Chapter Thirty – The Choice Within

Will you unravel yourself… or remake the world?

The scroll pulsed, alive in my hands. Not just a message—an ultimatum woven into every thread of who I was. My fingers trembled as the scroll faded into dust and light, seeping into my skin, disappearing into my veins.

I expected pain.

Instead, I felt clarity.

A rush of understanding. Every thread I had ever touched, every fate I had glimpsed—it all made sense now. I wasn't just a part of the pattern.

I was the thread the pattern feared.

Kael was staring at me with awe and something close to fear. "You absorbed it. The First Thread… it chose you."

Riven stepped closer, eyes sharp. "What does that mean for her?"

"It means she's no longer bound by fate," Kael said softly. "She writes it now."

The chamber responded to his words. The gold threads above began to move faster, forming shapes—memories, maybe, or warnings. One shape remained, glowing brighter than the rest: a broken crown wrapped in black flame.

The threat wasn't just ancient.

It was returning.

"We need to leave," I said, voice steadier than it had ever been. "The Threadforge was never a destination. It was a beginning."

"Beginning of what?" Riven asked.

I looked up at the shifting ceiling, at the visions of what was to come—cities unraveling, stars falling, people crying out for someone to weave hope again.

And deep in my chest, the answer echoed.

"Of war."

The moment I said it, the entire Forge shook.

Not from magic.

From something trying to claw its way in.

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