The moon cracked. Not with thunder, but with silence.
A thin line split across its face like a scar, silver light dripping into the forest as if bleeding memory itself. Zeeler stood at the edge of the burned clearing, breath steaming in the cold. His cloak fluttered with the rhythm of the fracture in his chest—its pulse syncing with the trembling air.
Rythe crouched beside him, one hand on the ground, feeling the vibrations. His eyes were pale green, focused.
"Something's wrong," he muttered. "This isn't a hunt. It's a calling."
Kael said nothing. He stood tall, pale as bone, but the wind curved around him. The boy's presence was growing heavier. Resonant. When Zeeler looked at him now, he didn't see a child anymore.
He saw another fracture.
"We're being drawn," Kael finally said. "They're waiting."
Zeeler clenched his fingers. "Then let's go meet them."
---
They reached the river gorge by nightfall.
The air shimmered with suspended echoes—threads of broken timelines flickering like ghosts between the trees. Zeeler could see them: moments that hadn't happened yet. A younger Rythe, laughing. Kael alone beneath a bleeding sky. Himself—kneeling, weapon shattered, someone screaming his name.
He shook it off.
The bridge across the gorge was gone. Burned, the ropes shredded by a power that left no scorch marks—only absence. The ravine stretched wide beneath them, a howl of void wind rising from its depths.
Across the way, three figures waited.
One stepped forward.
She wore half-armor plated in cracked obsidian, her left eye covered with a mask of woven glass. When she spoke, her voice echoed three times—past, present, and something else.
"You shouldn't be alive, Zeeler."
He blinked. "You know my name?"
"You were supposed to shatter in the Hollow. We all saw it."
Rythe stepped forward. "Who are you?"
The woman tilted her head. "We're what comes after. The ones the world buried so it wouldn't have to face what it did to us. Fractureborn."
Three more stepped out from the shadows.
One floated slightly above the ground, trailing sparks of broken lightning that never hit the earth. Another had no face at all—just a mirrored surface where expressions once lived. The last was small, younger than Kael, with eyes that burned blue and gold. But there was something off about him. Like he'd already lived too many lives.
Kael stared at the boy.
Then whispered, "I've seen him before."
Zeeler stepped to the edge of the ravine. "What do you want?"
"Nothing," the woman said calmly. "We came to warn you."
"About what?"
She pointed at Kael.
"He's the key. But not in the way you think."
---
Silence.
Kael's expression shifted. "What does that mean?"
"You're not just Fractureborn," she said. "You're a tether. A bridge. Between what's left… and what's lost."
Rythe growled. "Speak straight."
"I can't. Not without breaking too much too fast. But they're already looking for him. The one who bled the moons is waking."
Zeeler narrowed his eyes. "The Void-Eater?"
"No," the woman said. "Worse."
Suddenly, the earth quaked—just slightly. Enough for Zeeler to feel it in the bones. Enough to trigger the fracture on his chest.
He turned fast.
Another presence was coming.
But not from ahead.
From behind.
---
The trees exploded outward.
Something tore through the glade—a blur of motion wrapped in chain-cloth, each step cracking reality. It moved like nothing Zeeler had ever seen. Not Noctari. Not Veyari. Not even like the Fractureborn ahead.
Rythe pulled his blade instantly.
Kael took a step back.
Zeeler raised his arms—but the being stopped.
It landed, crouched. Cloak flickering with runes of old starlight. Face hidden behind a helm that pulsed with rhythm.
The figure stood up.
And removed the helm.
Zeeler froze.
It was him.
Older.
Scarred.
Eyes dulled, one hand missing—replaced with a construct of blacklight and wire.
"What…" Rythe stepped forward, weapon trembling. "What is this?"
The older Zeeler looked up at them.
"You survive," he said, "but only long enough to become what we all fear."
Kael's eyes widened. "You're from the future."
He nodded. "From a broken one. And I came back to stop this before you awaken."
Zeeler's voice cracked. "Stop what?"
Older Zeeler turned to Kael. "Him."
Kael flinched.
"No—no, I don't—"
"You will," the older version said gently. "You don't mean to. But you become the Fracture Root. The source. And everything falls."
---
Zeeler stepped in front of Kael, hands glowing. "I won't let you hurt him."
"You think I want to?" Older Zeeler's voice broke slightly. "I raised him. I tried to save him. But when the tether breaks, everything… everyone… dies screaming."
Kael trembled behind him. "Zeeler… is it true?"
"I don't care if it is." Zeeler's voice sharpened. "You're not that person yet. I'll burn every path that leads there before I lose you."
Rythe stepped beside them. "Then we fight."
The other Fractureborn across the ravine were watching. Silent. Listening.
They hadn't moved.
And slowly… one by one… they knelt.
To Kael.
---
"What are you doing?" Zeeler barked.
The masked woman looked up. "We came to warn you—but we also came to witness. He's blooming. Just like you did. But his resonance… it's beyond us. He doesn't echo the past. He creates it."
Kael dropped to his knees, clutching his head.
"Something's inside me—!"
Light poured from his chest. Not white. Not shadow. Something fractured. Something ancient. All the threads Zeeler had seen hanging in the air snapped taut—then wrapped around Kael like veins of history trying to root themselves in him.
Older Zeeler rushed forward.
"Get away from him!"
Too late.
The world split.
---
They were in another place.
A place that wasn't a place at all.
It was like standing inside Kael's memory—but twisted, stretched across too many timelines. Zeeler saw cities burning in the sky. He saw Rythe fighting himself in a mirror that bled. He saw Kael standing on a mountain of bones—alone. Always alone.
Kael's voice came from everywhere.
"I didn't mean to… I just wanted to protect you…"
The older Zeeler reached him. Grabbed his shoulders.
"You still can. Don't become what I did. Let go."
Kael looked up.
And for a moment… the light faded.
They were back in the clearing.
Kael was unconscious.
The older Zeeler was gone.
Only the faint scent of memory remained.
---
Zeeler cradled Kael against his chest. The boy was breathing—barely. Rythe sat nearby, hands bloodied but calm.
The masked woman walked to them. "He tore a hole in time and walked out alive. That's not fate. That's choice."
Zeeler didn't look up. "What happens now?"
She paused. Then smiled.
"Now? Now the real hunt begins."