The sky opened.
Ayan stood beneath it without moving.
The silver scar that had stretched across the heavens for several minutes had finally widened into something that resembled an enormous eye. Its edges were not made of clouds or light. They were made of broken fragments of time. Moments flickered along the boundary—sunrises that had already happened, battles that had not yet begun, cities that had never existed, and faces belonging to people who were still unborn.
The entire First World had fallen silent.
Millions of people stared upward.
Children clung to their parents. Newly mortal adults stood frozen in the streets. Warriors who had faced monsters without fear slowly lowered their weapons. Even the dragons had stopped moving.
Ayan could feel their fear through the Bridge.
It wasn't the ordinary fear of death.
It was the fear of witnessing something that should not be possible.
Eon's voice echoed inside Ayan's mind.
"It went into the future."
Ayan stared at the opening.
"How far?"
There was a pause.
"I don't know."
Ayan's expression tightened.
"You don't know?"
"I can see the future."
Eon's voice became quieter.
"But this is different."
Ayan looked toward the sky.
"Different how?"
"I can't see beyond it."
That answer made Ayan's chest tighten.
Eon had always been able to perceive things Ayan couldn't. Even after their separation, Eon's consciousness remained connected to countless layers of existence. He could observe possibilities, calculate outcomes, and sense changes across worlds.
If even Eon couldn't see beyond the opening, then whatever existed there was outside the normal flow of possibility.
Ayan took a slow breath.
"Can you see the future around it?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me what happens if we do nothing."
Silence.
Ayan waited.
Then Eon answered.
"The First World survives."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"That's good."
"No."
Eon's voice was almost a whisper.
"It survives."
Ayan understood the difference immediately.
"Explain."
"The First World continues for another three hundred years."
Ayan looked at the people around him.
"Then?"
"The civilization collapses."
"Why?"
"Because everyone dies."
Ayan's expression changed.
He looked toward the people who had only recently regained mortality.
Children.
Parents.
Friends.
People who had spent thousands of years believing they could never die.
Now they had been given something precious.
A future.
A limited future.
Eon continued.
"After three hundred years, the First World becomes empty."
Ayan's grip tightened around his staff.
"And the thing in the future?"
"It remains."
"Doing what?"
"Watching."
Ayan looked at the sky.
"Watching what?"
"You."
The answer came immediately.
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Ayan stared at the opening.
Then he noticed something.
The silver eye wasn't looking at the First World.
It was looking at him.
Not at the present Ayan.
At something behind him.
Something beyond time.
Ayan turned.
Nothing was there.
Then he heard footsteps.
One.
Two.
Three.
Someone was walking toward them.
The people surrounding Ayan slowly moved aside.
A figure emerged from the crowd.
A man.
He looked about thirty years old.
His clothes were torn.
His face was covered with dust.
Blood ran down the side of his forehead.
He was breathing heavily.
Ayan immediately recognized him.
He had seen this man before.
Not in the past.
In the future.
The man stopped several meters away.
His eyes widened when he saw Ayan.
"No."
Ayan's expression became serious.
"You know me."
The man took a step backward.
"You aren't supposed to be here."
Ayan raised an eyebrow.
"Where am I supposed to be?"
"Dead."
The word spread through the people around them.
Seraphine stepped forward.
Her sword was already in her hand.
"Choose your next words carefully."
The man looked at her.
His expression changed.
"You're alive too?"
Seraphine frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The man looked toward the sky.
"Then everything has already changed."
Ayan approached him.
"Who are you?"
The man hesitated.
"My name is Aron."
Ayan waited.
"Aron what?"
The man gave a bitter smile.
"Aron Vey."
Rhael stepped forward.
"Vey?"
Aron looked at him.
"You're Rhael."
Rhael's grip tightened around his spear.
"How do you know my name?"
"I know all of your names."
He looked around.
"Rhael. Seraphine. Lumen. Mira. Maren. Rowan."
His eyes landed on Kai.
"And him."
Kai stared back.
Aron looked frightened.
"Especially him."
Ayan immediately moved between Aron and Kai.
"Why?"
Aron swallowed.
"Because he is the reason the future ends."
The atmosphere changed.
Ayan's expression became cold.
"Explain."
Aron looked at Kai.
"I can't."
