Aiden didn't take the hand.
He didn't need to.
Because the version of him standing beneath the Rootlight Arch wasn't a threat, or a test, or even a warning.
He was a threshold.
A choice.
"I know what you are," Aiden said quietly.
The older self nodded. "And yet you still came."
---
> [System Alignment Echo – Tier III Encounter]
Thread Reference: #Null-D
Designation: "The One Who Endured"
Status: Resolved Thread | Offer: Integration
> Accept? Y/N
---
The world didn't shimmer. No echo storms. No fractured glass.
Just stillness.
A moment of complete weightlessness in the thread.
Aiden hesitated only once.
Then: Yes.
---
Integration Begins
The man stepped forward.
And walked into him.
There was no burst of light. No scream. Just... acceptance.
Memories filled Aiden's chest like breath after drowning.
The time he didn't flee the vault. The moment he stayed behind to shield Calyx. The year he wandered without powers, saving who he could, surviving not by force—but by refusal.
It wasn't glory.
It wasn't darkness.
It was grit.
And it fused into him like it had always been there.
---
> [Integration Successful – Tier III Echo Thread Absorbed]
Legacy Sync: +3%
Total Sync: 33%
Trait Gained: Endurer's Core
> When outmatched by 2+ tiers, defense and regen increase 40% for 60 seconds.
Passive Gained: Thread-Stubborn
> Once per day, negate any attempt to remove you from the timeline.
---
Torran approached from the ridge above, breathing hard. "Was that—?"
"Me," Aiden said. "A version who never broke."
"Are you alright?"
Aiden looked up at the night sky.
It had begun to shift.
No stars.
Only lines.
And they were moving.
---
System Update: Veil Breach Detected
> The Veil has thinned.
System defenses rerouting.
Echoes from outside the known thread may now arrive freely.
The first one is already here.
---
Far across the world, in a city where nothing ever stayed dead, a child looked up at the sky and screamed—
Because Aiden Varos had just stepped into their dream.
And their world had never heard of him.
Until now.