The air tasted like static.
Kael stood frozen, staring at her—Aeris, and yet not Aeris.
She hovered above the cracked stone of the Horizon Spire's base, her feet never touching ground. Violet light pulsed beneath her skin, her irises dancing with temporal threads—blue for past, red for future, silver for collapsed realities.
Her voice echoed in layers.
"You crossed the forbidden axis, Kael. You tore through the fifth anchor, and now… you stand before what you made me."
Kael couldn't breathe. She was beautiful and broken, celestial and corrupted—like the past had kissed her and the future had betrayed her.
"You're not her," he whispered, pain thick in his throat.
She descended slowly. Time bent around her like a cloak. Sol stepped back, hiding behind Kael, clutching the fox tighter.
"I was her," she replied. "Until the Architect shattered my core and made me watch every version of you… die."
Her eyes flickered, and for a moment—just a breath—Kael saw grief there. The Aeris he loved. The Aeris who had fought beside him through the ruins of time. Who had whispered forever even as timelines collapsed.
But it passed like a shadow.
"This world… this version of me… exists because I refused to let go of you," she said. "I rewrote destiny. And in doing so, I became the Riftbreaker."
Kael stepped forward, the ground trembling beneath his feet.
"Then let's fix it together. You're not too far gone—"
She raised her hand.
Reality buckled.
"Don't lie to me, Kael. You're the wound. The original fracture. You broke the flow of causality when you saved me in the Paradox Core. You weren't meant to survive."
The truth slammed into Kael like a meteor.
Was that what the Architect had whispered to her? Was that why she had become… this?
Sol's small voice trembled.
"Mom… please stop. He's good. He's kind."
She flinched.
For the first time—she flinched.
Her gaze snapped to Sol. "You… shouldn't exist."
"But I do," the boy said, stepping out. "Because you and Dad loved each other once. And that love is still in you. I know it."
The Riftbreaker stared.
And then, something inside her cracked.
A single tear slipped down her cheek—but instead of falling, it reversed in mid-air and disappeared.
"I've locked this reality from outsiders," she murmured. "If you try to take him… everything unravels. Not just here. Everywhere."
Kael stepped forward again, defiant.
"Then teach me how to rebuild it. Let's write a future that's not built on loss."
She trembled.
Reality trembled with her.
Then the sky tore open—
A rift surged above them, pouring light and screams.
And from within the rift stepped—
The Architect.
Clad in fractured armor, his face a shifting mosaic of Kael's dead variants. He clapped mockingly.
"How poetic. Lovers torn by truth. A child born from paradox. And me? I'm just here to watch you burn."
He raised his hand.
The Horizon Spire ignited.
And in that moment—
Sol screamed.
The world exploded in white.