The petal burned in Kael's palm, its crystalline edges biting into his skin. Lira's warning hung in the air like smoke, but all he could hear was the echo of Lyra's laughter—both the one he'd buried and the one he'd failed to save.
"You're playing with forces you don't understand," Lira said, her lute strings humming with tension. "That relic isn't a tool. It's a trap."
Kael closed his fist around the petal. Memories flickered—Alternate Lyra's meadow, Veyron's sneer, Selene's hollow eyes. "I don't care what it is. If it holds answers about Lyra, I'll use it."
Aria materialized, her form flickering like a dying flame. "Then you'll die like a fool."
"Not before Veyron does."
Elysion's training grounds were deserted, the air thick with the aftermath of Veyron's earlier taunt. Kael stood at the center, the petal pulsing in his grip. Aria's sword felt heavier than usual, its hilt biting into his palm.
"Open it," Aria demanded. "Let's see what the witch left you."
He hesitated, then crushed the petal.
Light exploded.
Memory: The Architect's Gambit
Kael stood in a void, stars swirling around him like dust motes. Before him loomed a figure clad in shifting constellations—the Architect. Its voice reverberated, neither male nor female, but everyone.
"Prime Cores are my design," it intoned. "You are engines, fueling the multiverse's expansion. But entropy cannot be denied. The Voidspawn… are merely the reckoning."
The vision shifted. Kael watched as the Architect fractured, its essence splintering into countless shards—Lira, Veyron, Synergists across dimensions.
"You are all my echoes," the Architect whispered. "And you will all return to me."
Kael gasped, collapsing to his knees. The petal's light dimmed, leaving his hands stained with iridescent ash.
"Well?" Aria snapped. "Was it worth the theatrics?"
"The Architect… it's using us. All of us."
Aria's laughter was bitter. "And this surprises you? Power always has a master."
Before Kael could retort, the ground split. Soulwraiths poured forth—not Veyron's hollow puppets, but twisted amalgamations of alternates Kael had erased. Their faces flickered: Lyra, ScholarKael, even Aria.
"Mine?" Aria hissed, her blade trembling. "How dare they—"
Kael's Prime Core flared. Convergence Tier fused Aria's fury with the Scholar's cold logic. He moved, not as a warrior, but as a force of inevitability. The wraiths fell, their stolen faces dissolving into static.
But the last one lingered—a shadow with Selene's smile.
"You can't save her," it whispered with Lyra's voice. "She's already one of us."
Elysion's spires groaned as rifts tore open, vomiting horrors into the sky. Kael fought alongside Lira, her music weaving shields of light, but for every wraith banished, ten more took its place.
"They're targeting you," Lira shouted over the din. "Your Core is a beacon!"
Aria materialized, her blade cleaving a wraith in two. "Then let's give them a show."
Ascendant Tier: Synergy Activated.
Kael's mind fractured. Five alternates overlapped—Aria's wrath, the Scholar's cunning, a pyromancer's flames, a thief's agility, a diplomat's silver tongue. Power scorched his veins. He became a storm, annihilating wraiths with a thought.
But the Voidspawn weren't the true threat.
Selene descended through a rift, her violet eyes glowing, her form wreathed in Voidspawn tendrils. Behind her stood Veyron, a dozen alternates chained to his will.
"Hello, brother," Selene said, her voice a chorus of static and sorrow. "Let's end this lie together."