The crater wasn't there the day before.
Naomi spotted it first from the western tower.
No impact alarms. No warning. Just a single hole in the earth — perfectly circular. Still smoking.
Inside it lay a girl.
Curled up.
Unmoving.
Alive.
"We've got something weird," Naomi said into the comms. "No Root signs. No radiation. But… the soil around her is vibrating."
Lyra, Echo, Artemis, Ava, and Vira arrived minutes later.
None spoke as they approached the crater's edge.
The girl was young.
Maybe sixteen.
Pale skin.
Silver-white hair.
Wearing a ripped black coat marked with a crest none of them recognized: a burning tree overlaid with the letters "L.V."
She was whispering something in her sleep.
Over and over.
> "Brother…"
Infirmary, Two Hours Later
The girl lay on the table.
Still unconscious.
Still whispering.
Maya scanned her brain activity. "Her REM cycle's too deep. It's like she's reliving trauma in real-time."
Artemis stood nearby, arms crossed.
"She came through a Fracture portal."
Lyra nodded. "And she knew Liam."
Echo was silent. Her processors flickered. "She's not from our timeline."
Naomi tilted her head. "So what is she? A warning?"
Vira scoffed. "Or a bomb."
Then, the girl's eyes snapped open.
White Room – Soul Contact Initiated
Inside the white-space of the Soul Web, only two consciousnesses flickered:
Liam
And the girl.
She stood in front of him.
Trembling.
Then ran to him and hugged his waist, weeping.
> "I finally found you."
He blinked.
"Yui…?"
She looked up.
Tears glowing silver.
> "You died in my world."
> "But not before you became a monster."
> "They called you the Root King."
> "And you burned down Eden."
Liam froze.
Yui continued, voice shaking.
> "I'm your sister, Liam."
> "From another branch."
> "From a world where you lost them all."
Back in Reality
Yui jolted upright in bed.
Breathing hard.
Eyes glowing faintly with the same gold Liam once had.
She locked eyes with Lyra.
"You're Lyra Reyes."
Lyra froze. "How do you know my full name?"
"Because you're my mother."
Silence.
Vira stepped back.
Ava's hands shook.
Echo blinked hard enough to glitch.
Maya whispered, "Wait… what?!"
Lyra stared at the girl, searching her face.
And for a moment, in the curve of her smile, in the defiance of her eyes—
She saw Liam.
Yui placed her hand on her chest.
"I came back because something worse is coming."
"Worse than the Root."
"Worse than your Fracture."
"They call it… The Ash Spiral."
She pointed to the sky.
And the sky — cloudless just moments ago — began to crack.
Somewhere Across the Veil
Shadow-Liam — the corrupted mirror — stood in a void of broken glass.
He watched the new breach unfold.
He saw Yui.
And he snarled.
> "Little girl crossed the timeline again."
> "I'll tear out the Garden's heart this time."
Behind him, a creature stirred — all flame and shadow, shaped like a snake eating its own tail.
The Ash Spiral had awakened.