he'll collapse. Or worse—awaken the other soul."
Lira froze. "You don't mean—"
"I do," Aurelle said coldly. "The shard isn't just unlocking memories. It's splitting him."
Meanwhile, Kade clenched his fists as another whisper coiled through his thoughts.
"You trusted them once."
"Don't make the same mistake again."
"They're watching you now."
His reflection in the river blinked—but he hadn't.
He backed away.
"Something's wrong with me."
Aurelle approached slowly, her voice softer now. "Not wrong. Changing. Shards reforge souls. They don't just give you power… they show you what was lost."
"I saw the face of the one who killed me," Kade muttered. "But I still don't know why."
"Would it change anything if you did?" she asked.
"I'd know who to blame."
Aurelle's expression darkened. "Revenge isn't purpose. It's a leash."
Kade looked away.
Lira joined them, holding a wrapped object.
"We recovered this from the Graveyard after you passed the trial."
She unwrapped it.
A black gauntlet—etched with shifting runes and gears that moved on their own.
"This is the Gauntlet of Thorne," she said. "An artifact lost during the Second Sundering. It responds to paradox glyphs."
Kade reached for it. The moment his fingers touched the surface, it latched onto his arm, fusing with his skin.
Pain lanced through his body.
He gasped—but didn't let go.
The runes flared.
And for a moment—he saw everything.
Velmire. Lira. Aurelle. Himself.
But twisted.
Burned.
Futures he hadn't lived. Pasts he'd never survived.
And in every version—the betrayer was the same.
The face.
The smile.
The scar under the left eye.
Kade dropped to one knee, panting.
"The same person killed me in every timeline," he whispered.
Aurelle's eyes narrowed. "That shouldn't be possible. Unless…"
"Unless they're a fixed point," Lira finished. "An Anchor."
"What's an Anchor?" Kade asked.
Lira explained, "An Anchor is someone whose actions persist across timelines. Their fate can't be altered. They are the nails that hold reality together."
Kade's voice turned hollow. "Then to break free… I have to rip the nail out."
---
Elsewhere…
The masked figure walked through the Spiral Archives, brushing fingers along rows of chained memories.
Behind her, a tall man with ash-white hair waited.
"I warned you," he said. "You pushed the shard too fast."
The woman didn't look back. "He needed to remember. It's the only way he'll survive what's coming."
"Or fall to it."
She stopped before a sealed door marked with seven eyes.
"Unlock it," she ordered.
The man hesitated. "You know what lies beyond that seal."
"Yes," she said. "The truth."
---
Back in Velmire
The trio approached the second chronolock.
It floated in the air—a spiraling ring of golden light surrounded by frozen echoes of people screaming, laughing, dying.
"This one's called the Trial of Doubt," Aurelle said. "It tests the fracture in your soul."
Kade stepped forward.
Immediately, he vanished.
Lira shouted, but Aurelle held her back. "This is his burden. He must face it alone."
---
Inside the Trial
Kade found himself in a white room with a single door.
And a mirror.
He approached the mirror slowly.
His reflection grinned.
"So. You finally came."
"…Who are you?" Kade asked.
The reflection stepped out of the mirror.
It was him—but older. Sharper. His eyes burned red, and the gauntlet on his arm pulsed like a heart.
"I'm who you become if you give in."
"Give in to what?"
"The anger. The loss. The power."
The doppelgänger circled him.
"You think you're special? You think remembering will make you whole? No. It'll break you."
"I have to know the truth," Kade said.
"Why?" the reflection snapped. "So you can cry over the people you failed to save? Or the lives you'll have to destroy?"
"I don't care," Kade growled. "I'd rather break than be blind."
The reflection smiled. "Then let me help you break."
They fought.
Blow for blow. Glyph for glyph.
But Kade fought smarter—used the gauntlet's shifting nature, reshaping its form mid-strike.
He landed a hit—square to the chest.
The reflection shattered into light.
And a voice echoed in the void:
"You have chosen the burden of truth."
"The shard will reveal its name."
The gauntlet burned with light, and a name carved itself across his memory:
"Ashveil."
Then the room vanished—and he was back with Lira and Aurelle.
"You passed," Aurelle said.
Kade looked up, eyes glowing.
"I know the shard's name now."
"And that changes everything," Lira whispered.
Because shard names were power.
And now… someone else would feel it awaken.
---
End of Chapter 18
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