Aeris stood on the edge of oblivion.
The time-abyss beneath her feet churned like a black ocean of screams—shards of alternate realities flickering with every heartbeat. Above, the courtroom of mirrors shattered one by one, each exploding into stardust as Null circled her like a patient vulture.
"You have one choice, Aeris," Null cooed, her black chronosword spinning slowly in her hand."Sacrifice Kael… or watch the multiverse devour your daughter."
Aeris's knees buckled, not from weakness but from the weight of knowing.
Lyra. A daughter she hadn't yet conceived. A future that wasn't supposed to be possible.
And Kael—her enemy, her anchor, her twin flame forged in timelines and ruin.
"This isn't real," she murmured, more to herself than to Null. "You're feeding on fear. On echoes."
Null smiled with teeth like razors.
"I feed on certainty. And the certainty is this: You can't save both."
A scream tore through the abyss—Lyra's voice, echoing across time like a ripple. Aeris turned, eyes blazing, and leapt into the dark.
Scene Shift: Kael & Lyra – Ruins of the Paradox Core
The facility was crumbling.
Temporal panels shattered like glass under the pressure of collapsing time. Kael gripped Lyra's wrist, leaping over a disintegrating floor into the control tower. Sparks rained around them. Everything smelled like ozone and burning timelines.
"Dad, we don't have long!" Lyra yelled over the rising noise.
"I need a backdoor to the Core," Kael snapped, slamming a palm into the biometric pad. "If Null is reactivating the Rift, we have one shot—one—to cut her out of the root timeline."
Lyra's fingers flew across the console.
"She's already linked herself to the Architect. Their code is merging."
"Then we pull them apart. Like tearing out the infection."
"And if Aeris fails?"
Kael hesitated—just long enough for the console to flicker.
A recording played.
Aeris's voice.
"If you're hearing this… I didn't make it."
Kael froze. The air thinned. Even Lyra stood still, her breath caught.
"Kael," the recording whispered, "You have to believe in what we built. If I fall… don't let the war define Lyra. Let her become something beyond us. Let her live."
Kael's fist curled around the edge of the console.
"Not a damn chance you're dying, Aeris."
"She's here," Lyra whispered, pointing.
Outside the cracked tower glass—a figure fell through the sky, wrapped in torn flame and black light.
Aeris.
Scene Shift: Aeris – Entering the Rift Core
She hit the platform like a star crashing down, her body bleeding raw energy. Null followed her like a shadow, sword dragging sparks across the metal.
"You still don't get it," Null said, circling. "This isn't about Kael. Or Lyra. Or timelines. This is about you, Aeris."
"Then let me make it about us."
Aeris's own chronosword ignited—flames of future and past coiled around her blade. She charged.
Steel clashed. Light exploded. Time fractured.
Every blow echoed through dimensions.
A thousand Aerises screamed. A thousand Nulls struck back.
Kael and Lyra watched from the tower, helpless as gods warred across the skin of reality.
"She's losing," Lyra whispered.
"No," Kael said, walking to the shattered glass. "She's becoming."
Final Scene: The Architect's Chamber
Far away, in a throne of obsidian built from dying timelines, the Architect rose.
"Let them fight," he said, his voice void-slick and final."When she breaks… we make her ours."
He stepped forward, and the entire timeline bent in his direction.
Null and Aeris clashed one final time—
And Aeris screamed, not in pain—
But in transcendence.