1. Aro
The floor split without breaking.
He was still seated, still grounded — but his senses told him otherwise. Something had moved beneath the simulation. A layer not meant to be touched.
"You felt that too?" Iris whispered.
They all had. A hum, low and wrong. Not danger. Not memory.
A choice.
Selene's voice cut through the air. "We need to stand."
They rose. Chairs dissolved behind them.
In their place — a mark on the floor. A threadline, not drawn but burned in, faint but alive. Moving slowly… somewhere forward. Somewhere real.
Alin crouched to inspect it, but Aro had already started following.
He didn't ask the others to come.
They did anyway.
2. Rin
The other version of her was gone.
Not erased — folded back into time. But something else had stayed. A faint symbol in the air. Like a static rune blinking where her shoulder had been touched.
It pulsed in a steady rhythm.
Like a door left open.
Rin turned.
And found a hallway that hadn't existed before.
At the end of it — she saw something watching her. Not alive. Not hostile. Just… waiting.
Not Weaver. Not Threadwriter.
Not a person.
A switch.
The walls began to echo voices from earlier chapters — versions of conversations they weren't supposed to remember. Lost iterations. Cut content.
"Someone's rebuilding memory," Rin murmured.
Not recalling it.
Rebuilding it.
3. Weaver
"She's doing it," said Weaver.
He watched through the observing plane. Threadlines warped beneath him, rippling with unsanctioned variables. The Technician had violated protocol in a way even he hadn't anticipated.
"She's bypassing memory entirely," Veyne said, appearing at his side. "She's restoring structure."
Weaver nodded grimly.
"And no one below has the authority to stop her."
They stood in silence, watching the divergence open.
"You know what this means?" Veyne asked.
Weaver's voice was calm.
"The villain's next move won't be a threat."
"It'll be proof."
4. Technician (Yren)
Somewhere beyond the observable simulations, she walked alone.
Lines of code flickered through her fingers, suspended in light.
She didn't speak aloud.
But her thoughts moved fast.
I've restored the path. They will choose to follow it. Or not. That is beyond me now.
Behind her, part of the system flickered — a small rollback attempt was denied.
Denied without intervention.
She smiled softly.
You always watched the wrong ones first.