They walked for hours.
Or maybe days.
Time had started bleeding again. The compass needle didn't point north—it twitched and spun with every step, reacting to unseen tides.
The path beneath them cracked and shimmered, more illusion than stone. Trees whispered in dead languages. Shadows rippled against the grain of light.
"This place isn't real," Lira muttered.
"It's real enough to kill us," Aurelle said, hand on her arc pistol.
Kade stayed silent, watching Caela. She hadn't spoken since the specter vanished. Her expression was unreadable—like her soul was orbiting a hundred other worlds.
Then she finally broke the silence.
"When I was young—back when I had a timeline of my own—I dreamed of a tower with no top. A mirrored spire, too tall to see the end. My father told me it was a curse, that dream. That people like us were born remembering places we'd never been."
"People like us?" Kade asked.
Caela nodded. "Threadborn. Children not fully tied to a single reality. The Veil marks us… or maybe it tries to warn others."
Aurelle raised an eyebrow. "So what, you're like a prophecy in a person's skin?"
"No. I'm the failure of one."
They crested a hill—and there it was.
The Mirrored Spire.
Piercing clouds that weren't clouds. Its walls shimmered like stilled water, reflecting a thousand versions of themselves in rapid succession.
But it was broken.
Chunks of it hovered midair, frozen in collapse, as though the tower had shattered across dimensions and refused to choose one.
"Looks welcoming," Lira said dryly.
Kade narrowed his eyes. "The compass stopped."
Indeed—it had. The needle now pointed straight up.
Aurelle pulled her cloak tight. "We're close. I feel it. The aether's screaming."
Then—
A scream, human this time.
They turned.
From the woods came a boy.
Ragged, maybe sixteen. Bleeding. Limping.
"HELP!" he cried. "They're coming! They're—"
He never finished.
A black spike shot through his chest and dragged him back into the trees.
Kade sprinted forward, but Caela grabbed his wrist.
"Too late," she whispered. "They've found us."
From the trees came the sound of slow, heavy footsteps.
Figures emerged.
Clad in robes of rust and bone.
Faces hidden by mirrored masks.
Each carried a different weapon—axes, glaives, ancient rifles humming with corrupted energy.
"Echobinders," Caela hissed. "They harvest timeline remnants. They want to claim me."
One stepped forward. His mask was cracked. He removed it.
His face was Kade's.
But not quite.
Scarred differently. Eyes yellow.
Voice calm as a whispering blade.
"Don't resist," he said. "I am you. The better version."
Kade stepped in front of Caela. "I've met enough 'better' versions of myself."
The Echo-Kade shrugged. "You're slow to learn. She is a contagion. The Mirrored Spire won't save her. It will consume her."
"Maybe," Kade said. "But she's still ours to protect."
"Then you'll die here," the Echo-Kade said simply.
Aurelle's pistol fired—pure light tearing into the Echo-Kade's shoulder. He didn't flinch.
Lira leapt into the fray, spinning a shattered blade like a dancer of war.
Caela raised her hand, and the Veil rippled.
The air screamed.
Time bent.
Reality fractured.
And Kade—
—Kade stepped into his first real fight as himself.
No running. No freezing.
He focused, drawing on the Emberbrand left in his bones from the Bell's echo.
For a moment, he saw threads—the timeline connections between the Echobinders, each linked to a dying moment.
He struck one.
It unraveled.
An Echobinder collapsed in a burst of withered light.
Caela gasped. "You saw it."
Kade nodded. "I think I can cut them."
Together, they fought.
Aurelle's shots bent in impossible angles.
Lira whirled between enemies, flowing like smoke and lightning.
Caela opened rifts that blinked attackers into oblivion.
Kade struck thread after thread, his eyes beginning to glow.
And then—
Only the Echo-Kade remained.
Bleeding. Breathing heavily.
"I'll just come back," he said. "There are so many of me."
Kade looked him in the eye.
"Then I'll cut every damn thread."
He lunged—
And this time, the thread didn't just break.
It screamed.
The Echo-Kade imploded into shards of time-glass.
Silence returned.
The path to the Spire was clear.
Caela stumbled. Kade caught her.
"You okay?"
She nodded, but her eyes were wide.
"You've started to awaken."
"What does that mean?"
She looked at him, almost afraid.
"It means… you're not just bound to the Veil anymore. You're shaping it."
---
End of Chapter 24
Hey everyone thanks for stopping by, glad your enjoying the story so far as a reward for all the support so far here's an extra chapter today