*Chapter 22: The Source Beneath All Seconds*
The world was no longer real.
At least, not in the way Theo understood it.
He floated through a tunnel of shimmering threads—gold, silver, red, even colors he didn't have words for. These were not just lights. They were *moments*. Memories. Entire lives playing backward and forward around him.
One thread brushed against his shoulder, and suddenly he was five years old again, holding his mother's hand at the festival. Another flickered near his face, and he was standing in a future that hadn't happened yet—older, braver, holding a child of his own.
He blinked.
Gone.
All of it.
Only one thread remained directly ahead: pure white, glowing faintly.
The Time Thread.
The one that led to the Source.
***
Lyra floated beside him, arms out, eyes wide. "This place… it's beyond everything."
Theo nodded. "It feels alive."
"It *is* alive," said a voice behind them.
They turned.
A shape emerged from the threads—tall, cloaked in light, face unreadable. Not Cael. Not Mara. Something else.
The voice was gentle. "I am the Echo of the First Second. The one who marked time's beginning."
Theo's breath caught.
The Echo looked at him. "You carry the Heart Compass. That means you carry *choice.* Few ever reach the Source. Fewer still survive it."
Lyra asked, "Is it real?"
The Echo turned, gesturing ahead.
There, far in the distance, was a great whirlpool of time—spiraling endlessly, silent, beautiful, dangerous.
"The Source," the Echo whispered. "Everything that was, is, or could ever be."
***
As they approached, the Time Thread narrowed—like a tightrope between destinies.
Theo stepped onto it.
Every second became *louder.*
He heard voices again—millions of them. His own thoughts from past, future, sideways timelines. Lyra's memories. Even Cael's screams, deep and haunting.
The closer he got, the more he *felt* time.
Not passing.
But pressing.
Pushing against his skin. Pulling at his mind.
At the edge of the whirlpool, Theo stopped.
A stone platform floated in the center.
And on it… a box.
Plain. Wooden. Glowing slightly.
The Source's heart.
***
He stepped onto the platform.
The whispers fell silent.
Time waited.
Mara and I… we created the Hourglass *together.*
But when I questioned its power, she chose fear."
Theo stood slowly.
"And now?"
Cael looked up. "Now… I let go."
He stepped back.
The golden thread in Theo's hand glowed bright.
And with a deep breath, he *tied it back into the Heart Compass.*
The Source rippled.
Time… *healed.*
***
Back in Elmridge, clocks reset.
The sky cleared.
Memories returned.
People laughed again—really laughed.
Theo opened his eyes in the courtyard, Lyra beside him, holding the Compass.
It was whole.
The world was whole.
And Cael?
Gone.
Not erased.
Not forgotten.
But *at peace.*
Lyra's voice broke the stillness. "Theo… are you sure?"
"No," he said. "But I'm here."
He placed the Heart Compass on top of the box.
It spun rapidly.
Then slowed.
Then clicked open.
Inside… was a single golden strand of thread.
A piece of the *first moment*.
Theo reached out—
And a figure appeared across from him.
*Cael.*
"I wondered if you'd come," Cael said, stepping forward. "Fitting, isn't it? We both touched time. But only one of us deserves to hold it."
Theo clenched his fists. "You don't want balance. You want control."
Cael laughed. "Balance is a lie. Time only remembers the ones who *bend it.* You still don't understand."
He lunged.
Theo grabbed the thread.
And everything shattered.
***
They were inside time itself.
Not just watching.
*Becoming it.*
Theo and Cael tumbled through endless lives, reliving their own stories, switching places, roles, destinies.
In one life, Cael was the hero.
In another, Theo destroyed everything.
And in all of them, one truth remained:
*They were two halves of the same purpose.*
One to guard.
One to test.
***
Theo landed hard—back on the platform, gasping.
Cael was already there, kneeling, trembling.
His voice was soft now.
"I remember. I remember it all.
I wasn't the enemy.
I was the *balance.*