Kael's boots hit the fractured soil with a dull thud.
The Fifth Anchor timeline was wrong.
The sky bled hues of lavender and green. Time here wasn't linear—it spiraled like smoke, constantly folding and unfolding. Buildings flickered in and out of existence. Memories drifted through the air as translucent echoes.
But none of that mattered.
Because the child in front of him was staring.
With wide, unblinking eyes.
With his eyes.
"M-Mom?" the little boy whispered again, gaze trembling.
Kael knelt down slowly, voice barely a breath. "What… did you say?"
The boy took a cautious step closer, clutching a plush fox that had a sigil stitched onto its ear—the same sigil Kael had given Aeris. Burned into the toy with heat-lightning.
The boy tilted his head. "You're not her. But you feel like her. Like the storm."
Kael's pulse surged. Storm. That was what Aeris always called the fusion of their powers—the meeting point between his time-weaving and her elemental command.
"What's your name?" Kael asked, afraid of the answer.
"Sol."
Sol.
Sun.
Aeris had always said if they had a child—a real child, in a timeline not at war—she'd name him after the light she'd never gotten to see.
Kael's breath caught in his throat.
"Where's your mother?"
Sol's expression darkened.
He pointed to the Horizon Spire—a towering obsidian structure hovering above the city like a shard of glass caught mid-fall. Light spiraled around it unnaturally, like time refusing to touch it.
"They took her," Sol said. "The Architect said she broke the balance."
Kael's fists clenched. The Architect—again. He had shattered timelines, corrupted Anchors, and now he had Aeris in this timeline too?
But… Aeris was already holding another timeline together. She couldn't be here—unless...
"She's a version of her," Kael muttered. "Or worse…"
"A splinter," came a voice behind him.
Kael turned fast, shielding Sol instinctively.
A woman stood there, cloaked in mirrored fabric, her face partially hidden by a mask of timeglass. Her presence crackled with power—a Guardian of the Rift.
"You shouldn't be here, Kael Seraine," she said. "This branch is forbidden. It's an echo carved from a betrayal."
"He's my son," Kael growled.
"He's a consequence," she snapped. "This timeline exists because someone defied the convergence. Because someone couldn't let go."
Kael's heart raced. Had Aeris… somehow cloned herself into this reality? Was this child born from an alternate version of their love—one that survived where they hadn't?
He turned to Sol.
"Do you remember your father?"
Sol shook his head. "He left. Before the sky broke."
The Guardian raised her hand. "You must leave before the Rift closes. If you stay, this version of you dies. Time will consume you."
"Then I die," Kael said, standing tall. "Because I'm not leaving this child. Or Aeris. Not again."
The Guardian's hand trembled. "If you choose this… you must become the Riftbreaker."
"I already did," Kael said. "But now I'm breaking it for them."
As thunder split the sky, the Horizon Spire lit up, and from within the black storm—
A figure floated down.
Her eyes glowed violet.
Her voice, fractured across a thousand realities, whispered:
"You were never supposed to find me, Kael…"
But this Aeris didn't smile.
Because she wasn't his Aeris anymore.