The sky was pale when they emerged — not dawn, not dusk, but that eerie silence where the sun forgot its place.
Theo squinted at the horizon. "Time distortion?"
Nova nodded. "The vault must've been near a flux pocket. Everything around here's... slippery."
The ground beneath their boots was cracked concrete, veins of moss threading through the rubble. What had once been a suburban research zone was now a skeleton of steel and glass, rusted bones jutting from the earth like forgotten gods.
Theo was silent.
Nova glanced at him. "You haven't said anything since the vault. The core didn't… mess with your head, did it?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. It gave me… more than I expected."
She waited.
He finally said, "Dr. Elen Vire. She wasn't just part of the Origin Project. She was one of the designers. The way she spoke—she knew the Threads were going to collapse. But she believed they had to."
Nova raised a brow. "She wanted the collapse?"
"She called it a 'necessary unraveling.' Like fate itself had grown… diseased."
Nova took a step back, chewing that over. "So she didn't want to stop it. She wanted to reset it."
Theo's eyes met hers. "And maybe I'm not the first one sent back to do just that."
They stood there for a moment, the ruined city holding its breath around them.
Then a low hum vibrated through Theo's chest.
Not external.
The Origin Core.
It pulsed once—like a heartbeat. He winced, falling to one knee.
"Theo?" Nova rushed to him, gripping his shoulder.
"I'm fine," he gritted. "It's just—burning."
Nova's hand pressed to his back, steadying him. "What's it doing?"
He opened his jacket. The symbol embedded in his chest—where the Origin Core merged into his body—was glowing. Pale gold, almost like a thread-shaped sigil. It pulsed again.
And this time, he saw it.
Threads. Not memories. Not echoes. Possibilities.
They stretched from him in every direction—toward people, places, events. Some glimmered brightly. Others flickered like dying candles.
One in particular—just ahead, down a shattered road—shone with blinding intensity.
Theo stood, breath slow. "There's someone there. Someone important. Someone who shouldn't be alive right now."
Nova narrowed her eyes. "You saw a living thread?"
"More than that," he murmured. "I think they're a keystone."
She tapped her blade against her boot. "Then what are we waiting for?"
They followed the glowing thread west, weaving through broken streets and tangled rebar. As they passed a collapsed highway, Theo paused.
A rusted sign overhead read: SERA TECH RESEARCH CENTER — PRIVATE PROPERTY.
Nova stopped beside him. "Didn't that company vanish during the first cataclysm?"
"It was one of the first to go dark," Theo said. "Rumors said they'd uncovered something buried beneath the Earth."
Nova raised her brows. "Let me guess—something thread-shaped?"
Theo didn't answer. He was already walking.
Inside the ruined facility, time felt wrong again. Light bent oddly through the windows. Echoes of laughter flickered in the corners — memories imprinted on walls. Children. Scientists. Running simulations. Living normal lives before everything cracked.
Then they found her.
In the center of the main lab, curled beneath a tarp, was a girl.
Barely sixteen.
She was unconscious, but breathing. Her body suspended in a low-power stasis field that flickered weakly. Her skin was pale, but untouched by decay. Her hands were wrapped in silver filament that shimmered faintly with threadlight.
Nova whispered, "A Seer?"
"No," Theo said quietly. "Something... else."
As he reached for her, the Core in his chest pulsed again.
And the girl's eyes opened.
Golden.
Glowing.
She spoke a single word:"Origin."