Darkness wasn't empty.
It hummed. Whispered. Pulsed.
Eryndor Vale opened his eyes to a sky made of glass and smoke — shards of memory suspended in endless black.
Each fragment around him replayed pieces of the world he once knew — Kael's laugh, Rykas' calm voice, the city's neon glow — all shattered, all looping like a broken projection.
He reached out. His hand passed through a glowing sliver of Voltixol Prime, rippling the vision like water.
"Still adrift…" a voice murmured.
"You linger where time refused to let go."
Eryndor turned. A silhouette stood a few steps away, cloaked in a pattern that constantly shifted — as if written by time itself.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head.
"A keeper. A fragment of what was lost. You trespass in the Chrono Layer—the seam between moments. Few ever awaken here."
Eryndor clenched his fists. "Then send me back."
"Back?" the voice echoed softly. "To which now, Eryndor Vale? You are unanchored."
Suddenly, light speared through the void — scenes flickering in all directions.
Kael's face.
Rykas' blade flashing.
The Verse—whispered by a thousand children.
Eryndor fell to his knees, clutching his head. "Why are you showing me this?"
"Because he has awakened," the Keeper said. "The Vessel breathes again. The Verse shifts to rewrite itself."
Eryndor's eyes widened. "Kael…"
The Keeper stepped closer, its tone colder now.
"He carries the Chrono Reversion, yet he does not understand it. When time reverts… it consumes what came before."
Eryndor's voice trembled. "Then he'll destroy himself."
"Unless you reach him first."
A pulse of light surged from the Keeper's chest, embedding a mark into Eryndor's hand — a glowing sigil shaped like a spiral of glass.
"Follow the fractures. Each will lead to the next convergence. But beware…"
The world began to crumble again, reality peeling apart.
"The Verse does not like being rewritten."
Eryndor gasped as he fell through the collapsing horizon — each fragment slicing through the air like mirrors. For a heartbeat, he saw Kael standing in a rain-soaked street below, looking up as if he felt something calling him.
Then everything went white.
Voltixol Prime — present.
Kael paused in the middle of the market street, a faint chill crawling up his spine. The pendant against his chest warmed briefly, responding to something unseen.
"You feel that?" Rykas asked, scanning the crowd.
Kael didn't answer. His eyes drifted to the sky — for a second, he thought he saw a crack there. A thin fracture in the clouds, glowing faintly gold.
"The Verse…" he whispered. "It's changing again."