"You can."
"No."
Aron's voice trembled.
"If I tell you, you will change it."
"That's the point."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You don't understand."
Ayan stepped closer.
"I understand enough."
Aron looked at him.
"You always say that."
Ayan froze.
Those words.
He had heard them before.
Not from Aron.
From someone else.
Someone in a memory.
Someone from the future.
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"Have we met?"
Aron looked away.
"Not yet."
The answer was strange.
"Then why do you talk like you know me?"
"Because I have known you for thirty-seven years."
Ayan stared at him.
"I've only been Ayan for—"
He stopped.
The Bridge pulsed.
Ayan realized what Aron meant.
The man wasn't talking about the present.
He was talking about the future.
Aron had known a future version of Ayan.
Ayan stepped closer.
"What happens to me?"
Aron looked directly into his eyes.
"You become the enemy."
Silence.
Seraphine's expression changed.
Maren slowly lowered her weapon.
Rowan stared.
Lumen looked at Ayan.
Ayan remained completely still.
"Enemy of whom?"
Aron shook his head.
"Everyone."
The word seemed to echo.
Ayan's expression didn't change.
"Do I destroy the First World?"
"No."
"Do I destroy the other worlds?"
"No."
"Then what?"
Aron swallowed.
"You destroy the future."
Ayan frowned.
"That makes no sense."
"It didn't make sense to us either."
"Us?"
"The survivors."
Ayan stared.
"Survivors of what?"
Aron looked toward the sky.
"Tomorrow."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"Tomorrow?"
Aron nodded.
"The war begins tomorrow."
The silver eye above them suddenly pulsed.
Boom.
The sound shook the entire world.
Ayan looked upward.
The eye began changing.
Its silver surface cracked.
Through those cracks, something appeared.
A city.
A massive city.
It stretched across an endless landscape.
Its towers were taller than mountains.
Millions of lights filled its streets.
Ayan could see people moving through it.
Ships flew between enormous structures.
Mechanical beasts walked through roads.
Magic circles illuminated the sky.
It was a civilization far beyond anything Ayan had ever seen.
And then he saw the sky above it.
Black.
Filled with countless cracks.
The future city was under attack.
Ayan watched as enormous creatures descended from the cracks.
Buildings collapsed.
People screamed.
Defensive barriers exploded.
The city fought back.
Thousands of weapons fired into the sky.
Magic and technology collided.
Then the scene changed.
Ayan saw Seraphine.
Older.
Her hair was longer.
A scar ran across her cheek.
She stood on the top of a ruined tower, holding the same sword.
Beside her stood Rhael.
Older.
Scarred.
One of his wings was missing.
Lumen was there too.
Her silver hair had become completely white.
Mira stood beside them.
Maren.
Rowan.
Veyra.
All older.
All exhausted.
And standing in front of them...
was Ayan.
But not the Ayan who stood beneath the present sky.
This Ayan wore black armor.
His eyes were silver.
The Architect's staff was broken in half.
The Bridge was wrapped around his body like chains.
He looked almost emotionless.
Seraphine raised her sword.
"Why?"
Future Ayan looked at her.
"Because you won't stop."
"You don't have to do this."
"I know."
"Then why?"
Future Ayan looked toward the city behind them.
"Because there is no other way."
Seraphine's eyes filled with tears.
"There is always another way."
Future Ayan smiled sadly.
"That's what I used to believe."
Then the vision ended.
Ayan stood beneath the present sky.
Nobody spoke.
Seraphine was staring at him.
Ayan looked at her.
"That's not me."
Aron shook his head.
"It is."
"No."
"You haven't become him yet."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"Then what happens?"
Aron looked frightened.
"You start tomorrow."
The silver eye pulsed again.
Another vision appeared.
Ayan saw himself standing in a battlefield.
Thousands of bodies surrounded him.
He was screaming.
Not in anger.
In pain.
The sky was burning.
A child was lying in his arms.
Ayan couldn't see the child's face.
But he could hear his own voice.
"No."
The future Ayan whispered something.
The vision became distorted.
Then another scene appeared.
Eon was standing alone.
His body was cracked.
The Outside was collapsing behind him.
Eon looked at Ayan.
"You promised."
Future Ayan answered.
"I know."
