The night over Chrono Abyss wasn't like any other—tonight, it bled. The sky, once a tapestry of starlit serenity, was now a canvas of ruptured colors—blues torn apart by violet lightning, black clouds swirling like ink dropped in water. As if the sky itself mourned the oncoming war.
Kael stood at the edge of the shattered balcony of the Tower of Resonance, his coat flaring against the screaming wind. The cracks running along the spire below him mirrored the ones forming in time—fractals of memories and futures converging unnaturally.
Aeris appeared behind him, her silhouette etched against the flashing horizon. Her white suit shimmered with faint golden circuitry, the power of the Aether Crown humming through her veins. Her hand found Kael's shoulder, grounding him in the present.
"They've started moving," she said, voice calm but laced with tension. "The corrupted versions of us—they've breached the lower realms."
Kael turned. His eyes, once brimming with fire, now carried the weight of too many timelines. "And the Architect?"
Aeris hesitated. "Still sealed, but the last barrier is thinning. Null's echo is guiding them. They're here to rewrite us, Kael."
Far below, through the shattered platform's breach, the army swarmed like an avalanche of shadows—clones of Kael and Aeris, twisted by the Final Architect's touch. Eyes glowing red, movements jagged and stuttering, as if each step splintered another second.
Kael's hands curled into fists. "Then we hold the line. If time must choose, it'll choose us."
Suddenly, the world pulsed.
A ringing tore through the air—like a bell forged from starlight—and the sky above split open.
Descending from the breach was her.
Tall, cloaked in a robe made of refracted timelines, her eyes pure white, glowing from within. Aetheric tendrils danced around her fingers. Her voice echoed before her lips moved.
"Do you remember me, Aeris?"
Aeris froze. "Impossible…"
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Who is she?"
Aeris stepped forward slowly, the wind parting around her like a curtain of silk. "She was my first variant. My origin. The version of me who never chose love. Who chose power."
The figure smiled. It was Aeris' smile—but hollow, ancient, devoid of warmth.
"I am the beginning of you. And I have come… to end you."
Suddenly, the entire tower shook. Time itself warped, bending around her presence. Clones screeched in unison as they halted mid-assault, kneeling.
Kael reached for his blade. "Get behind me."
Aeris stepped beside him. "No. I face her."
The corrupted Aeris raised her hand—and a wave of fractured light burst forth, sweeping across the battlefield. It disintegrated anything caught within—but as it reached Kael and Aeris, time paused.
They were unharmed, standing within a bubble of stillness. A man stepped through it—cloaked in shadows, face hidden beneath a hood, but his voice unmistakable.
"Kael," he said. "We have to talk. Now."
Kael's eyes widened. "Father?"
Kael's long-lost father—thought to be erased from all timelines—emerges at the moment when the corrupted Aeris unleashes a timeline collapse. But is he ally or weapon? And what secret has he hidden from Kael that could destroy Aeris' very soul?