The silence in the chamber wasn't just absence—it was pressure. Like the room held its breath, listening.
Kade stepped away from the sealed pod with his name on it, his mind spiraling. His fingertips twitched as if the memory fragments still wanted to burn their way out.
"How much of me is real?" he muttered.
Marei stood at the center of the chamber, staring at her own replica. She didn't look at Kade. "I used to think memory made us real. But if they could rewrite that…"
She didn't finish the sentence.
The Catalyst pulsed.
System Directive:
Protocol Trident initializing…
Trigger: Dual Memory Conflict Detected
Kade narrowed his eyes. "Trident?"
A thin vertical line lit up on the wall—then split into three, each pulse stretching into a different color: red, blue, and silver. Three divergent paths, three timeline branches.
A map.
But not of places—of outcomes.
"What are we looking at?" Marei asked, stepping beside him.
"Choices," Kade said grimly. "Ones we haven't made yet."
Each path bore a symbol.
Path One: A broken crown dripping with black oil.
Path Two: A city engulfed in gold flame.
Path Three: A hollow silhouette reaching toward a fracturing moon.
He didn't know what they meant.
But the system did.
System Notice:
Choose one.
Each path leads to a dominant timeline event.
Decision will rewrite surrounding memory fields.
Marei paled. "You can't just pick one without knowing—"
Kade's hand hovered over the glowing interface. "We won't survive this war if we keep waiting for perfect answers."
He selected the city in flames.
The walls shuddered.
A projection ignited midair, showing a city he recognized—Rynhaven—only it was already burning. Not from bombs. From within.
Screams echoed from the recording. Soldiers turned on civilians. Skies cracked with light not of Earth. Towering figures moved in the smoke—neither man nor machine.
But one stood clearly at the center: Kade.
Not him now—an older version. Broken. Crowned.
"We failed," the hologram-Kade whispered. "The system lied."
The feed cut.
Marei stared at him. "That was you… wasn't it?"
He didn't answer.
System Notification:
Timeline Surge Triggered
Unlocked Ability: Temporal Anchor—Tier One
Kade clenched his jaw as energy surged through his limbs. He saw fragments—not just of this world, but others—versions where he died, betrayed, rose, or turned tyrant.
"I've seen enough," he said, turning from the projection. "We need to leave this place. Now."
Marei hesitated. "Where will we go?"
"To find someone who remembers more than we do," he said.
"Who?"
He didn't blink.
"The Architect."
And with that, the chamber walls began to close—sealing behind them what should never have been found.