The moment Aeris opened her eyes, time shivered.
They stood on a rooftop under violet skies—the night she became the Riftbreaker, when fate had first kissed chaos. Below them, the city pulsed with neon veins. Storms coiled overhead. And there she was—her past self, eyes hollow, blade trembling as she stared down at Kael across shattered glass.
Kael froze.
"That's… me. And you."
"The night I tried to kill you," Aeris whispered.
But Kael didn't respond.
Because something was wrong.
The air was heavier, trembling—not just from their presence.
From someone else.
"Someone's watching this memory," he muttered. "Someone who shouldn't exist in it."
Aeris turned.
There, beyond the railing, standing like a ghost between timelines… was a woman cloaked in shadows that shimmered like dying stars. Her presence didn't ripple reality—it severed it.
"Who—" Aeris's voice broke. "Who is that?"
The woman smiled without warmth. Her voice echoed with centuries and regrets.
"I am what remains… when love loses."
Kael stepped forward, instinctively placing Sol behind him.
"You're not part of this memory. This is our past."
"And yet," the woman whispered, "I was always here… waiting."
She raised her hand.
A thousand versions of Aeris fell from the sky—each screaming, each dying, each locked in a moment of betrayal or sacrifice.
Kael roared, stepping toward them, but Aeris caught his arm.
"She's showing us what we could become," Aeris murmured. "If we lose Sol. If we lose us."
The woman—now clearer, face pale, with eyes like hollow moons—looked directly at Aeris.
"You think rebirth is a gift. It's a curse you'll wish you never chose."
"What do you want?" Aeris asked.
"To offer a trade," the woman said, stepping into full view. Her face was a mirror—an older version of Aeris, scarred, broken, twisted by grief.
"I took the deal," the older Aeris said. "I gave him up to stop the war."
Kael's breath hitched.
"You're… from another future."
"From your future," she said, pointing to Sol. "The moment you let love decide instead of fate, you created me."
Aeris's eyes welled.
"You're lying. I'd never abandon him."
"You did," older Aeris whispered. "And I came back to stop you from doing it again."
Lightning cracked the memory. The rooftop trembled.
"This memory can't hold," Kael said. "If we stay here, we fracture the loop."
The older Aeris raised her hand.
Sol screamed as reality split—his body suspended in a sphere of collapsing time.
"One life to save a thousand timelines," she said. "You know the cost. Make the choice."
Aeris stepped forward. Her hands shook.
"I'm not you," she said.
"Then prove it," older Aeris challenged. "Choose the boy over the world."