"There's no greater solitude than carrying the weight of secrets only you can remember."
---
Despite Juno's determination, she looked around and stood frozen, her breath coming in short, uneven bursts. The towering chimera loomed before them, its grotesque form writhing with an unnatural hunger. Tendrils of magic swirled ominously in the air, drawn toward the monster like moths to a flame. Her hand gripped her blade tightly, but her mind wasn't in the present.
Her chest ached, phantom pain clawing at her ribs as if the Chronosword were still embedded in her heart.
"I drove it in myself..." The memory surfaced unbidden, flashing before her eyes—the sharp pain, the sticky warmth of her blood, the deafening silence that followed. She had killed herself to save them. And now, Selene was spinning her daggers like a juggler, her bright laughter echoing through the cavern, while Exos adjusted his gauntlets with his usual grim focus.
They were alive.
But they didn't know. They couldn't.
Juno's knees trembled as guilt and horror coiled tightly around her chest. "I did it again," she whispered, her voice cracking. Her gaze darted to Selene and Exos. The ghostly remnants of their deaths still lingered in her mind—Exos' defiance, Selene's last whispered words.
And then Selene noticed her.
"Earth to Juno!" Selene's voice snapped her out of the spiraling thoughts. The dagger-wielder grinned, one brow raised. "You look like you've seen a ghost—or like you just remembered you forgot to feed the stray cat again."
"I—what?" Juno stammered, blinking rapidly.
"Oh, she's broken. Exos, she's broken," Selene sing-songed, twirling a crescent dagger around her finger. "Should I poke her? Smack her? Spin her around three times for luck?"
Exos sighed heavily, rubbing his temple. "Selene, now's not the time for your theatrics."
"When is it the time, Mr. Serious?" Selene quipped, but she leaned in close to Juno, her grin softening. "Hey, focus. Whatever weird brain rabbit hole you just fell into? Climb out of it. We've got a date with destiny and—ugh—that ugly thing." She gestured flamboyantly at the chimera, which roared, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Juno exhaled shakily, nodding. "Right. I'm here." Her voice steadied, though her heart was far from calm.
"Good!" Selene clapped her hands. "Because Exos is about to make us dinner with his fancy flying cutlery, and I want to see some fireworks!"
Exos groaned audibly, but the faintest hint of a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
[System Alert: Enemy Analysis—Voidborn Chimera]
- Attributes: Absorbs magical energy, regenerates rapidly, possesses adaptive physical forms.
- Weakness Detected: Elemental synergy disruption.
- Warning: Target can nullify repeated patterns.
"Alright, system. Show me everything I can work with," Juno muttered under her breath.
[System Suggestion: Plan of Action Required]
- [Selene's celestial abilities]
- [Exos' telekinetic weapon mastery]
- [User's tactical coordination]
Juno's mind raced. The chimera absorbed magic like a sponge; direct celestial strikes from Selene would only feed it. Exos could hit it hard, but brute force alone wasn't enough. They needed a synchronized plan—a way to exploit its weakness without falling into predictable patterns.
"Selene," Juno called out, her voice cutting through the tension. "You're going to use your stars, but don't aim at the chimera directly. Create a star field—bright and chaotic. Keep it distracted."
Selene blinked, then smirked. "Ooh, making me the glittery decoy? I like it."
"Exos," Juno continued, "your weapons—focus on piercing its joints. Knees, elbows, anything that limits its movement. Keep them erratic; don't let it anticipate your strikes."
Exos nodded curtly, summoning a series of floating blades that shimmered with lethal precision.
"And you?" Selene asked, tilting her head.
"I'll find its core." Juno's gaze hardened. "The system says it's adaptive, but if we disrupt its elemental synergy enough, we can expose its weak point. Once we do, I'll finish it."
Selene let out a low whistle. "Look at you, bossing us around like a pro. Alright, Captain Juno. Let's dance!"
The chimera roared, charging forward on limbs that twisted and morphed mid-motion.
"Go!" Juno shouted.
