Cora hadn't slept. The rain from last night still clung to the city in soggy puddles, and every sound—the hum of traffic, the chatter of early commuters—felt sharper, heavier, as if the world were stretched too thin.
She clutched the silver-threaded book, now pulsing faintly like a heartbeat. Kael's warning echoed in her mind: "The Fractures are growing. One wrong choice, and tomorrow… may never come."
Adrian arrived without warning, stepping through her door as though he had been waiting for this exact moment.
"You need to see this," he said, voice tense. "There's a Fracture forming downtown. People are… disappearing."
Cora followed him outside. The city was unnervingly quiet. Then she saw it—a jagged ripple in the air above the intersection. Cars slowed mid-turn. Pedestrians froze mid-step. And in the center, a man shimmered, his body flickering like a broken hologram.
"Do you see it?" Adrian asked, his hand hovering near his holster.
Cora nodded, her heart hammering. "Yes… it's a Fracture. It's… alive."
The man's body split, then multiplied. For a heartbeat, the street held three identical versions of him, each moving independently. Then they collapsed into one, screaming silently before vanishing completely.
Cora's fingers tightened around the chronicle. Silver threads shot up, wrapping around her wrist and coiling like serpents. Words formed on the page before her eyes:
"Choose one. Save one. Or lose all."
"What do I do?" she whispered.
Kael's voice, now audible, not just in her mind, resonated from the shadows: "Decide, or the Fracture will consume the city. Your hesitation is the danger."
Time slowed. The book pulsed, urging her forward.
Cora made a choice. She pointed at the nearest frozen pedestrian, chanting the first words she could read from the chronicle. A pulse of silver light shot out, enveloping the man—and then everything snapped back.
The city returned to normal. Cars moved. People continued walking, oblivious. But the book vibrated violently in her hands.
Adrian stared at her. "You… you just saved someone?"
Cora swallowed hard. "I think… but I don't know if it was the right choice."
Kael stepped out from the shadows, a faint smirk on his pale face. "It was only the beginning. Tomorrow… will demand more."
And somewhere in the city, a second Fracture began to form.