The world was quieter now.
Not because it was safer.
Because it had stopped trying to correct him.
Aiden noticed it first in the wind: it no longer pushed him back when he stepped forward. The System hadn't issued a quest in over a day. Even Torran's shadow didn't lag like it used to.
> [System Status: Manual Threading Mode – Active]
All decisions are final. No forecast. No prediction.
> You are the variable.
---
They crossed into a region the Dominion had once marked as unstable territory. Not because of war. Because no one remembered what used to be here.
The trees were too young.
The ruins were too old.
And some of the stone markers bore names that didn't match any language still spoken.
Torran knelt near a broken statue. "Who do you think these people were?"
Aiden ran a hand over the moss-covered base.
"I don't think they ever made it into the thread."
---
> [Hidden Sync Triggered – Ghostline Memory]
Echo Identified: "The One Who Was Cut Too Soon"
Thread Classification: Dead On Arrival
Passive Gained: Fateshade (I)
> Grants resistance to erasure effects from incomplete threads.
---
They traveled without a map, guided by intuition and instinct. Every step was unfamiliar, but Aiden felt something building.
Not an enemy.
Not a destination.
But a moment.
Something important was waiting in this nameless place.
---
Three Nights Later – Beneath the Rootlight Arch
They found the arch in the center of a forgotten valley.
A living structure of twisted roots and glasslike vines, pulsing with faint violet light. The stone beneath it bore the same sigil Aiden had seen only once before:
On the Herald's mask.
> [Pale Assembly Marker Detected]
Status: Abandoned
Warning: Observer Signature Detected – Not Assembly-Origin
---
A figure waited at the arch's base.
Not hostile.
Not System-tagged.
Just there.
Wearing no cloak, no armor. Just a shirt stained by road dust and old blood.
And his face—
Was Aiden's.
But older.
And smiling.
"About time you showed up," the man said.
Aiden didn't reach for a weapon.
Neither did he speak.
The figure stepped forward, extended a hand.
"I'm the one who stopped running," he said.
"I'm here to show you what that cost."