The team gathered around the Chronocapsule, tension thick in the air. Arjun, the calmest among them, broke the silence. "If the knot fails, what happens?"
Mira swallowed hard. "Reality collapses. Not just here—everywhere. Every timeline, every memory."
Kiran, their newest recruit, stared at the knot's shifting threads. "Can't we just reset it?"
Felix shook his head. "We've tried. The decay's too deep. Something—or someone—is sabotaging the stream."
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. A cold wind swept through the lab, carrying a whisper only Mira seemed to hear:
"The stream endures, but pride has broken the weave. Beware the final fracture."
A symbol appeared on the knot—a spiral, fractured down the middle.
Linh's eyes widened. "The Watchers. They're warning us."
Mira's resolve hardened. "Then we find the fracture. We fix the tapestry. Or we all disappear."
But as the knot's glow faded, Mira wondered: Was she already too late?