The tear in the sky hadn't closed.
It had grown.
Steven flew low across the fractured remains of the Chronomancer's realm, trails of shattered time still drifting in the air like broken glass. But ahead—just beyond the edge of the void—stood something real. Solid.
A door.
Carved into a floating stone monolith, ancient and glowing with sigils Steven couldn't read. A presence pulsed from it—calm, unnerving, watchful.
"The Oracle…" he muttered. "First of the Fractured."
He stepped forward.
The door opened before he touched it.
A pulse of golden energy surged through him.
Steven staggered.
A voice whispered in his mind.
"Your name is not your own."
"What…?" he breathed, eyes darting around.
The realm beyond the doorway was a desert of shifting sands and endless twilight. In the center stood a towering obsidian obelisk. Sitting cross-legged atop it was a woman in crimson robes, blindfolded, her silver hair flowing unnaturally in the still air.
Steven took a step closer. "You're the Oracle?"
No answer.
He tried again. "The Architect said you could help me. The Absence is coming."
The woman didn't move. But her voice echoed directly into his mind.
"The Absence does not come. It awakens. Because you brought it back."
Steven's hands clenched. "I didn't have a choice."
"Choice is an illusion wrapped in guilt."
"I don't have time for riddles," he snapped.
Suddenly—she was gone from the pillar.
Behind him.
Her voice cold against his neck.
"Then make time."
Steven spun, staff raised—only to find her a few paces away, hands folded.
"How are you doing that?"
"I live outside of time, Starcaster. I see every version of you… dying."
He flinched.
"But only one… becoming something more."
Steven stared at her. "Then tell me. How do I win?"
She turned slowly, lifting her blindfold.
Underneath, no eyes—just swirling voids filled with stars.
"You don't. You lose everything. That is your fate."
Steven gritted his teeth. "Fate is bendable."
"Not here."
He stepped forward, defiant. "I rewrote the Chronomancer's domain. I faced the Architect. I survived death across a thousand timelines."
"And now you carry a curse," she said, raising her hand.
The Codex trembled.
"The final rewrite comes at a price. You broke the Loop, but now you wear it."
"What does that mean?"
She extended her hand—and touched his forehead.
Images exploded in his mind.
Himself. Bound in chains made of light.
A figure watching him. A mirror. But older. Broken. Dark.
A future self?
He gasped, falling to one knee.
The Oracle's voice softened.
"You don't need my help to win. You need my curse… to understand."
Suddenly, energy surged into his chest—burning. The Codex flared violently.
"W-What did you—?"
"I gave you sight. True foresight. You will now see every possible future… and the weight of every path."
Steven's breath hitched. He could already feel it—thousands of threads unraveling in his mind. Endless outcomes. Death. Betrayal. Victory. Madness.
The Oracle stepped back, vanishing into sand.
"You wanted answers, Starcaster."
Her voice faded like the wind.
"Now you will live with them."
Steven remained still, sweat dripping down his brow.
"…This curse…"
He looked at his hands, trembling from the sheer flood of knowledge.
"…No. It's a weapon."
He stood.
Eyes forward.
He could see it now—where the next thread led.
To the Rift-To
uched.
To the edge of worlds.
And maybe… to the truth of who he really was.
---
(To be continued)