The wind howled through the ruined trees.
Kael crouched in the underbrush overlooking the rebel outpost — a broken chapel turned fortress. Torchlight flickered against shattered stone, and rebel soldiers moved like restless ghosts through the dark.
But Kael didn't watch them.
He watched her.
Lyra stood alone near the altar ruins, mask off, letting the cold wind strike her pale skin. Her white hair flowed freely. She wasn't the same girl he remembered… yet everything about her pulled at his soul.
> "You shouldn't be here," Kael whispered to himself.
"You died."
He could feel the System pulsing, urging him to make contact.
To confront.
To risk everything.
But he didn't.
Not yet.
Instead, Kael circled the outskirts of the chapel ruins, weaving shadows around his presence. He had one goal first:
> Find out how she's still alive.
---
Inside a crumbled annex, he found what he was looking for — a war table, old maps, and stacks of scrolls, loosely guarded.
Kael slipped in like a breath of wind.
His fingers glided over documents, searching for clues.
And then he saw it.
> [Record 4A: Rebirth Ritual - Fragmented Script]
The parchment was old. Imperial, but corrupted. Runes had been burned into it, rewritten in blood and bone.
Kael read the central phrase aloud in his mind:
> "Bind not the soul to time, but to memory. Through anchor and sacrifice, even death may yield."
His blood went cold.
---
> [Shadow System Alert]
Forbidden Magic Identified: Memory Anchor Rebirth
• Risk of Timeline Collapse: EXTREME
• Origin Point: Unknown
• Suspected Catalyst: [REDACTED]
Recommendation: Investigate anchor point. Avoid direct contact until anchor is identified.
---
Kael clenched the scroll, eyes burning.
This wasn't resurrection.
It was worse.
Someone had rewritten history to bring Lyra back — not as herself, but as a version anchored by memory.
> "Who did this?"
"Drop it."
A blade pressed lightly against the back of his neck.
Kael didn't move.
A voice followed. Calm. Controlled.
"Turn around slowly. You've got three seconds to explain why you're sniffing around the commander's tent before I carve open your lungs."
---
He turned.
The girl holding the blade looked young — no older than twenty. Dark skin, wild green eyes, and a rebel badge scorched into her arm. She held the dagger like someone who knew how to kill without regret.
"Wait…" she narrowed her eyes. "You… I've seen you before."
Kael said nothing.
"I remember that shadow mark. You were at the palace. You're one of his."
She didn't say Aserion's name. Like it was poison.
Kael stepped back, just enough.
"I'm not your enemy," he said.
The girl smiled bitterly. "Then why are you in a place filled with people he wants dead?"
> I could kill her. Silence the threat. Walk away.
But something told him she knew more.
Maybe even who brought Lyra back.
---
"I'm looking for answers," Kael said. "About your commander."
The girl stiffened. "You shouldn't be."
A pause.
Then her expression shifted — a flicker of conflict, of pain.
"She doesn't remember everything," she whispered. "Not yet. But someone wants her to. And when she does… it'll break her."
Kael froze.
The girl lowered her dagger.
"You shouldn't be here," she repeated. "But maybe… neither should she."
She vanished into the shadows before he could respond.
---
Kael stood alone again, the scroll heavy in his hands.
> Lyra wasn't just alive.
> She was being manipulated.
And whoever was behind it… wasn't finished.
---
[Shadow System Update]
> Timeline Anomaly Branch Progress: 52%
Lyra's Anchor Status: UNSTABLE
Threat Level Rising:
● Someone else remembers the original timeline.
● Memory Anchor Ritual may be replicating.
---
Kael looked back toward the chapel.
> "I came here to complete a mission."
"But now… I might have to save the one person I couldn't before."