The thread had snapped.
Luna stood frozen as the silver strand that once shimmered across her chest dissolved into the air like mist at dawn. The silence that followed was deafening. Even the wind dared not move. It was as if the world had exhaled, waiting to see what she would do next.
Her hand hovered in front of her, trembling. "No… that wasn't supposed to happen."
Aelius, across from her, took a cautious step forward. His eyes, usually calm and unreadable, now flickered with something dangerously close to fear. "Luna, listen to me. Threads don't just break unless—"
"Unless what?" she whispered, her voice barely holding together. "Unless I've been cursed? Or unless someone decided I wasn't meant to have one to begin with?"
Rae stepped forward, a grim line across his lips. "It's not a curse."
Luna looked between the two men, the crushing weight of uncertainty pressing against her ribs. Her eyes searched Rae's face for answers, but something in his expression felt off—calculated. It was subtle, but it was there.
"What aren't you telling me?" she asked. "Both of you."
Silence again. Only this time, it was louder.
Finally, Aelius broke it. "Your thread… was never just silver."
Luna blinked. "What?"
Rae's voice followed like a shadow. "It was white, once. Pure. Untouched."
Aelius added, "Then it changed… after your first fracture."
"My what?"
"You don't remember, do you?" Rae murmured. "Of course you don't. That's the cost of the Loom's mercy. Every time a thread is re-woven, a memory is taken."
Luna staggered back. Her legs met the edge of a fountain in the quiet courtyard, where moonlight stretched like silk across the stone tiles. She sat down slowly, the truth setting in like frost.
"How many times?" she asked, voice barely audible. "How many times have I lost myself?"
Neither of them answered.
A flash of light surged through her chest—hot, blinding. Luna gasped, gripping the side of the fountain. Her veins lit up for a split second with white fire, then vanished.
Aelius ran toward her. "It's starting."
"What's starting?" she hissed through gritted teeth.
He crouched beside her, placing a hand on her back. "The weaving is over. Now the awakening begins."
"You're not making sense—" she flinched. Another surge, stronger this time. Her mind cracked open like glass under pressure.
And then it came. A memory. But it wasn't hers.
A battlefield. A girl in silver robes standing in the rain. A man cloaked in darkness, holding a broken thread. And a voice—deep, familiar—saying, "You will forget, for your own good."
Luna's breath caught in her throat. "That was you."
Rae stiffened. "What did you say?"
She stood shakily. "That memory… it was you, wasn't it? You made me forget."
"I did what I had to do," Rae said, but the guilt was already showing.
Aelius drew his blade, stepping between them. "You manipulated her. Just like I warned."
"It wasn't manipulation," Rae snapped. "I was protecting her!"
"From what?" Luna demanded. "From the truth? Or from yourself?"
The silence that followed was thick and cutting. The night around them felt charged, as if even the stars had drawn closer to listen.
Aelius didn't lower his blade. "You don't deserve her trust."
Rae's jaw clenched, his voice bitter. "And you do?"
"I never lied."
"That's because you were too busy hiding."
Luna had enough. "Stop!"
Both turned to her.
"I don't care who's right. I care about what's real. So start talking—now."
Aelius hesitated. "There's a reason you were brought back. Why the Loom keeps re-weaving your fate. You're not just any Threadbearer, Luna."
He slowly lowered his sword. "You're the Weaver's Key."
"The what?"
"The one who can unlock the Echoes—memories stored within broken threads. The one who can bend time backward."
Rae nodded reluctantly. "That's why the enemy wants you. That's why you were taken, and why your memories had to be sealed."
Luna stared at them, her entire world reassembling in jagged fragments.
"I don't believe you," she said. "I can't—this is insane."
"Your body already knows," Aelius said softly. "The power is waking up. You just haven't accepted it yet."
Suddenly, a loud crack tore through the air. The ground beneath them shook. A ripple passed through the sky—black and red, like a tear being pulled through the fabric of the heavens.
Rae stepped back. "They found us."
Aelius cursed under his breath. "We have to run."
"No," Luna said, her voice low and firm. "I'm done running."
"Luna, please—" Rae reached for her.
But her eyes were glowing now. White fire shimmered within them, crackling softly around her fingertips.
"I don't remember everything," she said. "But I remember enough to know I've been used. And I won't let it happen again."
Another quake rocked the courtyard. The ripple in the sky widened, revealing a dark figure stepping through—a masked woman cloaked in shadows.
She raised a hand.
"Luna Estelle," the woman called. Her voice echoed like a thousand whispers. "The last true Key… you are ours."
Aelius stepped in front of her. Rae drew a blade of blue flame.
Luna just stared at the woman—and smiled faintly.
"You're too late."
The ground exploded beneath her as the energy inside her burst forth—light, raw and unrefined, surging like a second heartbeat through the courtyard. The masked woman raised a shield but staggered.
Luna's voice was calm.
"Let's see what my heart remembers now."