Chapter Forty – Threads of Blood and Memory

We left the Hollow at dawn.

Mist still clung to the valley like a shroud, but my path felt clearer than it had in days. With every fragment I reclaimed, I felt stronger—more aware of the many versions of me that had once lived, fought, and died to protect something I still didn't fully remember.

Riven walked beside me, silent as usual, but I could feel his tension.

"You've been quiet," I said, breaking the silence.

He hesitated. "I saw her—your reflection. The way she looked at you… like she'd already seen how this ends."

"That's what scares you?" I asked softly.

"No," he said, glancing at me. "What scares me is that you might believe her."

I blinked. "And if I did?"

"Then I'd fight to remind you of this you," he said. "The one who still laughs in the rain. The one who saved me without knowing who I was. That version matters, too."

I smiled. "So you have been watching."

Kael, walking ahead, suddenly raised a hand—his signal for silence.

We stopped.

The earth ahead cracked and opened in jagged lines, revealing an ancient chamber half-swallowed by the ground. Symbols danced across the stone entrance, glowing faintly with pulsing violet light.

"The Loom's Mark," Kael murmured. "We're close."

"What is this place?" I asked.

"A Vault," he replied. "The first one ever built. It's where the Threads were first tested. Before the Balance was written. Before the gods fell silent."

We entered slowly.

Inside, time felt heavy.

The walls shimmered with floating glyphs, whispering forgotten names. In the center stood a pedestal, and on it, a glowing orb—spinning, humming like a heart.

I approached it, drawn by instinct more than thought.

Kael reached out to stop me, but it was too late. The moment my fingers brushed the orb—

Everything fractured.

---

I was falling.

Through time.

Through lives.

Through me.

I saw a woman wearing a crown of moonlight, dying in battle, her blood soaking a child's cradle.

I saw a warrior tearing a kingdom apart with golden flames, screaming a name—Kael.

I saw a girl kneeling before a tree of light, whispering a promise to never love again if it meant saving them.

And then… I was in the Loom.

A place beyond time. Beyond death. Beyond even memory.

A voice echoed through the stars. "Your soul carries the weight of every choice. But not every choice has to end in sacrifice."

When I came back to myself, I was kneeling beside the orb, Kael and Riven both holding me, worried.

"I saw everything," I gasped. "All the versions of me… all the love, the pain, the betrayal. The Loop we're stuck in…"

Kael's voice was grim. "And now you understand. The Loom doesn't just record fate—it repeats it. Until someone breaks it."

I looked at both of them, and for once, I wasn't afraid of what I had been.

I was afraid of what I might still become.

But I also knew one thing now:

This wasn't just about reclaiming my soul…

It was about rewriting the ending.