The fire had been out for hours, but the warmth still clung to the stone walls of the cave like a ghost. Rell was curled up between two worn packs, asleep at last. His breathing was shallow, but steady. Nova had taken the first watch, though she didn't feel like she was watching anything—just waiting. Listening. The kind of listening that made her ears ache in the quiet.
Theo sat farther back, the faint glow of the Origin Core shard casting soft blue light across his features. He wasn't looking at it anymore. He'd been staring past it for a while now, lost in thought.
"How long has it been glowing like that?" Nova asked, voice low.
Theo blinked and glanced down at the Core. The glow pulsed slightly now, not with heat but rhythm—like a heartbeat, or a signal looking for something.
"Since just before we found the cave," he murmured. "But it's different now. Like it's responding to something."
Nova shifted closer, eyeing the shard warily. "That thing creeps me out."
"It should," Theo said. "It's not just some relic. It's... remembering something. Or reacting to something I haven't done yet."
Ayen, who had returned from a short patrol outside, knelt by the mouth of the cave and shook the mist off her coat. "That's not paranoia," she said. "There are fresh burn patterns on the moss outside. Circular, not from fire. Clean edges, like acid. But no scent. Something scanned the cave perimeter recently—last hour or less."
Nova stiffened. "The Collector?"
"Or another scout," Ayen said. "They're not hiding anymore. They know we're moving."
Theo exhaled. "Then we stop running. We draw them."
Nova looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "You want to bring them here?"
He nodded. "We need answers. And if they keep chasing us, we won't get another moment like this. If I can figure out how the Core reacts under stress—or contact—we might unlock more of it."
Ayen tilted her head. "You want to bait the very thing that's hunting you, in hopes it'll help you understand the weapon it wants?"
Theo smiled faintly. "When you say it like that, it sounds reckless."
"It is reckless," Nova snapped. "But you're not wrong. So how do we do it?"
Theo held up the shard. "I let it see me."
Rell stirred behind them, sitting up groggily. "It's already seen you," he said. "It's just waiting for you to see it."
They all turned to him.
Rell stood, rubbing his eyes. "You're not the only one who remembers things that haven't happened yet, Theo. I remember your name from a dream I had before we met. I didn't understand it then. But I think I was supposed to find you."
Theo knelt beside him. "What did you see?"
"Not a vision. A sound. A word spoken over and over: 'Refract.' Like a command. Like the moment I heard it, something inside me changed."
Nova crossed her arms. "Refract? Sounds like tech-speak."
Theo's gaze sharpened. "Or a protocol."
He stood and walked outside, holding the shard of the Core in front of him. The forest around them had gone eerily still. No birds. No wind. Just silence.
"Refract," he said into the silence.
Nothing.
He tried again, louder. "Refract!"
Then the world tilted.
There was no warning. No tremor. Just a fold in space, like the air tore and stitched itself in the same instant. A faint figure appeared in the clearing, barely visible—a shimmer, like heat off pavement.
It didn't move. Didn't breathe. But it watched.
Nova emerged, blade drawn. Ayen took position behind Theo, rifle raised.
The shimmer stepped forward once.
Theo clutched the shard tighter. It pulsed violently now, burning cold in his palm.
"You're one of them," he said. "A collector."
The figure tilted its head—just slightly. Then a voice echoed through their minds, mechanical and distant:
"Designation: Refracted Subject. Authorization Incomplete. Temporal Breach Detected."
Rell gasped. "It's not here for him."
Nova looked around, tense. "Then who?"
Theo turned. Slowly. The shard still pulsing in his hand.
And saw the reflection in Rell's wide eyes—behind him.
A second shimmer. Closer. No sound.
Then the voice again:
"Refracted Subject Identified. Memory Divergence at 37%. Acquisition Begins."
Theo didn't think. He just moved.
He shoved Rell aside as a wave of sheer force exploded outward from the shimmer, flattening trees and sending a blast of static through every nerve in his body.
Pain screamed through his spine as the world turned white.
Nova was yelling something, but the sound didn't reach.
Only the Core responded—flaring blindingly bright.
And then everything collapsed into silence.