The Forgotten Plains stretched out behind them as the Legion convened at the edge of the Temporal Nexus. The crystalline expanse shimmered faintly in the fractured light, its spires twisting and converging like a labyrinth of frozen time. The air was thick with temporal distortions, currents of past, present, and future colliding in chaotic harmony.
Velara Nost stood at the centre of the gathering, her fragmented robe rippling faintly as she addressed the group. Her gaze was sharp, her tone cutting.
"The Nexus is not a battlefield like any other. Its defences are woven into the fabric of time itself. Approach carelessly, and you'll find yourself lost in a loop or erased entirely."
Kael leaned against a jagged outcrop, his crimson eyes glinting with faint amusement.
"Sounds like a great time. Let's hope the Mnemonics put up more of a fight than they did at the repository."
Velara shot him a cold glance.
"Your theatrics have no place here, Beast. The Nexus demands precision, not brute force."
Kael grinned, bloodshot eyes narrowing.
"Precision's overrated. Chaos always finds a way."
Thales stood apart from the group, his Umwelt sparking faintly as he studied the Nexus. The fractured timelines rippled at the edges of his perception, their chaotic energy both alluring and unsettling. The sigil on his chest burned faintly, its rhythm echoing the tension in the air.
"What's my role?" Thales asked, his voice steady despite the weight of the mission pressing down on him.
Velara turned to him, her fragmented symbols flickering.
"You'll navigate the distortions. Your cultivation gives you a unique advantage here. Find the Nexus's vulnerabilities and guide us through."
Kael's grin widened.
"No pressure, brat. Just don't trip over your own timelines."
Mara Vorth stepped forward, her spectral symbols glowing faintly. Her voice was calm but firm.
"The Mnemonics will defend the Nexus with everything they have. Expect illusions, temporal traps, and memory barriers designed to disorient and divide us. Stay focused."
Velara nodded, tone sharpening.
"We move in three phases. First, infiltration. Thales will identify the temporal rifts and guide us through the initial defences.
Second, disruption. Mara and I will dismantle their core structures, destabilizing the Nexus from within.
Third, extraction. Any critical fragments of memory or history that can serve the Legion will be taken."
Kael chuckled, low and predatory.
"And if we break a few Mnemonics along the way? Bonus points."
Velara's expression darkened.
"This isn't about indulgence, Beast. The Kaiser has a purpose for this mission. Do not forget that."
Thales glanced at Lyra Silene, who stood at the edge of the group, her gaze distant. Her shimmering garments, woven with fragments of dreams and twilight, rippled with unease. She caught his eye briefly. Her expression remained unreadable.
As the group dispersed to prepare, Thales lingered at the edge of the camp. His Umwelt sparked faintly as he stared at the shifting spires of the Nexus. The pull of fractured timelines was almost tangible—a chaotic song resonating with the sigil on his chest.
"You're quiet," Lyra said, approaching him with her usual grace. She stopped beside him, gaze fixed ahead.
"Just thinking," Thales replied. "About what's waiting for us in there."
"You've been through worse."
"Have I?" he asked, Umwelt flickering. "This feels… different."
Lyra hesitated. Her garments shimmered like disturbed reflections.
"The Nexus doesn't just test your strength or cultivation. It tests you—your choices, your fears, your regrets. If you're not ready to face them, it'll swallow you whole."
"And you? Are you ready?"
Lyra smiled faintly, though it didn't reach her eyes.
"I don't think anyone's ever ready for the Nexus. But we go anyway."
Kael appeared beside them like a shadow with teeth.
"Let me guess," he drawled. "Lyra gave you the 'Nexus is scary' speech."
"It's not wrong," Thales muttered.
Kael's grin sharpened.
"The Nexus isn't scary. It's just honest. It'll show you what you are—what you could've been.
The only thing that's scary is whether you can handle it, pussy."
"And you?" Thales asked. "Did you handle it?"
The grin faltered. For a moment, Kael looked hollow.
"That's the thing about the Nexus. It doesn't care if you handle it or not. It just keeps going."
The silence that followed was tense—but Thales didn't flinch.
His Umwelt sparked again.
"Then I'll keep going too."
Kael chuckled bitterly.
"Good answer, runt. Let's see if you can back it up."
The Nexus loomed before the Legion.
Its crystalline spires twisted and shimmered like blades of fractured possibility, caught in an eternal ripple of time. Fractured light spilled across the horizon, casting distorted shadows that moved independent of any source. The air was heavy with temporal energy, and the ground itself seemed to phase in and out of alignment.
Velara stood at the front, her fragmented robe glinting like broken glass under sunlight.
"The Nexus is not a place for the unprepared. It will twist your perceptions. Fracture your sense of self. If you falter, it will consume you."
"Sounds like fun," Kael muttered. "Let's see who gets swallowed first, yah pack of bitches."
Velara's expression didn't change. Her symbols flickered faintly.
"Chaos is no substitute for clarity, Beast. The Nexus feeds on uncertainty.
If you wish to survive, you would do well to remember that."
Kael smirked but didn't reply. He stepped forward, aura pulsing like a hungry tide.
Thales took a breath.
His Umwelt flickered as he activated Temporal Perception, slowing the chaotic currents around him. The distortions resolved into readable patterns. Paths emerged.
"I can see the pathways," he said. "They're unstable—but navigable."
Velara nodded.
"Then lead. But tread carefully, Miray. The Nexus reveals more than just the past…
It reveals the truths you hide from yourself."
They entered.
The crystalline corridors reflected not just light, but memory—each surface a mirror of moments that could be, or once were. Thales's Umwelt flared brighter as he adapted, guiding the Legion deeper through the labyrinth.
Then, a pause.
A reflection lingered too long. Thales halted. It showed him—alone in a void. His Umwelt extinguished. His eyes hollow.
Velara joined him at the mirror.
"Do you know what you're looking at?"
"A possibility. One I won't let happen."
Her tone grew quiet. Philosophical.
"Possibility is the foundation of all things, Miray.
To deny one is to deny the nature of existence.
The question is not whether this future can happen—
But whether you understand why it exists."
Thales looked at her.
"Do you?"
Velara's symbols flickered with sadness.
"Possibilities are mirrors. They show us what we could be—not what we are.
But a mirror can't lie. It can only reflect."
Her words followed them like echoes.
The deeper they went…
The more truth the Nexus would reveal.