Aiden didn't remember standing.
One moment he was kneeling in rubble, lungs heaving, the night sky split by a wound he couldn't mend—
and the next, he was on his feet, swaying, staring at the shimmering trail of particles where the Harbinger had vanished.
His mantle hung from his shoulders like torn wings.
Violet sparks dripped from its edges, fizzing out before hitting the ground.
The parasite whispered weakly:
**HOST STRUCTURE FAILING.
REQUIRE IMMEDIATE STABILIZATION.**
Aiden wiped blood from his cheek.
"Yeah," he muttered. "Join the list."
A warm breeze swept across the rooftop—unusual for a night this cold. It carried ash that sparkled faintly in the moonlight, drifting down from the fractured sky like discarded memories.
Below him, the city was in chaos.
Sirens blared.
Guild convoys raced through the streets.
Families huddled in doorways staring upward.
Children cried as the moons pulsed with unstable light.
Aiden exhaled raggedly.
_Day 2,_ he thought.
And the world already looks like Day 37.
His knees buckled.
The parasite surged in panic.
**HOST—ELEVATED COLLAPSE RISK—**
Aiden forced himself upright.
"No collapsing," he said. "I still need—"
His voice caught.
Lyra.
She was somewhere in the city, alone, confused, waking up from a nightmare that wasn't hers. Memories from a past life bleeding into the present. Reality fracturing around her.
He couldn't leave her like that.
He stepped toward the rooftop's edge—
—and froze as the air behind him shifted.
A pressure.
A distortion.
A flicker of shadow shaped vaguely like a figure stepping out of thin air.
Aiden spun—
Only to find Rowan Vance standing at the entrance hatch, chest heaving, uniform battered from sprinting across half the city.
"Aiden!" Rowan gasped. "You're—"
He stopped.
Stared at the ruined rooftop.
The crater.
The fractures.
Aiden himself.
"…alive."
Aiden gave a weak shrug. "Debatable."
Rowan stepped closer slowly, like approaching a wounded beast.
"What happened here?" he asked quietly.
Aiden pointed at the crater.
"Moonfall Harbinger."
Rowan paled.
"That's not possible."
"Tell that to the hole in the roof."
Rowan's voice cracked. "You fought a Harbinger at Tier-1?!"
Aiden rubbed the back of his neck. "Survived it. Fighting is a strong word."
Rowan swallowed, taking in the mantle's damage, the flickering runes, the violet burns across Aiden's skin.
"Crowe," he whispered, "what are you becoming?"
Aiden didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Not honestly.
Rowan crossed the debris slowly until he stood beside him on the rooftop's edge.
"The Guild will demand a report," Rowan said. "You know that."
"Let them," Aiden muttered.
"You can't tell them you regressed."
"I wasn't planning to."
Rowan nodded grimly.
"But you also can't tell them the Harbinger was after _you._"
Aiden's jaw tightened.
Rowan looked at him sideways.
"Yes," he said softly. "I figured that out. It didn't hit the building. It didn't attack civilians. It came straight for this rooftop. Straight for your resonance signature."
Aiden said nothing.
Rowan's voice was quieter now.
"Why you?"
Aiden glanced at the crack in the sky.
"Because the thing controlling Moonfall knows me."
Rowan's pulse spiked.
"Knows you how?"
Aiden looked at him—
eyes tired, glowing faintly with residual violet.
"Because in the last timeline," he whispered,
"I became it."
Rowan staggered back like the words had weight.
"Aiden…"
Aiden shook his head.
"I'm not letting that happen again. I'll die before I become the Echo."
The parasite hissed in amused displeasure.
**STATISTICALLY UNLIKELY.
HOST DESTINY ALIGNMENT: 72%.**
Aiden ignored it.
Rowan swallowed hard, then stepped forward with more conviction than fear.
"Tell me what you need."
Aiden blinked.
"What?"
"You heard me." Rowan straightened, shoulders squared. "If Moonfall is starting early—if regressors, parasites, anomalies, whatever this is—if it's all accelerating, then I'm not letting you fight it alone."
Aiden stared.
He hadn't expected that.
Not from Rowan.
Not so soon.
"Rowan," Aiden said quietly, "this will destroy you."
Rowan's eyes didn't waver.
"Then it destroys us together."
Aiden's throat tightened.
For a second—just one—
he felt the crushing weight of the world ease.
He nodded once.
"Fine," Aiden whispered. "I'll tell you everything you need."
Rowan exhaled in relief—
Then the rooftop pulsed.
Aiden's shadow-mantle went rigid.
A thin silver fracture opened above them—
tiny, but real.
Rowan's hand went to his weapon.
"What is that?"
Aiden's heart stopped.
"No. Not now. Not this soon."
The fracture flickered—
And a whisper bled through it:
**"Anchor unstable."**
Aiden's eyes widened in horror.
"Lyra—"
The fracture pulsed again.
**"Resonance pull increasing."**
Aiden grabbed Rowan's arm.
"We need to move. Now."
"Why—?"
"Because she's waking up too fast—
and if we're not there when it hits—
she'll break."
