### **1. Kael: The Shattered Mirror**  

Kael’s consciousness drifted through a kaleidoscope of broken timelines. One moment, he was the hero who saved Liora in the ruins; the next, the tyrant who razed Blackforge. Ghost-Kael materialized in each shard, a silent judge.  

*“You’re not real,”* Kael snarled, watching a version of himself spare Garron instead of breaking his jaw.  

*“Am I?”* Ghost-Kael pointed to a timeline where Liora stabbed him a second sooner. *“Every choice fractures you. Rebuild, or fade.”*  

A glint caught his eye—the Chrono-Blade, embedded in a memory of his first Awakening. He grasped it, and the shards *screamed*.  

---

### **2. Liora: The Hive’s Prison**  

The Sovereign’s hive-mind was a cacophony of voices. Liora wrestled control of a Beast legion, directing them to shield a fleeing village. Veyra’s presence slithered into her thoughts.  

*“The Eater feasts on your defiance. Submit, and we survive.”*  

*“We’re already dead,”* Liora shot back, channeling Kael’s ruthlessness. She plunged deeper into the hive, finding a familiar soul—**Young Seraphina**, trapped mid-purge.  

*“Help me,”* Liora begged.  

*“You’re the key,”* Young Seraphina whispered. *“Break the chain.”*  

---

### **3. Seraphina & Rylan: The Bastion Siege**  

The rebels stormed the Church’s Bastion, its walls oozing Eater-corrupted Chrono-energy. Rylan’s makeshift gauntlet flickered, hacking the gate’s defenses.  

*“Ten seconds!”* he yelled.  

Seraphina loosed incendiary arrows, incinerating Beasts with Garron’s face. *“Jarek’s alive,”* she realized, spotting the traitor’s blade in the fray.  

The gate fell. Inside, a **Chrono-Forge** pulsed—a machine weaponizing time itself. Jarek lunged for the controls.  

*“The Eater’s gift!”* he crowed.  

Seraphina’s arrow pinned his hand. *“Your feast is canceled.”*  

---

### **4. The Eater’s Banquet**  

Reality peeled back as the Eater consumed a timeline. Forests aged to dust, cities inverted, and screams dissolved into static. In the void, Kael’s splintered self *felt* it—**Liora’s timeline**, flickering next.  

*“No.”*  

He clawed through the shards, manifesting as a wraith in the Bastion.  

*“Rylan! The gauntlet—*now*!”*  

Rylan slammed the device into the Chrono-Forge. A pulse of stolen time ripped through the Eater’s tendrils, buying seconds.  

---

### **5. Convergence**  

Liora seized the Chrono-Forge’s energy from within the hive. *“Kael?”*  

*“Still here,”* his voice echoed, fractured but fierce. *“Break the chain.”*  

She unleashed the energy, shattering the Sovereign’s core. Veyra screamed as the hive-mind collapsed—but Liora fell with it.  

---

### **6. The Price**  

Kael’s wraith dissolved, his shards dimming. Seraphina caught Liora’s body, her mark now a scar.  

*“Did we win?”* Liora murmured.  

Rylan stared at the gauntlet—cracked, but alive with stolen Chrono-energy. *“We bought a battle. Not the war.”*  

Above, the Eater’s eye opened.  

---

**TO BE CONTINUED…**