The seventh toll echoed across the ravine like a divine command. The rift above pulsed with impossible colors—shifting hues from forgotten epochs. No stars shone near it. They had all fled.
Kade stood despite his dizziness, blood trailing from his nose, the remnants of fractured memories clawing at his sanity.
"What now?" Lira asked, drawing her blade. "That rift… it's not just looking at us. It's hungry."
Aurelle whispered something in her native tongue. A prayer? A curse? Even she didn't know anymore.
Caela stood slowly. Her body trembled, her eyes burning with chaotic sparks.
"It's the Bell of Yul'ren," she said. "It rings when a Prime destabilizes beyond recovery. The last time it rang… the Aether Sea devoured an entire timeline."
"And you're saying we triggered it?" Kade asked.
"No," she replied. "I did. Because I remembered too much. But the Bell doesn't only punish… it judges."
From the rift descended a figure. No wings. No face. Just presence.
It touched down like a whisper on the edge of the ruined stone. The moment it did, gravity shifted.
Aurelle fell to her knees, gasping.
Lira's blade shattered in her hand.
Kade held firm, shielding Caela.
The entity spoke without a voice, its thoughts woven directly into their minds:
> "You trespass upon remembered fate. An abomination walks among you. The Wound grows. The Veil cries."
A thousand voices layered over each other—male, female, beast, machine.
> "Deliver the Prime. Or all shall unravel."
Kade stepped forward. "No."
The being tilted what might have been a head.
> "Defiance. Curious. You wear a thousand deaths like armor, yet you still hope."
Caela whispered to Kade, "It's a Warden of the Fold. Not a god. But not far."
> "We are the Keepers of Sequence. The Custodians of Flow. We prune the branches that rot. She is rot."
Lira, panting, snarled, "She's our ally. Our friend."
> "She is a core rupture. Time bends around her. You all degrade in her presence."
"Then let it bend," Kade growled.
The Warden paused.
Then, with a gesture, the world changed.
They stood in a memory not their own.
A battlefield of futures undone.
Thousands of Kades—dying, screaming, laughing, fleeing. Thousands of Caelas—shattering, burning, ascending, collapsing. The same scene, over and over, playing simultaneously across an endless wasteland of broken timelines.
"This…" Kade murmured. "These are the echoes."
"Yes," Caela whispered. "This is my curse. I am the Veil's wound."
Then—
The Warden drew a blade made of folded paradox. It crackled with never.
> "You defy cleansing. So be it. Your thread shall be cut."
Aurelle shouted, "Kade!"
But before the blade struck—
Boom.
A blast of shadow erupted from the earth, hurling the Warden back.
Someone emerged from the shadows.
Tall.
Shrouded in black and gold runes.
Eyes like black suns.
Kade gasped. "No way…"
"Who the hell—?" Lira began.
Caela stepped back. "It's… you."
The figure stepped forward, voice echoing through layers of time.
> "Back away, Warden. This thread is mine."
The Warden halted. "A Specter of the Deep Fold… You should not exist in this strand."
> "Neither should you."
The two beings locked gazes.
Then the Warden turned to Kade.
> "Enjoy your borrowed cycle. The tolling will return. And next time… it won't be a warning."
With that, the rift closed.
Silence returned.
The new figure turned to them.
He removed his hood.
Kade stared in horror.
It was himself.
An older version. Scars covering his face. A missing eye replaced with a glimmering shard of temporal crystal.
"I'm you," he said calmly. "But not the you you'll become. Not unless you make the same mistakes."
Lira's jaw dropped. "What the hell is happening?!"
Aurelle stepped back. "Another divergence…"
Older Kade nodded. "This world is close to collapsing. But it's not doomed yet. You need to reach the Mirrored Spire. Inside it is a construct—your anchor. Without it, Caela will destabilize. And so will the rest of you."
Caela's lips trembled. "Why are you helping?"
Older Kade smiled faintly. "Because I remember what it was like to want to forget. And I envy the version of me who still has the strength to fight."
He placed something in younger Kade's hand.
A cracked compass. Its needle spun erratically.
"This will point you where the Veil is weakest. But it can't guide you through."
"Then who can?" Kade asked.
Older Kade turned to Caela. "She can. She's your key."
The ground began to quake. He started to fade.
"Wait!" Lira shouted. "What's your name?"
The specter of Kade smiled.
"I used to be called Kade. But now they call me…"
> "The Echobane."
And then he was gone.
Only silence remained.
Caela held the compass close, her voice quiet.
"Mirrored Spire. Anchor. We have a destination now."
Kade looked toward the dark horizon.
"And an army of timelines trying to stop us."
---
End of Chapter 23