Before stars had names, before time chose a direction... there was only the Thread. It wove nothingness into matter, silence into song. It spun the first truth: That all things are connected—and all things can unravel.
Most called it myth.
Kael Iroh knew better.
Because today, it came for him.
The rain had stopped falling five minutes ago, but Kael hadn't noticed. His feet crushed shattered glass and fractured asphalt as he walked deeper into the Hollow Zone—Sector 7's no-man's-land, swallowed whole after the Quake Wars.
Here, the city had no laws.
No police, no tech grids, no cameras.
Only ruins—and the boys who hunted ghosts in them.
Kael's fingers trembled as he adjusted the cracked strap of his synthetic backpack. The pain in his shoulder still pulsed from yesterday's bruise, a souvenir from Zane's latest "game."
But today, something felt wrong.
Off.
The sky… it hummed.
He looked up. A scar split the clouds—not lightning, not storm. Just... silence. And then—
A single thread fell.
Thin as a strand of hair, but glowing with pulsing indigo light, it spiraled down from the fissure in the sky and pointed—unerringly—toward him.
Kael's breath caught.
"Before time chose a direction..."
"You were already chosen."
The voice wasn't real.
Or maybe it was.
He turned to run.
But it was already too late.
"You think you can hide here, Iroh?"
Kael's stomach dropped.
He didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
Zane.
And behind him—Drey, Shen, Milo, and Brix. Five shadows stepping through the collapsed gate behind Kael, their boots crunching glass like bones.
Zane was seventeen. Muscles. Black gloves. Jagged scar under one eye. A born predator in a place where weakness bled you dry.
"Hey, freak," Zane called. "We missed you at the hangout."
Kael's voice stuck in his throat. The thread above him pulsed brighter now. The others didn't seem to see it.
"Something wrong?" Shen smirked, slamming a rusted pipe into his palm. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Kael backed toward the ruins.
"You shouldn't be here," he said.
Drey snorted. "And you should?"
Zane's smile curved like a blade. "C'mon, Kael. We just wanna talk."
Then the sky cracked open.
A soundless boom split the world. A second thread fell—then a third, then hundreds. All colors. All directions. All impossible.
The Hollow Zone lit up like a circuit grid—reality tearing along pre-carved seams.
Zane froze. "What the hell—?"
But Kael didn't hear him.
The first thread struck his chest.
He didn't fall. The world did.
Kael's body lifted slightly off the ground as threads pierced him—not flesh, but deeper, into the core of his being. Blue light exploded behind his eyes.
Visions.
A woman wrapped in time.
A boy stitching the moon with golden thread.
A machine with no face, weaving death into equations.
A realm beyond physics, where memory dictated matter.
Then—his own name, whispered like a command.
[Soul Signature Confirmed: Iroh, Kael]
[ARX.PROTOCOL initializing...]
[Weave Status: Fragmented. Loom Creation—Pending.]
Kael dropped to his knees.
His heart thundered.
The Soul Loom ignited inside him.
And everything changed.
Zane shouted, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Kael barely heard.
He could see them now—threads everywhere. Lines of glowing color weaving through stone, light, air—and people.
Each of the gang members had a dominant thread running from them to Kael:
Zane: Red—rage, burning like fire.
Milo: Green—envy, sick and curling.
Shen: Grey—apathetic, dull.
Brix: Black—something fractured.
Kael could feel their intentions before they moved.
Zane lunged.
[Combat Thread Detected: High Aggression]
[Thread Echo Preview: 6.4 seconds into future]
[Recommended Action: Phase Step or Counter-Path Severance]
Kael didn't understand it—he simply moved.
Time split like glass.
Zane's crowbar missed by inches, shattering stone. Kael's body twisted in a reflex he didn't own—his Loom had taken control.
[Skill Triggered: Echo Recall]
[Cooldown: 9s]
Kael's eyes flashed blue.
Zane staggered back. "What the hell are you?!"
Kael's voice cracked. "I—I don't know."
Drey yelled and charged, pipe raised.
Kael instinctively reached forward—blue thread swirling around his hand.
[Thread Ability: Shadow Severance]
[Path Selection: Instinctive Slice]
The air between them cracked. A glowing blue arc sliced forward.
The pipe melted in Drey's hands. He collapsed, unconscious.
Milo ran.
Brix stood frozen.
Shen turned to Zane. "We have to GO!"
But Zane wasn't finished.
He looked at Kael like a dog looking at thunder—scared, but too proud to flinch.
"You always thought you were special, huh?" Zane spat. "You're just broken."
Kael's hands trembled.
Not from fear.
But from knowing he could see Zane's thread of regret. Thin. Hidden. Twisting around his chest like a memory he refused to face.
Kael grabbed it.
Zane gasped.
[Skill Activated: Echo Loop - Empathy Variant]
[Thread Overlay Initiated]
Kael didn't just see Zane's regret.
He lived it.
A memory slammed into him—
A father, drunk, beating Zane bloody.
A younger brother, screaming for help.
A moment—Zane walking away, never going back.
Zane fell to his knees.
Kael stumbled, heart pounding.
The thread loosened. Zane trembled, silent.
[Thread Weave Complete]
[Acquired: Memory Weave Subdomain]
[Soul Loom Sync: 14%]
The sky sealed above them. The Hollow Zone dimmed.
And all Kael heard was the Loom whispering.
"Every thread you pull, pulls something else."
"Weave carefully."
Kael collapsed beside a broken pillar.
His limbs burned.
Zane and the others lay scattered, defeated—not by violence, but by truth.
The Loom pulsed in his chest. Seven faint circles glowed along his inner vision—locked domains. Only one had awakened.
Mind & Echo.
[ARX.PROTOCOL STABLE]
[Soul Loom: Active]
[Thread Count: 3 / 7]
[Path Status: Divergent]
Kael whispered, "Why me?"
And the Loom answered.
"Because you are broken in all the right places."