3 Days Until the Convergence
Rael's mind was still reeling.
He sat in the back of a skytrain that whisked him across the aerial veins of Arkanis Metropolis, the reflection in the glass panel opposite him flickering unnaturally. His own eyes stared back—cold, calculating, yet unstable. Glimpses of that fabricated memory clawed at his sanity: a version of himself burning a classroom… holding Aria's broken body.
> NeXus:
System Status: Stabilizing.
Memory Contamination Level: 4.7% and falling.
Core Sync: 89% Complete.
Specter Points: 67
Threat Tag: "Dollmaker" – Escaped. Tracking Reacquisition: Pending.
> "She said Aria would remember too," Rael muttered. "Why her?"
The answer, NeXus fed back, came wrapped in a burst of code:
> [File Extracted: Project Seraphim / Phase-04 / Candidate Pairing: R-Syn (Prime) + A-Velan (Heart Anchor)]
Rael's blood ran cold.
> "Heart Anchor…?"
NeXus pulsed a holographic schema in front of him. Two silhouettes—his and Aria's—interlocked with energy strands running between their cores. A glowing sigil, shaped like a downward-pointing triangle inside a circle, spun at their center.
It was the same symbol etched beneath the Whisper Engine's deepest memory chamber.
> "They linked us," he whispered.
A memory from earlier surfaced—Aria's voice calling him through the comm shard. He hadn't answered. He couldn't. Not with the timelines fraying like spider silk around them.
> Location Beacon: Aria Velan – Unstable Signature Detected. Threat Proximity: Moderate.
Initiating Shadow Transit…
Rael didn't hesitate.
---
Arkanis Academy – Observatory Wing
Aria paced back and forth in the crystal-walled chamber, her fingers tracing the runes carved into the floor by a forgotten civilization. She could feel it—like a pressure building behind her eyes, whispering her name in a voice she almost recognized.
> "Rael…"
Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The temperature dropped. The reflection on the observatory's mirror-glass shifted—revealing not Aria's image, but a version of her lying motionless under a cracked dome.
She stumbled back.
> "W-What is this?!"
A voice spoke from the reflection. Not her own.
> "Heart Anchor compromised. System activation commencing."
Her pendant—a simple shard of starlight Rael had once given her—began to glow. Then burn.
> Reality Lock Breached.
A tear opened in space.
Rael emerged, wrapped in translucent armor, eyes blazing with twin sigils spinning within his irises.
> "Aria. Don't move."
But it was too late.
She screamed.
Rael flung his hand forward. A wall of dimensional energy wrapped around her, sealing her inside a crystalline cocoon as she collapsed mid-air. Her body hovered, limbs twitching.
> "NeXus—scan her. Full spectro-temporal analysis."
> Analyzing…
Heart Anchor Bond Compromised. External Protocol Detected: Project Seraphim Phase-04 Override.
Mind Synchronization Failing.
Probability of Collapse: 61%.
> "She's syncing to a false reality," Rael growled. "Just like the one I saw."
Then the walls of the observatory cracked—not physically, but existentially. Figures flickered in and out of vision. One of them was the Dollmaker, standing behind Aria, her fingers deep inside a console of spinning light.
> "She's not your heart," the Dollmaker said. "She's your key."
Rael's mind raced. The word key triggered another NeXus fragment.
> [Memory Triggered – Whisper Engine]
"The Anchor must awaken before the Prime. Otherwise, they'll both tear reality apart."
> "Why are you doing this?" Rael shouted. "Why corrupt her memories?!"
The Dollmaker tilted her head.
> "Because your memories are lies too."
Rael surged forward, his Phantom Chains bursting from his back, snapping at the edges of the tear. But the Dollmaker vanished again, slipping between shards of broken timelines.
Aria's body hit the floor, still breathing—but unconscious.
NeXus spoke again.
> Critical Status – Anchor Core Fragmenting. Initiate Protocol: Memory Fusion?
Rael's hands hovered above her. If he initiated this, he'd see everything—her past, her pain, and maybe… her feelings.
> "Do it," he said.
> Warning: Fusion Irreversible. Private Memories Will Merge.
> "I said do it."
A flash of light.
Rael screamed.
Aria's memories poured into him—her childhood, her first day at the academy, the way she looked at him when she thought he wasn't paying attention.
And one memory—hidden so deep it was buried beneath her fears.
> A boy in a shattered lab, clutching a dying girl, sobbing.
"I'll find you again… even if the stars die."
