The First Rebirth

White.

Endless. Empty. Weightless.

Aeris opened her eyes to a place that wasn't a place — just layers of light, shifting like veils in a wind that didn't exist. Her feet weren't touching anything. Her breath wasn't leaving her lungs.

But she was here.

And Kael was gone.

Her heartbeat throbbed like a drum inside her skull.

Where am I?

Then came the sound — a single chime, like the striking of a tuning fork against eternity. And with it, the light folded away to reveal a scene burned into her soul.

The Lab.

Glass tubes suspended from the ceiling.

Children inside them — floating. Eyes closed. Breathing through wires.

One of them...

...was her.

Aeris stepped forward. Her hand trembled as she touched the tube — the surface cold, smooth, real.

She saw herself at twelve.

Hair longer. Eyes dull. Skin pale. Her chest rising and falling with mechanical rhythm.

Behind her, a shadow moved. Boots on steel.

Kael.

But not the Kael she knew.

This one wore the coat of the Paradox Guild. His face older. Worn. Hardened by time.

"I failed you once," he said without turning. "This time, I tear time apart to undo it."

Aeris tried to move, but her limbs refused.

"You're not him," she whispered.

The figure slowly turned.

It wasn't Kael.

It was the man from the throne. His face was Kael's — but wrong. Dead eyes. Too calm. A scar across the left cheek like a lightning bolt.

"He left pieces of himself behind," he said, stepping closer. "Fragments. I am the one who woke."

A memory clone. A failsafe. A living echo.

He extended a hand toward her.

"You were supposed to die in the Lab. Everything since has been a fracture."

Behind him, the chamber shattered — the tubes exploding into dust, the ceiling caving in.

Reality collapsed again.

And now they were on the rooftop of Halcyon Tower, the night sky swirling with storm clouds and lightning that ran backward.

Aeris's breathing grew heavy. Her body pulsed with old energy. The Rift-mark on her palm burned like fire.

Kael appeared again — the real one this time — falling from the sky like a meteor, his fist smashing into the rooftop beside her.

He rose slowly. Armor cracked. Eyes glowing.

"Step away from her."

The clone Kael smiled.

"It's already begun."

He raised his hand, and from the ground burst a tree of wires, coiling into the air, wrapping around Kael's arms like metal snakes.

Aeris reached for her blade — but her hand turned to ash.

She was fading.

"Your time was borrowed," the clone whispered. "This is the first rebirth. And you, Aeris... were never meant to be."

Kael roared, unleashing a wave of light from his core, shattering the wires, sending shockwaves through the skyline.

Buildings trembled. Glass cracked.

But the clone vanished into mist — and reappeared behind Aeris.

"You think you're fighting me. But you're fighting time itself."

He pressed two fingers to Aeris's neck.

And she collapsed.

Kael caught her before she hit the ground.

But she didn't move.

Didn't breathe.

Didn't even blink.

Kael cradled her, his voice shaking with rage. "No. No, no, no—"

The sky fractured above them, opening into a spiraling eye of blue flame.

And a voice descended from it.

"One life... for the Rift to remain sealed."

"Two lives... to break it open."

Kael's hands clenched into fists.

He looked up.

Eyes full of fury. Grief. Purpose.

"Then I'll break time itself to take her back."

And from behind him...

A second Aeris stepped into the light.

This one glowing.

Unscarred.

Smiling — but not at Kael.

At the Rift.