The sea behind them had calmed, but the silence it left was unnatural. No birds, no wind. Even the stars had stilled in the sky like watchful eyes. Ashara stood at the edge of the broken reef, her hand still wrapped around the cold echo-sigil they had taken from Malach's resting place. It pulsed like a second heartbeat.
Ezekiel finished securing the boat while Caelum surveyed the horizon, brows drawn low. The reef's jagged line stretched like shattered glass across the water's skin, fragmenting reflections into a thousand wrong visions.
"He's gone," Ezekiel said at last, his voice low. "But something else is watching."
Ashara nodded. She already felt it. Not just a presence—a pull. Like being drawn into a story someone had already written for her.
System Notice:
✦ Anchor Threads: 2/4 secured
✦ Divine Awareness Threshold: 48%
✦ New Threat Identified: Oracle-Class Entity
They traveled through the reefs in silence for hours. Time bent strangely here; day and night bled into one another like ink in water. At the third tidal shift, a strange island rose from the mist. It wasn't there before.
Jagged cliffs formed its spine, and at its summit stood a black tower carved from obsidian and veined with gold that pulsed like lightning.
"That's no shrine," Caelum muttered. "That's a warning."
Ashara stepped forward. "No. It's an invitation."
They approached the tower cautiously. The island was ringed with strange stone statues—figures in prayer, eyes blindfolded, mouths open in screams or silence.
Inside the tower, the air turned thick. The stone walls shifted as they moved, echoing their footsteps with a heartbeat rhythm. And at the top—a chamber filled with mirrors.
And in every mirror: Ashara.
Different versions. Different crowns. Different deaths.
Then she saw her.
The Oracle.
A woman draped in white robes that shimmered with celestial script. Her face was veiled, but her voice rang clear.
"Ashara of the Thorns. Third of her name. Bearer of betrayal. Herald of the bloom."
Ashara stiffened. "You know me."
"I know all of you. All the yous."
System Alert:
✦ Divine-Seer Encounter
✦ Risk: Memory Inversion / Prophecy Contamination
✦ Reward: Anchor Trajectory Map
The Oracle raised her hand. "You seek to rewrite fate. But fate, like a tide, remembers. For each step you take, a price must be paid."
Ashara's eyes narrowed. "What price?"
"Choose now," the Oracle whispered. "Who among your companions shall not survive the next anchor?"
The mirrors shattered. Ezekiel gasped. Caelum cursed.
System Prompt:
✦ FATE FORK DETECTED
✦ Survival Bias Required
✦ Choices: [Ezekiel] [Caelum]
Ashara's breath caught.
She saw visions.
Ezekiel, bleeding in a ruined temple.
Caelum, falling into a pit of golden fire.
Both looked back at her.
Neither begged.
"You can't ask me to choose," she whispered.
"But you already have," the Oracle said gently.
[Choice Locked: ???]
The mirrors reassembled. Only Ashara stood reflected.
And her reflection smiled.
They left the island as the stars began to fall.
Ezekiel said nothing. Caelum watched her differently.
Ashara held her silence like a shield.
And behind them, the tower vanished into mist.
System Update:
✦ Prophetic Interference Logged
✦ Anchor Map Unlocked: FINAL TWO LOCATIONS IDENTIFIED
✦ Loyalty Shift: Ezekiel [Fractured]
✦ Loyalty Shift: Caelum [Uncertain]
Ashara looked toward the horizon, where the next trial waited.
The gods were watching.
And fate would not be merciful.