The boy looked like Rael.
But the girl wasn't Aria.
It was the Dollmaker.
---
Elsewhere – Omega Guild, Fractured Worldline
A cloaked figure watched a glowing sphere showing Rael and Aria in the observatory.
> "He's begun to awaken," said a voice behind the figure.
"Shall we send Subject 07?"
The figure nodded.
> "Send them all. Let's see if the Specter Prime really is unbound."
Arkanis Academy – Observatory Chamber
2 Days Until the Convergence
Rael collapsed to one knee, still reeling from the memory fusion.
NeXus flared bright red inside his vision.
> Warning: Neural Overload. Sensory Feedback Surge Detected.
Stabilizing... Sync Ratio: 73%
Aria floated inches above the cracked runic floor, encased in a cocoon of swirling light. Her body was limp, but her heartbeat was stable. The only sound in the chamber was the ghostly hum of energy vibrating between them.
Rael's fists clenched.
He now knew the truth—Aria wasn't just a heart anchor. She had been chosen, modified at the same black site as him. And more importantly...
She remembered him—but not as Rael.
> "She knows the other me... the one I buried," he whispered.
The one with a different name. A different face.
> Specter ID: DOLLAR.
Status: Masked.
Memory Sync: 39%
Traits: Cold. Calculated. Unstoppable.
That identity had been forged in blood and secrecy. A ghost in the system. One that no one, not even Aria, connected to Rael.
> "Why do I have two lives?" he growled.
NeXus pulsed an answer.
> Specter Protocol Created as Countermeasure to Time Fractures.
Anchor Link Only Possible If Dual Identity Exists.
DOLLAR Form Created to Operate Outside Fixed Fate Threads.
> "So I'm a paradox?" he muttered. "Great."
The cocoon pulsed.
Aria's lips moved—but not with her voice.
> "You're too late, Specter Prime."
The voice was hollow, metallic.
The Dollmaker.
> "She's mine now. Her soul is the key, and I've already begun the Reformatting."
Rael rose slowly. His hands curled into claws as a dark energy surged through his veins. He didn't need permission. He didn't need a team.
> "NeXus... deploy Specter Shift Mode."
> Warning: Activating will collapse current timeline stability.
Proceed?
> "Yes."
Reality cracked around him.
Glass-like fragments peeled off the edges of the observatory chamber as Rael's body shifted—his hair turning silver, his armor reshaping into something darker, more alien. Sigils burned along his skin. His presence bent gravity.
The real Rael was no longer hiding.
> "I'm done playing human."
He extended a single finger, tracing a glowing glyph mid-air.
> "Open channel to core timeline. Trace Dollmaker's signal."
> Accessing.
Matching Signature Across 9 Paradox Threads... Match Found: Echoverse Zeta.
Opening breach...
A swirling black vortex split the floor beneath them.
But before Rael could step through, Aria screamed.
The cocoon cracked.
A pulse of golden energy blasted outward, knocking Rael back.
Aria floated, eyes open—but glowing with twin spirals of white light. A different voice spoke through her lips now:
> "This body... is no longer hers."
NeXus flickered violently.
> Alert: Anchor Vessel Overridden by Echo Core Construct – "Seraph-07".
Emergency protocol activated: Heart Anchor Hostile.
Rael stood slowly, fury in his veins.
He couldn't hurt her.
Not Aria.
But whatever was inside her wasn't her anymore.
> "Give her back," he said coldly.
The entity smiled through Aria's face.
> "Make me."
Rael stepped forward, his body vanishing into a blur.
In an instant, he struck—but Aria met him blow for blow, now faster, stronger, impossibly precise.
They moved like lightning—crashing through the observatory walls, shattering barriers, leaving trails of fire and light in their wake.
Each impact caused rips in reality to form—cracks showing alternate versions of themselves.
In one, they kissed.
In another, she killed him.
But in this one...
> "I'll break the system if I have to," Rael shouted, panting.
"I'll bring her back."
He reached for the last hidden weapon NeXus had stored.
A fragment of his Specter Core—dangerous, unstable, and illegal across all dimensions.
> "If you're in there, Aria... forgive me."
He stabbed it into his chest.
The world imploded.
---
Elsewhere – Omega Guild, Central Spire
The cloaked figures watched the observatory vanish into a singularity.
> "Specter Prime has activated core merge," one said.
"He's not ready. Not yet."
Another figure spoke—this one with glowing red eyes.
> "Doesn't matter. He'll either become the key... or the end."