The Fractured Path

As they pored over Kreel's notes, the air in the warehouse grew heavy—like the calm before a storm. The equations were maddeningly intricate, filled with symbols and notations that defied conventional physics.

Then Mia saw something that made her pulse quicken.

Buried within the pages was a single, cryptic phrase:

> "The past is the key."

She read it again, her mind racing.

"What does this mean?" she asked aloud.

Kreel's expression darkened. "It means that the Nexus isn't just a force moving forward. It's reaching backward, altering fragments of time to ensure its own survival."

Noah tensed. "Are you saying it's changing history?"

Kreel nodded. "Not rewriting it entirely, but nudging events—removing threats before they ever become a problem."

Mia felt her stomach twist. "Then we're already fighting something that knows our next move before we make it."

Jonah exhaled. "Fantastic. Any good news?"

Kreel gave a thin smile. "Yes. It hasn't won yet."

As they continued deciphering the notes, a distant noise made them all freeze. A metallic clang—subtle, but deliberate.

"Someone's here," Liam whispered.

Mia's heart pounded as they moved toward the sound, weapons drawn. The shadows of the warehouse shifted as they advanced. Then—

A figure stepped into the dim light.

Mia's breath caught.

It was someone they knew.

A former ally. Someone who had fought beside them before vanishing without a trace.

The betrayal was written in their cold, unreadable gaze.

"You shouldn't have come here," they said softly.

The air crackled with tension.

"Why?" Mia demanded. "What have you done?"

The answer came in the form of a deafening explosion.

The warehouse shuddered as fire and debris erupted around them.

And just like that—everything collapsed into chaos.

The explosion sent Mia crashing to the ground. The heat scorched the air, filling her lungs with smoke and debris. Her ears rang as the warehouse crumbled around them, metal beams groaning under the weight of destruction.

Through the haze, she caught a glimpse of the traitor—the one who had once fought beside them. Their silhouette flickered against the backdrop of fire before vanishing into the smoke.

Liam's voice cut through the chaos. "Mia! We have to move!"

She forced herself up, coughing as she stumbled toward him. The others were already regrouping, their faces etched with shock and fury.

Noah wiped blood from his forehead. "What the hell just happened?"

"Kreel's notes," Jonah rasped, shoving a half-burned journal into Mia's hands. "Someone wanted them destroyed."

Mia's grip tightened on the charred pages. "And they nearly succeeded."

The ground trembled again, the warehouse groaning like a wounded beast. They had no time.

"We need to get out of here—now!" Seraph shouted.

As they sprinted through the collapsing structure, Mia's mind reeled. The betrayal wasn't just an attack—it was a message. Someone had known exactly where they would be, exactly what they were after.

And that meant one terrifying truth.

The Nexus wasn't just defending itself. It was using people against them.

The safehouse was a dimly lit hideout on the outskirts of the city—a place only a handful of people knew about. As they patched up their wounds and caught their breath, the weight of what had happened pressed down on them.

Liam was the first to speak. "We need to talk about what we just saw."

Mia sat at the table, staring at the burnt remnants of Kreel's research. "I don't understand. Why would they betray us?"

Noah ran a hand through his hair. "That's the question, isn't it? Did they turn against us… or were they never really on our side?"

Jonah's jaw clenched. "Either way, they knew exactly what to destroy. And that means we're running out of time."

Seraph exhaled sharply. "We need to find them before they do more damage."

Mia's mind raced. The answer wasn't just in who betrayed them—it was in why.

She glanced at the journal's half-burned pages, eyes scanning the faded words. Then, she saw it.

A name.

A name she hadn't heard in years.

Her breath caught. "No… it can't be."

The room fell silent.

Liam leaned forward. "Who is it?"

Mia hesitated before speaking the name.

A name tied to the past. A name tied to her past.

"They were supposed to be dead," she whispered.

The next morning, the tension in the air was thick. Mia had barely slept, her mind consumed by the revelation.

She sat by the window, replaying old memories. The day she had lost them. The day she had believed they were gone forever.

Liam approached, his voice gentle. "Talk to me."

Mia turned to him, struggling to find the words. "I thought I buried this part of my life."

"But it's not buried, is it?" Liam said. "It's been waiting."

She swallowed hard. "If they're alive, if they've been working against us… then everything I believed was a lie."

Liam didn't press. He just nodded. "Then let's find out the truth."

Mia looked back at the journal, then at her team. "We start with the past."

Because if she was right, the answer to stopping the Nexus wasn't just in its equations.

It was in the person she once trusted the most.

And now, they were standing in her way.

The room was eerily silent after Mia uttered the name.

Noah's face darkened. "That's impossible."

Seraph leaned against the table, arms crossed. "If they're alive, they've been hiding for years. And if they've been working against us… it changes everything."

Liam studied Mia's expression, searching for something unspoken. "Tell me everything. Who are they to you?"

Mia's fingers tightened around the half-burnt pages. The ink was faded, but the name stood out as if branded into her memory.

Elias Voss.

A ghost from her past. A name she hadn't spoken in years.

"He was my mentor," she said finally. "Before everything fell apart."

Jonah frowned. "I thought Kreel was the one who brought you into this world."

"He was," Mia said. "But before Kreel, before any of this, there was Elias."

Liam and the others exchanged glances.

Mia exhaled slowly, gripping the chair as if grounding herself. "He taught me everything I know about Echoes. He was the first to truly understand the power we had. But he disappeared. They said he was dead. That the Nexus had taken him."

Noah rubbed his temples. "So if he's alive…"

"…then he's either been working with the Nexus all along," Mia finished, "or he escaped and found his own way."

The weight of the possibility was suffocating. If Elias was alive, if he had been behind the recent attacks, then everything they thought they knew was wrong.

Liam set his jaw. "There's only one way to find out."