Kael ran through shifting corridors of the Void, each step causing the ground to form underfoot like a reality struggling to keep up.
He wasn't sure how far he'd gone—only that the System kept pinging alerts.
[TRIBUNAL TRIAL IN: 71:14:33]
[FATELOCK: ACTIVE]
[RECOMMENDED: Shelter, Upgrade, Alliance]
Shelter? There was none.
Until the land twisted again—and he heard it.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The sound wasn't mechanical—it was biological. A pulse. A heartbeat made of time.
Then it rose over the horizon: a floating citadel made entirely of rotating gears, shifting platforms, and bone-clock towers. The entire structure moved in impossible patterns, like a Rubik's Cube solving itself forever.
[LOCATION DISCOVERED: THE CLOCKWORK CATHEDRAL]
[FORBIDDEN ZONE: ENTRY TRIGGERS MEMORY ECHOES]
Kael's vision blurred as he approached. The world vibrated.
And then—he saw himself.
Not a reflection. Not a hallucination.
A version of him walked through the Cathedral's halls—cloaked in gold and shadow, his right eye burning with a blue star. Hundreds of spectral knights knelt around him.
[ECHO MEMORY: THE OTHER SOVEREIGN]
[Time Signature: -11,000 YRS]
Kael reeled back. "That's not possible. That's—me?"
[ERROR: LOOP SIGNATURE DETECTED]
[You are the first Sovereign. You are the last Sovereign.]
[You are the anomaly they could not erase.]
Inside the Cathedral, gears shifted—and a voice greeted him.
"Welcome, Kael Draven."
It echoed from all directions—calm, genderless, ancient.
"This is the House of Betrayal. Here is where gods chained Time. Here is where you were first killed."
A pedestal rose before him. Resting atop it, a metal heart, still ticking.
[ARTIFACT: HEART OF THE CLOCK-EATER]
[Function: Allows the user to bend time within a limited radius. One use only.]
Kael reached toward it—then stopped.
A single figure stood in the far archway. No mask. No armor. Just a plain white cloak.
Human. Or at least once.
"You shouldn't be here," the figure said. "They'll kill you again. Permanently this time."
Kael stared. "Who are you?"
The figure hesitated. Then smiled sadly.
"I'm the one who replaced you."
Boom.
Before Kael could react, the entire Cathedral began collapsing in reverse—gears unspinning, platforms unraveling.
[TRIAL ACCELERATED]
[TRIBUNAL INTERVENTION IN: 12:00:00]
[NEW OBJECTIVE: FIND THE TRUE CORE]
Kael grabbed the metal heart, even as time bent around him.
He wouldn't die again. He wouldn't be erased again.
Not until he uncovered the truth:
Why was the Sovereign killed in every cycle—except this one?
[TRIBUNAL TRIAL BEGINS IN: 11:59:57]
[WARNING: Temporal Collapse Event Imminent]
The Cathedral twisted behind him, gears folding into nothing. The wind howled without air. Reality had cracks in it now—Kael could see data leaking out like starlight from a dying god.
And in his hand?
The Heart of the Clock-Eater pulsed like it had a mind of its own. It beat not in rhythm—but against time, defiant and erratic.
Kael's soulbound cloak reformed around him as he sprinted across the collapsing corridor of reality. The General's voice—faint, like it was just beginning to learn speech—rasped in his mind:
"Too fast. Not ready. Time is hunting."
[SOULBOUND EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS – STAGE II LOCKED UNTIL CORE UPGRADE]
Kael dove through a fracture in the floor—and landed in a chamber shaped like a dying clock. Hanging above him was a pendulum the size of a ship, swinging slower and slower with each tick.
A figure stood at its base.
Not Tribunal.
Worse.
A Mirrorkin—a creature made from broken timelines. Tall. Eyeless. Its body shimmered like static and fractured mirrors, shifting through hundreds of Kaels per second.
Some scarred. Some corrupted. One wearing the golden crown of a dead realm.
"You cannot pass, Kael Draven," it intoned. "You are unstable. Your death will stabilize the Loop."
Kael raised his chained arm.
"Then you better kill me fast."
[BOSS ENCOUNTER: MIRRORKIN – LOOP GUARDIAN]
[Power: Reflect, Rewrite, Rebirth]
The Mirrorkin attacked. Not physically—causally.
One swing and Kael's memories glitched. Suddenly, he was five years old again, standing at his mother's grave. Then twelve, on the run from something unnamed. Then eighty, face lined, watching a city burn around a golden tower.
"Stop—!"
He slammed the Heart of the Clock-Eater into the ground.
TIME STOPPED.
For three seconds, Kael was alone in a dead universe.
And he moved.
Boom.
Chains ignited with soulfire. He leapt, spinning midair, striking with all his weight—and ripped half the Mirrorkin's body away. Fragments of alternate selves scattered like broken glass.
Time snapped back.
[TARGET DESTABILIZED: IDENTITY LOOP BROKEN]
[YOU HAVE KILLED A VERSION OF YOURSELF]
[ERROR: PARADOX POINT +1]
Kael stood gasping, staring at the wreckage.
[TRIBUNAL TRIAL IN: 09:02:44]
[PARADOX POINTS: 1 | EFFECTS UNKNOWN]
Then, above him, a gateway opened.
Gold light. Stained-glass wings. Seven masked figures descending slowly.
The Tribunal had arrived.
Each one whispered the same word.
"Judgment."
Kael's teeth clenched. The soulbound cloak writhed. The chains vibrated with rage.
"Good."
"Let's see if your gods can bleed."