Chapter 14: The Truth Unraveled

The night air was thick and filled with tension. Olivia sat across the table from Paul in the tiny lit chamber, the flashing candlelight displaying long and big shadows on the stone walls. Tom stood nearby, his face sober, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he watched Olivia closely.

She had wanted answers. Now, they had no choice but to give them.

"You've been lying to me," Olivia said, her voice firm. "All of you. I need the truth no more riddles, no more half-truths."

Paul slowly breathes out, using his hand to rub the sweat down his face. "You don't know what you are asking us to do for you."

"Yes, I do," Olivia replied instantly. "I've seen the fractures. I've read the journal. I know I'm not who I thought I was. So tell me—who am I really, I don't want you to hide anything from me?"

Paul and Tom looked at each other with firmness in their eyes. They remained without saying anything to themselves, and then Paul turned back to her, his eyes dark and filled with something that looked like regret.

"You weren't meant to exist," Paul said quietly.

Olivia's breath seized in her throat. "What?"

Paul hesitated before continuing. "Your soul… your original soul… was the first Weaver. The one who created the Threads of Eternity."

Olivia felt the blood removed from her face. "That's impossible."

Tom, who had been silent during all the exchanges before spoke up. "It's not. The first Weaver was meant to control time, to keep the balance. But she rebelled. She tried to change the order of the universe, and in doing so, she fractured the multiverse itself."

"No," Olivia whispered.

"Yes," Paul said, his voice grim. "And when the Weaver was destroyed, the universe did something uncommon, it split her soul, scattering pieces of her soul across multiple timelines. Each version of you was a piece of the original."

Olivia felt like the world was moving without her. "You're telling me that I've lived before?"

"Countless times," Paul confirmed. "Each time, your existence threatens to destabilize the timeline further."

Olivia's mind kept racing. The flashes of déjà vu, the shifting castle, the memories she couldn't understand, was it all because of this? Had she been living different lives over and over again, without even knowing?

"I don't believe you," she said while also shaking her head.

"You should," Tom uttered. "Because every time the fractures grow worse, we're forced to make a choice."

Olivia looked between them, her chest moving up and down from the beating of her heart. "What choice?"

Paul hesitated. Then he said, "To either find a way to keep the balance or to eliminate you before the timeline collapses completely."

The words hit Olivia like a blow to the chest.

"You mean… you've been trying to kill me?" she whispered.

Paul's face was filled with pain expression. "Not exactly. We've been trying to find another way. But every time, the cycle repeats. And every time, it gets worse."

Olivia's hands turned into fists and she held them beside herself "And you never thought to tell me?"

"We couldn't," Tom said. "If you knew, you would've fought against it—just like the Weaver did."

Olivia stood suddenly, her heart pounding. "So what now?" she asked. "Are you planning to 'eliminate' me this time?"

Paul looked away. "We don't want to, Olivia. But if we can't fix the fractures"

"No." Olivia's voice was sharp. "I'm not going to let you decide my fate. Not again."

Tom sighed. "It's not that simple."

Olivia took a step toward them, her eyes filled with anger. "Then make it simple. I'm done being a player in whatever game the Weaver started. I want to know everything."

Paul looked straight into her eyes, his expression unreadable. "Everything?"

"Yes," she said firmly. "Everything."

Paul let out his breath slowly. "Then you'd better sit down. Because you won't like what comes next."

As Olivia prepared to hear the rest, a new reality came to her mind.

Paul and Tom had been protecting her, but they had also been following the Weaver's orders.

They were caught between two impossible choices.

And Olivia had just made herself their greatest complication now.