She had no thread.
Not one hidden, or masked, or sealed behind divine will.
Just… none.
Kael stared, unsure if what he was feeling was awe or unease. Maybe both. In the Loom Interface, everything had a line. Even corpses had dim echoes of fate's tether. Even illusions shimmered.
But her?
Blank.
Even now, standing before him—breathing, blinking, watching—she was invisible to the weave.
It unsettled something in him.
And yet… she didn't.
"I thought I was alone," he said at last.
His voice echoed strangely here, delayed, as though the void needed time to remember sound.
"You were," she replied softly. "So was I."
They stood in stillness, two silhouettes in a place where reality frayed.
Kael narrowed his eyes, subtle energy flickering across his vision. The Loom Interface pulsed. The Soul Map trembled.
Then—
[Anomaly Detected]
[No Fate Signature Present – Entity Excluded from Loom Logic]
[Proceed With Caution]
He closed the interface with a blink. Whatever she was, the system didn't know how to classify her.
Neither did he.
"What's your name?" he asked, voice hoarse.
"Elira."
She said it like it meant nothing. Like it wasn't a name, just a sound she once remembered.
"You?"
"Kael."
Their names floated in the void between them—threadless, unanchored, but real.
She walked a little closer. Still slow. Still weightless. But now close enough that he could see the tiny notches in her fingernails. The lines under her eyes. The slight tremor in her breath.
Human.
Not divine.
Not monstrous.
Just… lost, like him.
"How long have you been here?" he asked.
Elira looked upward, where a sky might have been.
"Long enough to forget what warmth feels like," she said.
Then she turned back to him, head tilted like a bird hearing music for the first time.
"But you brought it with you."
A beat passed. Kael shifted his stance. The silver thread that trailed behind him shimmered faintly—then twitched.
Toward her.
[Warning: Anchor Attempt Detected]
[No Thread Found – Bond Incomplete]
[Stabilization Failed]
The thread recoiled, snapping slightly. Kael flinched. His heart pounded.
"...What was that?" Elira asked.
"My fate," he murmured. "Trying to latch onto something that doesn't exist."
She didn't answer. But she took another step.
And then she touched his arm.
There was no system ping. No shift in the air. No magical backlash.
Just skin on skin. Warm. Gentle. Real.
Kael froze.
He hadn't been touched since the trial. Since the chains. Since the cell. Since—
She pulled her hand away. "Sorry."
"No," he said quickly. "I just… forgot what that felt like."
She smiled. Faint. Crooked. But not empty.
"I still don't know why you're here," she said. "But you found this place."
Kael looked behind him, where the void stretched endlessly.
"No one's looking for me anymore," he said. "Not even the gods."
"Good," she said. "That means you get to choose where to go."
He stared at her.
"You don't want to stay?"
Elira hesitated.
Then she whispered, "I stayed long enough to forget why I waited."
Kael didn't smile.
But he nodded.
And when he turned, she walked beside him.
No thread pulled them forward. No weave demanded their steps.
But something… else began to form.
Faint.
Flickering.
Not a thread, but a bond.
[Anchor Bond: 0.2% Established]
[Origin: Undefined Entity]
[Soulshare Candidate Detected]
Kael didn't notice the message yet.
But something deep in him had already accepted it.