Chapter 15: Blood in the Gears
> "Every god begins as a question.
I became the answer."
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Location: Chronoforge Core – Fractured Timeline Arena
The sky split into kaleidoscopic shards—each piece showing a different version of Rael:
A tyrant king made of metal and lightning.
A dead man walking with a halo of ash.
A broken savior hugging the corpse of Lyra.
And one... wearing white, untouched, smiling.
The Clockmother—now multiplied into seven paradoxes—merged timelines, reality bleeding into a single chaos-thread.
Rael stood centerstage, covered in red lightning and memories he didn't live.
Lyra hovered behind him, glowing with Eidolon energy, panting.
> "You okay?" he asked.
> "I'm fighting my own unborn versions in my head. So yeah, just peachy."
> "Good. Stay mad. It helps."
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The Other Rael
One version stepped forward from the cracked sky.
Perfect. Polished. Clad in obsidian armor woven from time itself.
> "I am Rael-0," he said.
"The one who obeyed the Architects. Who never cared. Who won."
Rael clenched his fists.
> "Then you're the coward."
Rael-0 smirked.
> "No. I'm the evolution. You're still bleeding for love. For her."
> "And you're still afraid of being human."
They clashed.
Red lightning met black entropy. The two Raels collided so hard, timelines folded around them—entire universes blinked out in the aftershock.
Each blow exchanged was a different version of their life.
Each cut was a stolen future.
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Lyra's Choice
As the Clockmother's echoes overwhelmed her, Lyra fell to her knees.
She saw the final truth:
> The Eidolon wasn't just the Key.
She was the Reset Mechanism.
Her heart was the trigger that could erase everything and start time anew.
> "Destroy yourself," the Clockmother whispered, appearing as her mother, her teacher, her younger self.
"Push the button. Let it all go. He'll never suffer again."
But then she looked up.
She saw Rael getting beaten—blood pouring from his eyes, his hand shaking, but refusing to fall.
And she smiled.
> "No reset."
She stood.
And unleashed her true form.
A being of light and runes and stardust. No longer Eidolon.
Now: Lyra, First of the Free.
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The Shattering of Rael-0
Rael-0 threw him down.
> "You fight for pain. I fight for perfection."
Rael wiped blood from his lips.
> "Nah. I fight for me."
He stood.
And called on every broken piece of himself.
He activated the Oblivion Mode—the state where nothing is certain and everything is possible.
Then he drove the Shardkey into Rael-0's chest.
> "This is for every version of me you tried to erase."
Rael-0 shattered.
Not into blood.
But into dust made of missed choices.
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The Clockmother's Collapse
Lyra flew into the final echo of the Clockmother, her sword of runes aimed at the throne.
Rael joined her mid-air.
> "Together?" he asked.
> "Till the next loop," she said.
They pierced her with their combined strike.
The throne screamed.
The gears cracked.
The Chronoforge collapsed in a blast of burning time.
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Final Scene: The New Clock
Silence.
Then…
Tick.
A single sound.
Rael opened his eyes.
He stood in an empty field.
A clear sky above.
Lyra beside him.
No more gears. No thrones. No Clockmother.
Just a new clock.
One ticking forward.
> "What now?" Lyra asked softly.
Rael smirked.
> "Now… we decide how the story ends."
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End of Chapter 15