The path twisted upward into mist.
Coker walked ahead of the others, silent, his eyes fixed on the mountain that stabbed into the sky like a broken tooth. Behind him, Mina followed with quiet footsteps, clutching the small red scarf he had given her long ago. Lilin walked in the rear, her violet eyes watching everything—and nothing.
The wind here didn't blow.
It *echoed.*
Like it remembered footsteps long gone. Like it whispered secrets to the rocks, again and again, hoping one day they'd answer.
"This is where it happened," Lilin said softly. "The breach."
Coker nodded.
The mountain was older than anything in the valley. Older than the city in the sky. Older, even, than the war that erased itself.
And at its peak… time had broken.
Not slowed. Not frozen.
*Broken.*
---
Halfway up, the air began to shift.
Not grow colder—but *stranger.*
Trees leaned away from them, as if afraid. The sky flickered between day and night without warning. At one point, they saw a raven flying backward, feathers falling upward.
Mina touched Coker's arm. "I think we're being watched."
"We always are," he said.
"But not just by people," she whispered. "By… time."
---
They reached a wide plateau.
It was completely silent.
No birds. No wind. Even their *footsteps* made no sound.
At the center stood a great arch of black stone, cracked in a thousand places. Floating beside it were shards of glass, frozen in midair, each showing a different version of the same moment: a battle, a scream, a falling sword, a boy kneeling in ash.
Coker stepped forward.
"This is where I tried to stop it," he said.
Lilin tilted her head. "Stop what?"
Coker closed his eyes.
"Myself."
---
He placed a hand on the arch.
A ripple moved through the world.
And the *ground remembered.*
---
Suddenly, they weren't alone.
The mountain lit up.
All around them, flickering ghosts appeared—like burned-in memories. Warriors in ancient armor. Children hiding behind rocks. A woman screaming a name that didn't exist anymore. A version of Coker, younger, covered in blood, standing with a shattered blade in one hand and a broken watch in the other.
Mina gasped.
"Is that…?"
Coker nodded. "The last time."
The ghost version of him fell to his knees in the memory. Around him, the mountain split, lightning flashed, and *time cracked like glass.*
And then, everything *froze.*
Even the memory.
---
"It keeps repeating," Lilin whispered. "This moment… over and over. It's stuck."
Coker clenched his fists. "Because it never ended properly. Because I never understood what I did."
He stepped into the memory.
And the world *let* him.
---
Suddenly, he was standing *in* the moment.
Rain poured sideways. Thunder cracked in reverse. The battlefield around him was chaos—half burned, half unborn.
And ahead of him stood the old enemy.
Not a demon.
Not a beast.
But a man with his *face.*
His *voice.*
His *rage.*
"You were always the weak one," the other Coker hissed.
"No," Coker said. "I was always the one who broke first… so the others wouldn't have to."
They circled each other, two halves of the same wound.
---
The ghost-Coker raised a blade.
Coker raised nothing.
"No more fighting," he said. "I came to understand."
The ghost hesitated.
Then screamed and charged.
Coker didn't move.
He let the blade come close—closer—until it hovered an inch from his chest.
And then…
He whispered, "It's okay."
---
The ghost dropped the blade.
Collapsed to his knees.
And wept.
"I didn't want to burn everything," the ghost said. "But I thought I had to."
Coker knelt beside him.
"I know," he whispered. "I remember now."
They sat like that, both versions of the same boy, until the rain faded and the sky stilled.
And the world *began to unbreak.*
---
Back on the plateau, Mina and Lilin watched in silence as the memory shattered into light.
The black arch cracked completely.
Then melted into silver dust.
Coker stood alone at the center.
But something had changed.
The mark on his chest was no longer burning.
It was *glowing.*
Quiet. Gentle.
Like a fire no longer angry.
---
He turned back to them.
"It's done."
"What did you do?" Mina asked.
"I forgave him," he said.
"Who?"
"Me."
---
They camped that night near a quiet pool below the mountain.
Stars fell, but they no longer screamed.
The moon pulsed gold.
And in the distance, the broken parts of the world began to close again—slowly, carefully, like scars choosing to heal.
---
Mina sat beside him, arms around her knees.
"Do you think you'll ever be normal again?"
Coker smiled softly.
"No. But maybe I'll be *real.* And maybe that's better."
Lilin looked at him from the shadows.
"You're not finished."
"I know."
"Then why are you resting?"
He met her eyes.
"Because for once… I can."
---
Far above them, at the peak of the mountain where time had broken, a new flower grew.
One that wasn't supposed to exist.
A blue flower with burning petals.
And as it bloomed, the mountain exhaled for the first time in a thousand years.