1. THE FORGOTTEN BLACKSMITH**  

The new timeline’s Blackforge was a symphony of clanging metal and laughter. Kael Ardent, now a blacksmith with calloused hands and no memory of blades or betrayal, hammered a horseshoe into shape. His dreams were quiet, his scars mundane.  

*“Kael!”* A farmer tossed him a rusted plow. *“Fix this by sundown, yeah?”*  

*“Aye.”* He grinned, unaware of the Chrono-steel veins buried in his bones.  

But when the Eclipse Beast attacked—a lone, feral thing—he moved *too fast*, shattering its skull with a hammer that glowed faintly. The villagers cheered.  

*“Since when can you fight like that?”* the farmer gasped.  

Kael stared at the corpse. *“I… don’t know.”*  

---

### **2. THE PRIESTESS OF ASHES**  

Liora knelt in the Grand Astral Temple, her robes pristine, her scar hidden beneath a silver collar. The High Ascendant preached peace, but her dreams burned with fragmented memories: a dying Sovereign, a boy with a Chrono-Blade, her own hands stained with blood.  

*“You’re troubled, child,”* the High Ascendant said, placing a hand on her collar.  

*“Just nightmares,”* Liora lied.  

That night, she peeled back the collar. Her scar pulsed, etching a map onto her skin—a path to a buried vault marked *“VII.”*  

---

### **3. THE MERCENARY’S BURDEN**  

Seraphina stalked the wastelands, her bow slung over a new jacket stitched with Eclipse Beast hide. Beside her, Mira—now a wiry, silent teen—scanned the horizon with worm-pale eyes.  

*“They’re coming,”* Mira muttered, her voice echoing with hive-static.  

A caravan approached, merchants fleeing a Beast surge. Seraphina loosed warning shots. *“Turn back. The sands eat the greedy.”*  

A girl with Liora’s eyes stepped forward. *“We seek the Priestess. The Temple promises sanctuary.”*  

Seraphina’s grip tightened. *“Promises are lies. Survive on your own.”*  

---

### **4. THE SCHOLAR’S RETURN**  

Rylan woke in a field of blue wheat, his body whole but humming with Chrono-energy. The gauntlet was gone, replaced by equations scrolling beneath his skin.  

*“The Seventh Betrayal is the First,”* he recited, though he couldn’t recall why.  

The village elders welcomed him as a wandering scholar. He taught children astronomy, charting stars that *shouldn’t exist*. One night, a black-feathered raven perched on his windowsill.  

*“You remember,”* it croaked in Jarek’s voice. *“Don’t you?”*  

---

### **5. THE EATER’S WHISPER**  

The Eclipse Beasts’ howls grew coordinated, strategic. They avoided Kael’s forge, circled Liora’s temple, and dug trenches that mirrored the scar’s map.  

In the desert, Seraphina found a Beast carcass with a message carved into its ribs: *“She is coming.”*  

Liora reached the vault, its doors engraved with seven betrayers—each face her own.  

And Rylan, tracing equations in the dirt, realized: *“The timeline isn’t new. It’s a *loop*.”*  

---

### **6. THE FIRST CUT**  

Kael’s hammer glowed crimson as he defended a fleeing child from a Beast pack. His movements were instinct, his mind blank—until he saw *her*.  

Liora, flanked by temple guards, her collar askew, revealing the scar.  

Their eyes met.  

*“Do I know you?”* he asked.  

Her mark flared. *“Not yet.”*  

The ground split. The Eater’s voice, thin and desperate, slithered into the rift: *“You can’t outrun *us*.”*  

---

**TO BE CONTINUED…**