Mira fell through a vortex of shattered memories—each fragment a snapshot of regret. Laughter echoing in empty hallways, Elara's smile fading into darkness, the cold certainty that some mistakes could never be undone.
She landed hard, breath knocked from her lungs. The world around her was a warped reflection of the lab: consoles flickering with impossible symbols, the knot suspended above her, its spiral now a churning storm of gold and shadow.
A figure stood beneath it—Elara, or what remained of her. The shadow clung to her like a second skin, eyes glowing with a sorrow that was almost unbearable.
"You never listened," the shadow whispered, voice layered with Elara's and something older, colder. "You ran from the truth, Mira. You still are."
Mira forced herself upright, fighting the pull of despair. "I'm here now. I'm not running anymore."
The knot pulsed, threads unraveling and reweaving at dizzying speed. The lab around her flickered, reality stuttering as if struggling to hold itself together.
Outside the memory, she heard distant voices—her team, calling her name, their words muffled by the storm.
Elara's form wavered. "If you want to heal the tapestry, you must accept what you lost. Only then can you move forward."
A surge of pain lanced through Mira's chest—memories of failure, of leaving Elara behind, of every regret she'd buried. Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't look away.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I remember. I won't forget again."
The spiral slowed. The shadow recoiled, shrieking in rage and anguish. For a heartbeat, Elara's true face shone through—gentle, forgiving.
The knot flared, golden light flooding the memory. The storm began to recede.
But as Mira reached for Elara, the shadow lashed out one last time, hurling her backward through the spiral.
She awoke in the Chronocapsule, gasping for air, the lab's alarms blaring. Linh and Felix were at her side, relief and fear etched on their faces.
"You're back!" Linh cried. "But something's wrong—the anomaly's spreading. It's not just in your memories anymore."
Mira stared at the knot, its spiral now burned into her mind. The shadow was loose.
And this time, it wasn't just after her.