The golden thread carried Lina and Kai through a silence thick enough to drown thought. Unlike the violent dimensional rifts they'd once been hurled through, this path moved with calm intent—woven from something older than time, something that recognized their presence not as invaders, but as menders.
Ahead, the thread unraveled into a soft landing.
A world stretched before them—neither fully alive nor truly dead. Its skies bore the pale blue of healing wounds, and the land was dappled with floating islands, suspended like forgotten thoughts. Trees bloomed with bioluminescent leaves that pulsed in rhythm with the Spark within Lina's chest.
But the world was… quiet. Not in peace, but in anticipation.
As if waiting to be remembered.
Lina scanned the landscape, her eyes catching the shape of what looked like a broken citadel, half-submerged into the ground as if it had fallen from another dimension. Its spires were cracked, glowing symbols etched into the stone still flickering faintly—like a heartbeat on the verge of fading.
"What is this place?" Kai asked, his hand resting instinctively on the hilt of his blade.
Lina stepped forward, her voice a whisper. "A convergence point."
"A what?"
"It's where lost possibilities come to die… or be reborn."
She could feel it now—the echo of choices never made, battles never fought, promises that were spoken in other timelines and left unfulfilled. The air tasted of memory.
And then she heard it.
A whisper.
Faint, trembling, coming from behind the ruins.
Lina didn't hesitate. Her boots barely touched the moss-covered ground as she moved toward the sound. Kai followed, silent and alert. Rounding the broken pillars, they found the source.
A girl.
No older than Lina had been when all of this began. Curled up against a fallen column, her body bruised, her eyes distant—as if she was somewhere between this world and the next.
But that wasn't what made Lina freeze.
It was the girl's face.
Not just similar—identical.
Lina knelt slowly, heart tightening. "She's… me."
Kai's voice was soft behind her. "Another version?"
Lina reached out. The girl didn't flinch, but her lips moved. No sound came at first. Then—barely audible—came a name.
"Lai…"
It wasn't a name Lina recognized. But the way it was said, the way her other self clung to it… it was important.
"She's caught between timelines," Lina murmured. "Her world collapsed… but she survived."
"Why?"
"That name. Lai. Someone she lost, maybe. Or someone she's still connected to." Lina placed a hand on the girl's chest, right above where the Spark would rest. There was no flame, no glow—but something faint stirred beneath the surface.
Kai looked around, unease creeping into his features. "We're not alone."
Lina stood slowly, turning toward the shadows cast by the floating stones. Something moved—something tall, graceful, and wrong.
A figure emerged. Tall as a tree, wrapped in threads of black and silver, its face hidden behind a mask that shimmered like water.
"I am the Echokeeper," it said, voice like wind scraping against memory. "She does not belong to you."
"She's me," Lina replied calmly. "And I don't abandon parts of myself."
The Echokeeper tilted its head. "Then you must face what she could not. What she became."
A pulse of force surged through the air, and behind the Echokeeper… another figure stepped out.
Another Lina.
But not bruised. Not broken.
This one radiated power so sharp it could cut through existence.
Her eyes were hollow, burning white.
Her smile was not kind.
Kai moved to stand in front of Lina, sword drawn.
Lina touched his arm. "No. This one's mine."
Because this wasn't just another version of her.
This was a path she could have taken. A future she nearly became.
And now, to save the girl behind her, to heal this convergence world, Lina had to confront herself—
the version who had given in to the Spark completely.