The scream of the universe echoed across Praton. Galaxies didn't usually make noise. But tonight, they wept.
Kael stood at the edge of the Skyreach Crater, rain soaking through his clothes, his chest rising and falling with jagged breaths. The dagger—the cursed loop-breaker—lay shattered at his feet, its metallic glow flickering out like a dying star. Zarah's body was still warm in his arms, her final words playing on a loop inside his head.
"You broke it… but not without cost."
The sky above him fractured like glass, black veins splitting the atmosphere, revealing layers of stars behind it—stars that were moving, watching. The loop was broken, yes, but what came next wasn't peace. It was collapse.
Kael screamed. Not out of rage, but despair. The kind of grief that folds in on itself. He had done what no other had dared: he'd shattered the infinite. He'd chosen truth over illusion. But it had cost Zarah her life… and perhaps Maya her soul.
His fingers trembled as he gently placed Zarah's body on the jagged rock. A single red pendant fell from her cloak—a sigil of the Sorian Order. Kael closed her eyes, whispered a silent apology, and stood. The ground shook beneath him.
The loop was bleeding into reality.
The once-shimmering plains of Praton began to bend and twist unnaturally. Trees folded into themselves. Rivers flowed upward. And above, a doorway ripped through the sky—oval-shaped, its edges jagged like teeth.
And then, he heard her.
"Kael…"
It was Maya's voice—but not soft, not human. It reverberated from all around him. He turned sharply, scanning the landscape. His heartbeat stuttered. There she stood—or what remained of her.
Maya's form floated just above the ground, her eyes glowing white, hair like ink suspended in water. Her skin pulsed with loop energy—veins of silver and blue. She didn't blink. She didn't smile.
"Maya?" Kael whispered.
She looked at him… and smiled, but it was off. Too perfect. Too symmetrical.
"I've missed you," she said, voice tinged with static.
He took a step forward. "What… what have I done to you?"
She tilted her head. "You set me free. But freedom has a price."
Behind her, the doorway expanded, and through it, Kael could see cities being pulled apart by time surges. People caught in mid-motion, their bodies stretching as timelines unraveled. It was the collapse of control. The loop had been the cage, but also the protection. And now?
Everything was uncontained.
Maya extended a hand, her palm glowing. "Come. You've already started this. Stay with me, and we can fix it—together."
Kael looked at her hand… then at the crater behind him, where Zarah's body still lay. His stomach twisted. "You're not… Maya. You're something else."
The thing wearing Maya's face blinked. For a split second, the illusion cracked—her eyes blackened, her face stretched unnaturally—and then reformed. "You're right," she said. "But she's still inside. You can save her… if you choose me."
Kael stepped back. "You're the Loop's avatar now."
"And you're the key," she said, stepping forward. "Don't run. It hurts more when you run."
Suddenly, the air snapped with tension. Behind Kael, a new figure emerged from the distortions. A woman—cloaked, eyes wild. She carried a glowing cube pulsating like a heartbeat.
"Kael!" she shouted.
He turned. "Who—?"
"No time! I'm Layra. Zarah sent me before she died." She tossed him the cube, and he caught it instinctively. It was warm, alive. "That's the Anchor. The only thing that can re-stabilize Praton!"
Maya's form shivered, her voice venomous. "That's mine."
Kael stared at the cube. "What am I supposed to do?"
Layra's eyes burned. "You either anchor the galaxy and trap Maya inside forever… or you embrace her and let time dissolve."
Kael stood frozen.
Trap her… or lose everything?
He looked into Maya's face again, searching for the woman he loved. Somewhere, in those eerie glowing eyes, he thought he saw it—a flicker. A flash of memory. Her laugh. Her tears. The night under the twin moons when she told him she loved him.
"Kael," she whispered, one final time.
His fingers hovered over the cube. One decision. One heartbeat.
"I'm sorry," he said.
And with a scream, Kael slammed the Anchor into the ground. It exploded in light. A shockwave tore through the crater. Maya screamed—not in pain, but in fury—as her form twisted and was sucked upward into the collapsing sky door.
Kael's knees buckled. Layra screamed something, but he couldn't hear her. His vision faded. The world dimmed. Stars collapsed.
Then—silence.
Kael woke to a darkened sky and the scent of ash.
The loop was gone. But so was Maya.
He sat up slowly, the weight of it crashing down on him. He had saved Praton, but at what cost? Zarah was gone. Maya was… trapped. And he was alone.
Or so he thought.
A shadow moved near the crater's edge. A young boy, no older than twelve, emerged with glowing eyes. He wore the same red sigil as Zarah.
"You broke the loop," the boy said.
Kael stood, weak. "Yeah."
The boy smiled. "Then it begins."
"What begins?" Kael asked.
But the boy didn't answer. He simply vanished into thin air.
Kael stood still, heart pounding. The loop may have ended… but something else had just been set in motion.
To be continued…