Selene vaulted into the air, her daggers slicing open shimmering rifts in the void. "Star surge!" Constellations spilled out like glittering ink, forming a dazzling star field that illuminated the cavern. The chimera snapped its head toward her, drawn to the blinding light.
Meanwhile, Exos unleashed a storm of weapons—spears, axes, swords—all darting through the air like a school of predatory fish. "Waltz of the Blades." Each strike hit the chimera's joints, forcing its limbs to buckle and twist under the relentless assault.
Juno stayed on the ground, her mind working furiously as the system fed her data. The chimera was adapting—its body already shifting to counter Exos' attacks and absorb the celestial light.
But then she saw it—a faint, pulsing glow deep within its chest. The core.
"There!" Juno pointed. "It's in its chest! Focus everything there!"
"Finally!" Selene grinned, spinning midair. "Let's blow this thing to stardust!"
With a flourish, she summoned a cascade of celestial meteors, each one smaller and faster than the last. They rained down on the chimera, forcing it to recoil. Exos followed up with a synchronized strike, his blades converging on the beast's chest like a coordinated firing squad.
The chimera shrieked, its movements becoming frantic and erratic.
[System Alert: Core Integrity Exposed—One Fatal Strike Required.]
Juno's fingers tightened around her blade. "This is it," she whispered.
She surged forward, weaving through the chaos of the battlefield. The chimera lunged at her, but Exos' weapons intercepted its claws, pinning them down. Selene's stars flared brightly, blinding the monster for just a moment.
Juno leaped, her blade aimed straight for the glowing core.
Time seemed to slow as the system whispered in her mind: "Remember, Timekeeper, there is no victory in endings—only in beginnings."
Her blade struck true.
The chimera let out one final, guttural roar before collapsing in a heap of writhing void matter.
As its body dissolved into nothingness, Juno landed heavily, her knees buckling. Selene and Exos ran to her side, their faces alight with relief.
"Well," Selene said, grinning as she helped Juno to her feet. "That was a fun little adventure."
"Fun?" Exos glared at her. "That was reckless. And dangerous. And—"
"Oh, relax, Mr. Doom and Gloom," Selene said, ruffling his hair. "We survived, didn't we?"
Juno let out a weak laugh, the tension finally ebbing away.
Juno barely caught her breath before the air around them shifted ominously. The chimera's body, still steaming from the void energy spilling out of its shattered core, began to tremble violently. Its grotesque limbs twitched, reforming unnaturally as a deep, guttural sound echoed through the crystalline cavern.
Selene stopped mid-laugh, her daggers already twirling in her hands again. "Uh, Juno? Captain? Boss? You seeing this?"
Exos summoned his weapons back into formation with a wave of his hand, his expression grim. "It's not done."
The chimera's remains contorted, its form collapsing inward like a dying star. Black tendrils lashed out in every direction, tearing through the cavern walls as fissures spread along the crystalline surface, glowing faintly as if the very castle protested the monstrosity's presence. The ground beneath them trembled violently, shards of crystalline debris raining down like jagged blades.
"Is it about to explode?!" Selene shouted, her voice pitched high with a mix of panic and excitement.
"No," Exos said sharply, his gaze fixed on the convulsing chimera. "It's worse. It's imploding."
The realization hit Juno like a punch to the gut. The beast wasn't dying—it was transforming.
[System Alert: Unknown Void Entity Entering Phase Two. Void Energy Surge Detected. Structural Integrity of Surrounding Environment—Critical.]
Juno's head snapped up as the ground beneath her buckled, sending her sprawling. Selene cursed, flipping through the air with an acrobat's ease, landing in a crouch beside her. Exos steadied himself with a summoned spear driven into the ground, his eyes scanning for an exit.
But there was none.
The crystalline castle itself rebelled, quaking with such ferocity that the walls began to fracture, enormous chunks breaking free and plummeting toward them. The glowing fissures snaked across the floor, threatening to swallow them whole.
"After everything that happened, we can't just die!" Selene exclaimed.
