[Interior: Sub-root Layer — A place beyond sight or gravity. Sylrae walks alone now, separated from Kaelen and Thane. The space bends around her with each step, shaped by memory, emotion, and the will to forget.]
Sylrae (looking around):
"This isn't real. This isn't me."
[The world solidifies around her—a moonlit balcony above a floating ballroom. She's wearing armor she's never owned, a corsair's insignia gleaming on her chest.]
Ghost Voice (her own):
> "But it was. For a time. For many times."
[She turns. A version of herself stands behind her. Eyes colder. Smile sharper.]
Sylrae-Prime:
"You're the diluted version. The quiet one. The one who ran."
Sylrae:
"I survived. I adapted."
Sylrae-Prime:
"You forgot."
[Scene shifts. Now she's in a sky-prison. Flames. A child screams. Sylrae clutches a knife—but her hands are chained. This memory hurts.]
Sylrae:
"This isn't mine."
Voice of the Bound (whispering):
> "But it was. You were never just one self. You were thousands. We kept you because you were perfect. Ruthless. Strategic. Loyal… until Kaelen."
Sylrae (defiant):
"I chose him. And I'd choose him again."
Sylrae-Prime (approaches, smirking):
"Then take the oath. Bind us. All of us. Let our war-born blood forge a new shape in the sky."
---
[A sword materializes between them—etched in aether runes, the blade humming with countless timelines. Taking it would mean embracing all versions of herself. Even the monstrous.]
Sylrae (steady):
"I won't deny what I was. But I won't let it own what I'll become."
[She places her palm to the blade. It burns—and then softens. The multiple versions collapse into her. Pain. Clarity. Unity.]
Sylrae (whispering to the memory winds):
"I am not your tool. I am not your regret. I am the oath-breaker. I am the oath-maker."
---
[Scene cuts back to Kaelen, deeper in the Root. He looks up as a shockwave of aether rushes past. He feels it—her choice.]
Kaelen (smiling faintly):
"She remembers who she is."
---
End of Chapter Fifteen