"What happened to the promise?"
"I broke it."
Another scene.
Kai.
Older.
Much older.
He stood before a massive black Door.
Something was coming through.
Kai looked terrified.
Then he smiled.
He opened the Door.
The scene disappeared.
Ayan's breathing became heavier.
"Stop."
The eye continued showing the future.
Ayan saw Lumen dying.
Mira kneeling beside her.
Rhael fighting alone.
Veyra falling from the sky.
Maren screaming.
Rowan burning an entire library to prevent something from escaping.
Seraphine standing alone.
Then Ayan.
Always Ayan.
At the center.
Always walking forward.
Always becoming colder.
Always losing something.
Ayan raised his staff.
"Enough."
The Bridge erupted.
Silver chains shot into the sky.
They wrapped around the opening.
The eye resisted.
Ayan pulled.
The sky screamed.
The future shattered into fragments.
The silver eye closed.
The world returned to normal.
Ayan stood breathing heavily.
Blood ran from his nose.
Seraphine immediately moved toward him.
"You're bleeding."
"I'm fine."
She wiped the blood away.
"You're not."
Ayan looked at her.
"I saw what happens."
"I know."
"You saw it too."
She nodded.
"Yes."
Ayan looked toward Aron.
"You said the war begins tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Against what?"
Aron shook his head.
"You don't know?"
"No."
"You will."
Ayan stared at him.
"Tell me."
Aron looked around.
Everyone was watching.
Then he said:
"The enemy isn't coming from another world."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"Then where?"
Aron pointed toward the ground.
"From the First World."
Silence.
Ayan looked at the city.
The people.
The newly mortal civilization.
"That's impossible."
Aron shook his head.
"No."
He looked toward the mountain.
"The war begins because of what you created beneath it."
Ayan's expression became cold.
"The thing."
"Yes."
"What's its name?"
Aron hesitated.
"We never knew."
"Then how did you fight it?"
"We didn't."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"We ran."
"How long?"
Aron laughed bitterly.
"Three hundred years."
Ayan looked toward the future.
"You survived for three hundred years."
"Some of us."
"How many?"
Aron's face became empty.
"At the end?"
He looked at the First World.
"Seven."
Ayan went silent.
Seven survivors.
Out of an entire civilization.
Aron continued.
"That's why I came back."
"To warn us."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Aron looked at Ayan.
"Because I remember what you did."
Ayan frowned.
"What did I do?"
Aron's expression became complicated.
"You saved us."
Ayan stared.
"Then why did you call me the enemy?"
"Because you saved us..."
Aron looked toward the sky.
"...by destroying everything else."
Ayan's expression hardened.
"What did I destroy?"
Aron whispered:
"The future."
Ayan's heart sank.
Before he could respond, a new sound came from beneath the mountain.
Knock.
Everyone froze.
Another knock.
Knock.
Ayan slowly turned toward the ground.
The sound was coming from beneath the First World.
But this time...
it wasn't asking to come out.
It was counting.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
The knocking stopped.
Aron's face became pale.
Ayan looked at him.
"What does seven mean?"
Aron didn't answer.
"Aron."
The man took a step backward.
"The first seven."
Ayan's eyes narrowed.
"What first seven?"
Aron looked at the mountain.
"The first seven people who die tomorrow."
Ayan felt the Bridge react.
The entire world became silent.
Then a voice came from beneath the ground.
A voice that sounded exactly like Ayan.
"One."
Ayan's eyes widened.
The voice continued.
"Two."
Seraphine drew her sword.
"Three."
Rhael raised his spear.
"Four."
Lumen's hands began glowing.
"Five."
Maren stepped forward.
"Six."
Ayan tightened his grip around the staff.
Then the voice whispered:
"Seven."
The ground split.
A massive hand emerged from beneath the mountain.
It was human.
Pale.
Thin.
Covered in silver veins.
Ayan stared at it.
The fingers slowly wrapped around the edge of the crack.
Then a face appeared.
A young face.
A face Ayan had never seen.
Yet somehow...
he recognized it.
The stranger opened his eyes.
They were silver.
He smiled.
"Ayan."
Ayan stood frozen.
The stranger's smile widened.
"I finally found you."
And behind him...
thousands of silver eyes opened in the darkness.