There was no horizon in the Silence Between Worlds.Just a vast, endless sea made of liquid glass — rippling with fragments of time.
Each wave shimmered with scenes from the past: cities burning, suns collapsing, and faces Riven couldn't bear to look at.He walked across it, each step leaving ripples that lingered far too long — as if the world refused to let go of his presence.
The Architect's voice had gone silent now. Only the wind spoke — a whisper that carried a thousand echoes.
Riven... you shouldn't have come here...
He froze. The voice was Lira's.But it came from below.
Riven knelt, peering into the translucent surface. Beneath him was an ocean of memories — millions of her faces, all in different timelines. Some smiled. Some screamed. Some were already fading away.
He reached toward one. The glass rippled, and the reflection grabbed his hand back.
Pain.A burning surge of energy shot through him, and suddenly he wasn't standing anymore.He was falling — down through layers of reality, tumbling through his own shattered memories.
He landed in a cathedral of gears.Massive cogs turned endlessly in the air, grinding through clouds of light. Each tooth of the gears pulsed with fragments of time — ticking seconds, hours, lifetimes.
A single voice echoed through the chamber:
"Welcome to the Clockwork Sea."
Riven spun around. The First Traveler stood at the center — their form flickering faster than before, as if even existence struggled to contain them.
They raised a hand. With that single motion, time stopped.The gears froze mid-turn.The dust hung still in the air.
"You were never meant to cross this plane," the Traveler said. "This is where the loops are woven — where all realities are born and erased. You've contaminated it."
Riven's eyes burned white. "Where is she?"
The Traveler tilted their head. "Which one?"
"Don't play with me."
"I'm not. There are hundreds of her — thousands. Every time you failed, she remade you. Every time you died, she rewound the thread. You think she's the victim, Riven, but she's the reason this world keeps bleeding."
Riven's breath shook. "No… she was trying to save me."
The Traveler's expression softened — almost sorrowful. "She was trying to own you."
Riven froze.
"Love," the Traveler continued, "is the cruelest form of control. You built the Chrono-Gate to fix her death, and she used it to make you eternal. You're not lovers anymore, Solas. You're each other's prison."
The words struck deeper than any weapon.
Riven staggered back, gripping his head as flashes of previous loops returned — moments where Lira had said things he hadn't understood before."You'll come back to me, no matter what.""Don't fight it this time.""You promised… forever."
His heart cracked.
"Lira…" he whispered. "What did you do?"
The Traveler's hand glowed, and a doorway appeared — a mirror of liquid light. Inside, Riven could see her: suspended in a crystal sphere, asleep, surrounded by infinite versions of himself kneeling before her.
"Every cycle ends the same," the Traveler said quietly. "You try to save her, and she resets you both. The equation always resets. Until now."
Riven looked up. "Then end it. Kill me."
"I can't. You are part of the system now. The only one who can end it… is her."
The mirror began to hum. Cracks formed on its surface. Lira's eyes opened inside — and for a brief second, they glowed the same color as Riven's.
"He's here," she whispered."The final loop has begun."
The mirror shattered.
The entire Clockwork Sea screamed — gears shattering, time bleeding from the sky, light turning into darkness.
Riven dropped to his knees as the Traveler stepped back, voice echoing like thunder:
"Then so be it. Let the last cycle burn."
And just before the light swallowed everything, Riven heard her voice — distant, trembling, familiar.
"Riven… please remember why you loved me."