"You don't break time by accident. You break it when the truth hurts more than the lie."—Wong
Location – Edge of Reality, The Red Corridor
The team stood before a glowing fissure in space—a vertical storm bleeding red and violet hues into the void.
Seris-Va adjusted her gauntlet. "This is the signal Anachrys left. A breadcrumb trail… straight into the Red Shift."
Wong frowned. "That region has no linear time. No cause. No effect. Only consequence."
Kael, eyes still glowing violet, stepped forward.
"It's where she began. The Architect's birthplace."
Inside the Rift
They entered a plane unlike any other. Buildings formed from ideas. Light responded to thought. Shadows whispered old versions of the truth.
At the center, a Cathedral of Echoes—its walls forged from memory. Each step forward pulled pieces of the past into the now.
Liora paused at a shattered altar.
"This was her first fracture," she whispered."Where she learned breaking could make her feel alive."
Elsewhere in the Cathedral
Anachrys stood alone in the Sanctum of Forgotten Threads, manipulating time-strands that screamed as they bent.
"They've come. Good."
She turned toward the central mirror—a rift that held every moment Kael had ever rejected.
"He thinks he's whole. But I remember the version that didn't hesitate. The version who joined me."
She reached into the mirror—gripping the reflection of a Kael who never fused. Who embraced control. Who chose her.
"Come back," she whispered.
And the Kael from Timeline Omega stepped out.
Clad in obsidian and red, his Mirrorheart corrupted, he bowed to her.
"I remember. I serve."
The Battle Begins
Kael and his team reached the Cathedral's core.
Echoes screamed in their ears—old choices, mistakes, failures.
Then Kael saw himself.
Omega Kael. The version that had accepted Anachrys's truth. Stronger. Crueler. Unburdened by doubt.
"This isn't possible," Kael muttered.
"Everything is possible here," Omega said. "Even winning."
They fought—blade to blade, mind to mind.
Kael used empathy, his power channeled through acceptance.
Omega Kael fought with logic and force—refusing connection, wielding only dominance.
Riri's Revelation
While the Kaels clashed, Riri found Anachrys at the heart of the echo-core.
Her hands were buried in a control mechanism shaped like a beating heart made of mirror.
"You weren't building a better world," Riri said."You were rebuilding yourself."
Anachrys didn't deny it.
"I lost everything. Then I learned: If time hurts you, you don't rewind it.You remake it."
Riri raised her repulsor. "Then we're pulling the plug."
The Shatterpoint
As Kael and Omega Kael collided one last time, their Mirrorhearts connected.
Kael reached out—not to strike—but to pull his other self in.
"We're not enemies," Kael said. "We're trauma split in two."
Omega paused. His eyes flickered.
Then: Anachrys screamed, triggering the echo-core's override.
Time began to collapse inward.
Final Moments
Kael turned to Liora.
"Can you hold the Red Shift open long enough?"
"Only if I burn what's left of me," she said, quiet.
Kael looked down.
"You're more than the timeline that made you. You're hope."
She nodded, glowing silver.
As the core imploded, Liora held the tear open—long enough for the others to escape.
Kael turned toward Anachrys—who stood weeping as her world crumbled.
"This wasn't about breaking reality," he said."It was about surviving it."
He stepped forward.
"You're not the Architect. You're the orphan of a broken clock."
He walked away.
Final Panel
Liora's body dissolves into light as she seals the Red Shift.
Kael looks up, tears in his eyes, whispering:
"Goodbye, Echo."
❖ To Be Concluded in the Epilogue – Violet Tomorrow ❖