Chapter 7: When Time Bled

Location: Elarin — The Silent CourtyardTime: Midnight, 11th Day of the Heptasoul Flare

The moon hung still.

No wind stirred the trees.

No insects whispered.

Only the quiet hum of fractured time — a pulse that beat beneath the cobblestone paths like a buried heart trying to scream.

Rael stood alone in the Silent Courtyard, where Kaien once trained every dawn. Statues of the Seven Elemental Founders surrounded the marble platform, their eyes blind to the present, always gazing at the horizon.

Rael's hands trembled, and not from cold.

He remembered her face.

Yuki.

Aika's mother.

His mother?

Could it really be true?

He clenched his fists.

"If I'm truly Kaien's son… why would they abandon me to rot in time?"

He had no answers.

But the flame in his chest was burning hotter than ever.

And the Veins of Time, barely visible beneath his skin, were glowing gold.

The Ice Queen's Visit

Footsteps echoed behind him.

Soft. Deliberate. Unhurried.

Rael didn't turn — he already knew.

Yuki stood beneath the moonlight, draped in her snow-cloak, every inch the cold, untouchable Ice Empress of Elarin. Her expression was unreadable.

But her eyes — those same eyes from his visions — held something deeper than frost.

"Is it true?" he asked, voice tight.

Silence.

"Am I… your son?"

Yuki did not deny it.

She walked past him, slowly, her gaze on the statues.

"When Kaien sealed the Void Flame, he sacrificed more than his body," she said quietly. "He gave away what was dearest to him. A future. You."

Rael turned to face her, every muscle tense.

"You could've told me."

She nodded. "And you would've believed it, boy born in flames with no memory?"

"I deserved to know!"

Her voice cracked — ice around steel.

"You were never meant to be found."

The First Collapse Begins

Suddenly, a low hum shook the air.

The trees shimmered — and then aged a hundred years in a heartbeat before returning to normal. Statues cracked and repaired themselves in reverse.

Rael's breath hitched. "What—"

Yuki's face paled.

"…No. Not yet."

The very fabric of the courtyard split, and from the air emerged glowing tears in space — images of past Elarin, flickering like haunted memories:

A young Kaien training with Lira beneath the storm bridge.

Aika as a child, chasing Ren through frozen fountains.

The day the Void Flame roared over the city.

Time was bleeding.

Rael stumbled. "Is this the Clock-Twin?"

Yuki nodded grimly. "The First Collapse. They've started undoing the knots of the present. If it spreads…"

She didn't finish.

She didn't need to.

Elsewhere: The Vault Calls

Far across the continent, inside the Spires of Hollow Memory, Seris awoke in a cold sweat. Runes glowed across her skin, her breathing ragged.

Lira stood beside her, concern shadowed in her eyes.

"Seris," she whispered. "What is it?"

Seris's hand rose, trembling, pointing at the center of the chamber.

"The Vault," she gasped. "It's opening too early. We have to send them now. Aika and Rael—if they don't reach it before the second rupture…"

She collapsed again.

But not before whispering one more thing:

"The dragon… stirs."

Council in Chaos

At dawn, the Harmony Council chamber was anything but harmonious.

Volen slammed a rune-slab onto the table.

"This isn't a debate anymore. The city is unraveling."

Ayrah, the Earthvine Elder, nodded. "Chrono scars are appearing across villages. People are forgetting their children. Whole towns wake up a day in the past."

Ardan, representative of the Ember Lineage, glared at Lira. "And we're letting the Flameborn boy stay here?"

"He's not causing it," Aika snapped. "He's the only one who might stop it."

Celica, priestess of the Moon Choir, stood slowly. Her eyes were pale silver, but her voice had steel.

"Then send him. Send them both."

Lira frowned. "Where?"

Celica turned toward the old stained-glass mural of the Vault of Echoing Flame, hidden in the Vale of Mirrors.

"To the place where his soul was first broken."

Decision at Dusk

That evening, Lira summoned Rael and Aika privately.

Ren, naturally, barged in.

Lira smiled faintly. "Of course you're here too, Ren."

He winked. "I'm the reckless one. They need me."

Lira's smile faded.

"Then listen well. You're going to the Echoing Vault. The place where Kaien sealed part of himself — and where the true plan was hidden."

Rael tensed. "To stop the Collapse?"

"To understand who you are," Lira said. "And what you're becoming."

She looked at Aika.

"And what you must choose to do… if he loses himself."

The room fell silent.

Rael and Aika exchanged a long look.

For once, Aika didn't turn away.

"…I'll go," she said softly. "I need answers too."

The Flame Stirs

That night, Rael stood on his balcony again.

He watched the stars blur and ripple.

The world was tearing.

Time was folding.

And deep in his chest, beneath flesh and memory…

The flame growled.

Not like fire.

Like something ancient awakening.

Like a dragon.