Yew, they cannot just die, but they did, they did die. Juno clutched at her head, the earlier images flashing back unbidden—Selene lifeless, Exos skewered by the beast's claws. The weight of what she'd done to rewind time and undo their deaths crushed her chest.
The two of them really are alive right now. But I killed myself to save them.
Her breath hitched, her hands trembling as she pressed them against the ground, trying to steady herself. The memory of driving the Chronosword into her chest was too vivid—her own blood soaking her hands, the searing pain, the cold emptiness before she woke again. And for what? To rewrite their deaths and fight the same battle in a different way?
Can I really change fate? Or am I just delaying the inevitable?
"Juno! Focus!" Selene's sharp voice pierced through the fog in her mind. A hand yanked her up, Selene grinning like a lunatic despite the chaos. "Now's not the time to zone out, babe! Unless you want to become rubble stew."
Juno blinked, Selene's manic energy grounding her just enough to register Exos shouting something from across the collapsing room.
"Move! Now!" Exos barked, summoning a wall of hovering shields above them to deflect falling debris.
They sprinted toward what seemed like a more stable section of the castle, but the ground gave way beneath them. Juno's foot slipped, and she plummeted, her stomach lurching as the world turned upside down.
For a moment, there was nothing but weightlessness and the roaring sound of destruction. Then—impact.
Her vision blurred as pain exploded through her body. The crystalline floor—or what was left of it—had caught her, though shards bit into her palms and legs. She tried to push herself up but couldn't move.
Her head throbbed, and the world shifted around her again—not physically, but mentally.
---
Juno was no longer in the castle. She was in her old world.
The classroom was familiar, the hum of the fluorescent lights above and the scribble of pens on paper lulling her into a false sense of security. She blinked, her heart pounding in her chest. This isn't real… is it?
She looked around, recognizing faces—classmates, teachers, Maeve and the old friends—people she hadn't seen in seemingly years. But something was wrong. Their faces were blurred, distorted, as if she were viewing them through shattered glass.
And then, they started exploding.
One by one, their bodies burst into grotesque sprays of blood and viscera, the sound of their screams mixing with the wet splatter of flesh hitting the walls.
"No… no, no, no!" Juno screamed, scrambling back as the carnage unfolded around her. The floor was slick with blood, the smell of iron choking her lungs.
The figure of a broken clock appeared before her, its shattered hands ticking erratically. Its voice, cold and unfeeling, echoed in her ears: "This is what happens when you try to change what is meant to be."
"Stop it! Please, make it stop!" she sobbed, clutching her head as the scene dissolved into static.
---
Her eyes snapped open, and she gasped, her body trembling as she sat up. Pain lanced through her ribs, but she was alive.
Selene knelt beside her, her usual grin replaced by a concerned frown. "Hey, you with us? You hit your head pretty hard. Looked like you were having a nightmare."
"Yeah… nightmare," Juno murmured, her voice shaky. She glanced around, realizing they were on the shattered remains of the crystalline castle's ground floor. Exos stood a few feet away, scanning the area with his arms crossed, his summoned weapons hovering protectively nearby.
Before she could process what had happened, a new presence made itself known.
"Bravo," a deep, resonant voice drawled, filled with a mix of amusement and malice.
Juno turned, her heart sinking as a man stepped out from the shadows. His robes, black and shimmering like oil slicks, dripped with an aura of void energy. His face was hidden beneath a hood, but his eyes burned with an unnatural violet glow.
"You've made quite a mess of my domain," the figure said, his voice dripping with disdain. "And now you stand amidst its ruins, unaware of the price you've paid to get here."
Selene cocked her head, her daggers spinning lazily in her hands. "Who the hell are you supposed to be? Some edgy drama villain?"
The man chuckled darkly. "I am the Void Lord of this realm. And you, little interlopers, have undone the eternal time of carefully cultivated chaos to turn this world into a new world of void. Shall I thank you for your foolishness, or destroy you for it?"
Juno's blood ran cold as the weight of his words sank in. The plagueborns, the chimera, the collapsing castle—it had all been his. And now, they stood face to face with the architect of this nightmare.