Aiden didn't wait.
He sprinted across the rooftop, leapt the railing, and vanished into the night.
Rowan followed.
The moons pulsed again—
and somewhere in the city,
Lyra Everen screamed into the dark.
Lyra Everen ran.
She didn't remember moving.
She didn't remember choosing a direction.
Or leaving her dorm.
Or pushing past the guards shouting at her to stop.
All she remembered was the **sound**.
A scream—her own—ripping out of her throat before she realized she'd woken up.
And the **vision**.
Aiden, on a rooftop drenched in violet fire.
A monster of silver bone reaching for him.
The sky cracking like glass.
A voice—her voice—calling his name with a grief she had never lived.
Her steps staggered as she reached the upper-market bridge, collapsing against the railing. Moonfall dust drifted around her in shimmering flakes.
Lyra grabbed her head, fingers trembling.
"Stop… stop… please stop…"
Visions didn't stop.
Her heartbeat split into two rhythms—hers and someone else's.
Her breath echoed in her ears like it belonged in two different bodies.
And the fracture in front of her pulsed in time with both.
A thin silver line formed in the air above the bridge, humming with pressure.
Lyra stared at it, terrified.
"What are you…?"
The line widened.
A faint whisper escaped, gentle yet bone-cold:
**"Anchor… come home…"**
Lyra stumbled back so hard she nearly fell over the railing.
"No—no—stay away—"
But the fracture grew.
It shimmered with images she couldn't understand:
Aiden collapsing in a crater.
Her own hand reaching toward him.
A city burning under twin broken moons.
Blood dripping onto stone.
Aiden's voice—soft, breaking—
_"I failed you."_
Lyra clutched her chest.
Her heart felt like it was splitting into two separate timelines.
"Make it stop," she whispered. "Please—make it stop—"
The fracture pulsed again—
And a new whisper crawled into her mind:
**"We remember you."**
Lyra's breath froze.
"Who's 'we'?"
The fracture quivered—
and for a moment, she saw eyes in the crack.
Violet.
Familiar.
Haunting.
Aiden's eyes.
But not Aiden now.
Older.
Colder.
Fractured.
Lyra staggered back until her spine hit the stone wall of the bridge.
"No," she whispered. "That's not him. That's not—"
Something grabbed her wrist.
She screamed—
Only to realize it was **Rowan**, breathless, sweat-soaked, eyes blazing.
"Lyra—look at me!"
She blinked rapidly, shaking.
"Rowan…? What—what's happening to me?"
Another hand grabbed her other arm—
Aiden.
His chest still streaked with ash.
Violet residue still glowing faintly across his skin.
His mantle flickering like unstable wings behind him.
He looked like he'd crawled out of the apocalypse she'd just seen.
"Aiden…" she whispered, voice breaking.
He cupped the side of her face, thumb brushing her cheek gently.
"Lyra. Focus on me. Not the fracture."
"I saw you die," she whispered. "Again."
Aiden flinched.
Rowan stared between them, shock sharpening into clarity.
"She's resonating with you," Rowan muttered. "Your memories—your emotions—they're bleeding into her."
"No," Aiden said, voice low. "It's worse."
The fracture pulsed violently.
Lyra screamed again, collapsing into Aiden's chest.
Aiden held her tighter, shadows curling protectively around them.
"Rowan," Aiden said urgently, "I need you to ground her. Stop her from slipping."
Rowan nodded and pressed a stabilizing sigil to Lyra's shoulder. Light flared, pushing back some of the resonance wash.
Lyra gasped, breath returning in shuddering bursts.
Her fingers tightened around Aiden's coat.
"I'm scared," she whispered.
Aiden's chest tightened.
"I know," he whispered back. "I know. I'm here."
But the fracture above them didn't calm.
It sharpened.
It widened.
It whispered:
**"Anchor identified.
Resonance pathway unlocked."**
Rowan's eyes widened.
"Aiden… what does that mean?"
Aiden looked up.
It meant exactly what he feared.
Lyra wasn't just stabilizing him.
She was being **pulled** into the paradox.
Aiden wrapped his arms around her more tightly, shadows flaring in warning.
Overhead, the fracture split open like an eye—
And reality bent toward her.
"No," Aiden growled. "You don't take her."
Lyra gasped, clutching his shirt.
"Aiden—what's happening—?"
He held her closer, voice raw.
"You're awakening too fast."
Rowan whispered:
"Too fast for what?"
Aiden's answer chilled the air.
"For her mind to survive."
The fracture widened with a sound like tearing cloth—quiet, delicate, wrong. Light bled through its edges, silver at first, then shifting into a deeper violet, matching the unstable glow in Aiden's mantle.
Lyra clung to him, trembling.
"Aiden—it's pulling me—something's pulling me—"
"I know," he murmured, tightening his arms around her. "Fight it. Stay with me."
Rowan planted himself beside them, one hand steadying Lyra, the other raised toward the fracture. His voice was low but urgent:
"I'm detecting two resonance frequencies. Aiden's… and something else. Something bigger."
