*Chapter 29: Echoes of Tomorrow*
The Vault had gone silent.
Not the peaceful kind — the heavy, waiting kind. Like the world was holding its breath, and time itself was trembling.
Theo stood still, staring at the older version of himself. His heart pounded in his chest, but it wasn't fear. It was the weight of knowing—knowing the future wasn't safe. That something bigger than any of them was coming.
"I need answers," Theo said quietly.
Older Theo's eyes were hollow, tired. "Then you'll have to face the truth I couldn't."
The Compass glowed violently in Theo's hand. Nyra, Lyra, and Jace stood behind him, silent. The loom of time was beginning to flicker — as though too many threads were moving at once.
"What happened?" Nyra asked. "In your time?"
Older Theo turned toward the far wall of the Vault. A hidden panel opened, revealing a projection of a world destroyed — cities in ruins, skies torn with light. At the center of it all was a black storm. Pulsing. Expanding.
"It wasn't war," he said. "It wasn't even a mistake. It was a rewrite. Someone tried to erase time — and succeeded."
"A rewrite?" Jace whispered. "Like… deleting everything?"
Older Theo nodded. "A girl. One who was never supposed to exist. She wasn't part of the threads. She was born outside of them."
Theo felt the Compass hum sharply in his grip.
Nyra stepped forward. "You mean… a living anomaly?"
"Yes," he said. "And she called herself Seris."
Lyra gasped. "The Unwritten One."
Silence fell again.
"I tried to stop her," Older Theo whispered. "But she knew every move I would make. Because she lived beyond the loom. She could jump through time like stepping through doors."
Theo stared at the projection. "Then what do we do?"
Older Theo turned. "You go back to the moment she was created. You stop her before she rewrites you too."
*Back at the Gateway*
The plan was clear: track the root of Seris's thread. Follow it back. Find the origin.
But the danger? Unknown.
Theo, Nyra, Lyra, and Jace prepared in silence. The Compass was calibrated. The coordinates were ancient — predating even the first Threadkeepers.
"This could be a trap," Jace warned.
Theo nodded. "It is. But it's the only way."
They stepped through the gateway — and landed in the year 801.
The world was different. Quiet. The sky was gold. The ground glowed faintly. They were in the *Forge of Origins* — the mythical place where threads were first woven.
And Seris was already there.
She stood in the center, barefoot, hair white as snow, and her eyes… completely silver.
"You're early," she said.
Theo stepped forward. "You're dangerous."
"I'm free," she replied. "Isn't that what you want?"
Nyra's blade hummed to life. "You've destroyed timelines."
Seris smiled sadly. "I only erased the ones that were broken."
"You're playing god," Theo said.
"No," Seris replied. "I'm correcting god's mistakes."
Then she raised her hand — and the threads around her twisted, bending toward her like they were alive.
---
*The Battle of the Unwritten*
What happened next was chaos.
Seris launched time itself at them — moments fractured, loops formed, days repeated in seconds. Nyra was frozen mid-step. Jace aged ten years and snapped back to normal. Lyra screamed as a memory thread was pulled from her chest.
Theo gritted his teeth and focused on the Compass.
He saw her weakness. A thread behind her. Glowing white. It was her anchor — the moment of her creation.
"Hold her off!" he shouted.
He sprinted through the storm, dodging loops and reversals. Seris saw him, screamed, and threads launched at him like blades.
But Theo dove.
And grabbed it.
The moment she was born.
A cabin. A storm. A woman crying.
And a man — cloaked in shadows — whispering into the child's ear.
"Rewrite the world."
Theo reached out — and burned the thread.
Seris screamed.
---
*Silence.*
Everything stopped.
The Forge of Origins dimmed. Seris dropped to her knees, her power unraveling like smoke.
"You… you ended me," she whispered.
Theo stood, bruised and breathless. "I ended the lie."
Seris looked up at him. "Then make sure you don't become one."
And she vanished — a thread snuffed out forever.
---
*Back in the Vault*
Older Theo faded. The timeline had changed. The Compass was quiet.
Theo dropped to his knees. It was over.
"We did it," Lyra whispered.
But deep down, Theo knew…
A thread erased didn't mean the end.
It meant a new one had just begun.