Eliora's hands trembled as she cupped Kael's face.
"Kael— Kael, look at me. Stay with me."
He tried to focus on her, but the world spun, vision bending like heat haze.The symbol burned beneath his shirt — a searing, electric ache that pulsed with each heartbeat.
Rhyne rushed forward. "We need medics—"
"No," Dr. Solace said sharply. "Medics won't know what to do with that mark. Move him to the diagnostic bed."
Eliora tightened her hold. "He's not some test subject—"
"I'm trying to help him, girl."
Eliora's expression flickered, torn between rage and desperation.But Kael's knees buckled again, and she caught him against her chest.
"Okay… okay. Just don't touch him without telling me," she whispered, guiding him toward the bed with surprising strength.
They lifted him onto the flat surface, which instantly lit up, scanning his vitals.The overhead holograms flared to life — chaotic, unreadable patterns replacing normal bodily diagnostics.
Rhyne frowned. "That doesn't look human."
"It isn't," Dr. Solace said quietly, her eyes fixed on the readings. "Whatever that thing did… it rewrote something fundamental."
Eliora turned sharply."Un-rewrite it."
Solace almost smiled. "If only time and causality worked that way."
Kael winced as another pulse of heat radiated from the mark.
Eliora immediately grabbed his hand, leaning in close."I'm here. I'm not leaving."
Her voice grounded him — enough that the distortions in his vision began to settle.
He rasped, "I saw something… when it touched me."
Eliora's breath hitched."What did you see?"
Kael squeezed her hand, forcing the words out.
"Two versions of the world. One dark. One… broken. Both collapsing."
Rhyne muttered, "Just great."
Dr. Solace tapped a new sequence on the hologram.A simulation bloomed above Kael — two branching timelines spiraling apart like DNA strands unraveling.
"That entity wasn't lying," she said. "Reality has begun to diverge."She glanced down at him. "Your mark is acting like a stabilizer."
Eliora stiffened."No. No. He didn't ask for any of this."
Dr. Solace replied gently, "Fate rarely cares about consent."
Eliora leaned over Kael protectively, jaw clenched, eyes fierce.
"Then fate can fight me too."
Kael managed a soft, pained laugh — even now, she was a storm ready to tear the world apart for him.
But the laugh died quickly as the symbol flared again — brighter this time, so bright the lines burned through the fabric of his shirt.
The room went silent.
Rhyne whispered, "What's happening now?"
Dr. Solace stepped closer, her face draining of color.
"The mark is stabilizing into its final form."
The glow condensed — silver spiraling with void-black, intertwining like mirrored flames.
Eliora held Kael's cheeks, panic creeping into her eyes."Please… please tell me you're still you."
He opened his mouth to answer—
But the mark pulsed once more—
And a shockwave blasted outward.
Not physical.Not air.
Time shifted.
For a split-second, everyone saw flickers:
—Eliora screaming his name in a different reality—Kael bleeding beneath a broken sky—Rhyne firing at a creature made of light—Dr. Solace kneeling in rubble, clutching a shattered device—Two worlds colliding—
Then everything snapped back.
Kael gasped, sitting upright as if someone had pulled him from drowning.
Eliora grabbed him in a tight embrace, shaking."Kael! Kael—"
He whispered hoarsely:
"I… I saw the end."
Dr. Solace swallowed."…Which one?"
Kael looked up slowly — and the entire room seemed to stop breathing.
"All of them."