Aiden's jaw clenched.
"The Echo."
Rowan's breath caught. "Your future self?"
"Not mine," Aiden corrected bitterly. "Not anymore."
The fracture pulsed again—
once, twice—
each pulse sending a shock into Lyra's chest. She sucked in a breath and nearly collapsed if Aiden hadn't held her upright.
"It hurts," she said, voice cracking. "Aiden, it—hurts—"
Her knees buckled.
Her fingers slipped.
The world around her warped into double-vision.
Aiden felt panic he hadn't felt in two timelines.
"Lyra. Focus on the sound of my voice."
She shook her head weakly.
"I hear two of you…"
Her breath hitched.
"One crying… one laughing… I—I don't know which one is real—"
Aiden's grip tightened.
"Look at me," he whispered.
She lifted her gaze—unsteady, tearful—
and for a single terrifying second her irises flickered with **violet resonance**.
Rowan's eyes widened.
"She's syncing with your parasite. That shouldn't be possible!"
Aiden knew.
Because he'd seen it once before.
In the timeline he failed.
Lyra's resonance had synced to him moments before the world ended.
Moments before the Harbinger consumed her.
Moments before Aiden watched her die in his arms.
Not again.
Never again.
He shifted, pulling her closer, pressing his forehead gently to hers.
"Lyra," he whispered, breath shaking,
"You're real. You're here. I'm here. Stay with me."
The fracture screamed.
Not loud—
but with pressure that made the air vibrate.
Reality thinned around them.
Stone tiles began peeling upward like they were weightless.
Rowan steadied his stance.
"Aiden—whatever you're doing—do it faster! The pull is increasing!"
Aiden closed his eyes.
Fine.
If the Echo wanted her—
He would make sure it learned the cost of reaching out.
Shadows erupted from his mantle, swirling around Lyra like a cocoon. Violet light wove through the darkness, forming unstable sigils that spiraled around her.
Aiden's voice dropped to a growl.
"You don't touch her."
The fracture spat another whisper:
**"Anchor required.
Anchor incomplete.
Retrieve."**
A tendril of silver energy shot downward—
Rowan moved first.
He shoved his palm forward, activating his Guild sigil. A solid wall of golden light formed, intercepting the tendril. It sizzled and twisted, melting through the barrier in seconds.
Rowan grunted, pushing harder.
"Aiden! I can't hold this—!"
Aiden stepped in front of Lyra.
He raised his hand.
His shadow curled upward, forming a jagged shield.
The tendril struck—
Shadow and silver collided.
The world turned white for a heartbeat.
Aiden slid backward, boots gouging deep lines in the bridge.
The parasite howled:
**HOST WILL NOT WITHSTAND ANOTHER DIRECT STRIKE.
INITIATE CORE UNLOCK.
USE MEMORY SLOT.
SACRIFICE—**
"No," Aiden growled. "Not happening."
He grounded his feet.
The fracture shimmered.
Silver light sharpened into an almost blade-like shape at its center, preparing another strike.
Rowan cursed.
Lyra whimpered.
Aiden stepped forward.
"Come at me," he whispered to the fracture.
"Leave her alone."
The blade lunged—
Lyra screamed—
And Aiden moved faster than the wind.
He seized the fracture's tendril with bare hands.
His skin split instantly.
Blood vaporized.
Nerves burned.
He held on anyway.
"Aiden!" Rowan shouted. "Let go! That's not energy—it's _timeline matter_—it'll rip you apart!"
Aiden didn't move.
His voice was jagged steel.
"If it wants the Anchor…
it goes through me."
The tendril thrashed—trying to rip free.
Aiden tightened his grip violently, squeezing until the silver shimmer distorted.
He growled through clenched teeth:
"You don't get her."
The fracture pulsed—frantic, confused.
A sharp whisper cut through the air:
**"…Echo will be displeased…"**
Aiden spat blood.
"Tell him to bite me."
He slammed the tendril into the ground.
The fracture shuddered—
glitched—
and then snapped closed like a slammed door.
Silence swallowed the bridge.
Lyra collapsed into Aiden before he could even turn around.
Rowan caught her other arm.
"Aiden! Talk to me—you're bleeding everywhere—what did you—"
Aiden dropped to one knee, panting, hands trembling violently.
His shadow-mantle flickered like a dying flame.
But he pulled Lyra into his arms anyway.
"I'm here," he whispered against her hair. "I've got you now."
Her voice was faint.
"Aiden… something inside me woke up…"
"I know."
"I'm scared."
Aiden shut his eyes.
"So am I."
Rowan looked at both of them—fear and awe mixing in his expression.
"Crowe… what did you just do?"
Aiden wiped the blood from his lips, voice low and exhausted.
"I told the future to stay in its lane."
His mantle collapsed around him.
Rowan knelt beside him.
"What now?"
Aiden stared at the sky.
The moons flickered again.
The fracture sealed—
but only for now.
He pulled Lyra closer.
"We get her stabilized," Aiden said.
"And then…"
He exhaled softly.
"We prepare.
Because the Echo won't stop after one warning."