The mother stood at the valley's heart, her time-forged blade glowing like a shard of moonlight. Bioluminescent fungus pulsed around her, casting jagged shadows across her hollow face. Beside her, the cobalt-eyed child grinned, clutching a jar of poisoned river water.
"Mama says you're late," the girl sang, skipping toward the cliff's edge. "But I saved you a drink!"
Lyra staggered, her locket-scarred hand pressed to her chest. "Don't… trust her," she rasped. The poison's black veins crept up her neck, but her eyes stayed amber—for now.
Kael gripped his shard, its light dimmed by overuse. His withered hand trembled. "Stay behind me."
The mother raised her blade. The air thickened, time slowing like syrup. Kael's next breath took an eternity.
"Run!" Lyra shoved him sideways as the mother struck.
The blade grazed Kael's shoulder. Ice flooded his veins, his skin wrinkling as decades peeled away. He collapsed, gasping, his body caught between youth and decay.
Lyra lunged for the shard. The mother pivoted, blade humming—
—and froze.
The child stood between them, the poisoned jar raised. "No, Mama. I want to play."
The mother's milky eyes narrowed but she lowered her weapon.
Lyra seized the moment. She slammed the shard into the valley floor. A shockwave of stolen time rippled outward, withering the fungus to ash. The mother screamed, her blade rusting mid-swing.
"Clever girl," the child purred. "But you forgot—"
She hurled the jar.
Kael tackled Lyra as glass shattered. Poison splashed his back, searing through his cloak. He roared, rolling to extinguish the droplets, but the damage was done. His spine arched, muscles locking as the rot spread.
Lyra scrambled to him, her hands glowing faintly blue. "Stop moving! I can… I can fix this."
"Don't," Kael gritted out. "Gideon's still in your head."
"And you're dying!" Her palms pressed against his seared flesh. Cold flooded his nerves—her cold, Gideon's power repurposed. The rot slowed.
The child clapped. "Pretty! But Mama's turn now."
The mother lunged, rusted blade swinging. Lyra parried with the shard, their weapons sparking. Each clash aged the shard further, its edges crumbling.
"Kael, get up!" Lyra screamed.
He forced himself onto his elbows. His body felt foreign, half-rotten, half-rejuvenated by Lyra's unstable power. The child danced closer, offering another jar.
"Thirsty?"
Kael seized her wrist. "What are you?"
Her smile widened. "What you could've been. Gideon's first child. His… prototype." She leaned in, whispering, "He made me from his own bones. But I was too soft."
Lyra cried out as the mother disarmed her, the shard skittering into the ashen dirt.
Kael headbutted the child. She stumbled, giggling, as he snatched the jar and hurled it at the mother.
The poison struck her chest. She shrieked, flesh sloughing off in blackened ribbons. The child's laughter turned shrill.
"Mama!"
Lyra grabbed the shard and plunged it into the mother's throat. Time exploded.
The mother disintegrated, her blade dissolving into sand. The child collapsed, her cobalt eyes fading to dull gray.
"No… no!" She clawed at her decaying dress. "Papa promised… promised I'd be perfect…"
Lyra knelt, hesitating, then touched the girl's cheek. "Sleep."
A stolen second passed from Lyra to the child—a mercy. The girl stilled, her body crumbling to dust.
Kael limped over. "You shouldn't have done that."
Lyra stared at her aged hand. "Neither should you."
The valley shuddered. Above them, the poisoned river reversed course, cascading upward into the sky.
"Gideon's reshaping the terrain," Kael muttered. "We need to—"
Lyra kissed him.
It was desperate, fleeting, and tasted of blood and rot. When she pulled back, her eyes were blue.
"Run," Gideon crooned through her lips.
She sprinted into the inverted river.