The sky healed wrong.
Where the shadow had withdrawn, a wound remained—an open absence that dripped raw seconds into the city below. They burned when they touched the ground, scorching permanence into whatever they struck.
Ash smiled for the first time with genuine interest.
"You've changed the rules of engagement," he said. "Congratulations. You're no longer maintenance."
"What am I?" Elias asked.
Ash's smile faded. "A threat."
The Arbiter reformed weakly, its text reduced to fragments.
ANCHOR STATUS: ANOMALOUS. TIME INTEGRITY: COMPROMISED.
Mara struggled to her feet, shaking. "If time can be hurt…"
"It will retaliate," Ash finished. "And it won't do it personally again."
He looked around the city.
"It will send hunters."
As if summoned, the air split.
Figures stepped through—human-shaped, but wrong. Their faces reset every second, cycling through strangers who had never existed. Their footsteps erased sound behind them.
Mara backed away. "What are they?"
Ash's voice went flat. "The Returned Dead. Endings that learned to walk back."
The hunters turned toward Elias in perfect unison.
TARGET IDENTIFIED.
Elias felt fear.
Then resolve.
"Then let them come," he said.