"You… you're me?"
Arjun looked at the older version of himself—taller, rougher, eyes that had seen timelines burn.
"One version of you," the elder Arjun replied.
"From a thread that survived longer than most… but not long enough."
Ritika staggered back.
"This isn't possible. Your thread was terminated during the Third Collapse!"
"I'm a ripple, Ritika," Older Arjun said. "Not even Time can hold me down anymore."
Without warning, he threw the feather-blade like a boomerang. Ritika summoned a shield of black fire—a corrupted temporal seal—but it shattered on contact.
Ritika screamed as the blast sent her through the wall—outside the school's classroom and into the courtyard, her body flickering like unstable data.
---
Training in Minutes
Before Arjun could react, the older version grabbed him by the shoulder.
"I don't have much time. Listen carefully."
"You were chosen by the original Kaladarshi system—one of only five across all realities. The Echo Drive didn't just awaken in you—it bound to your soul."
He handed Arjun a second feather—this one silver.
"This is a memory shard. From me to you. Insert it into the Echo Drive."
As Arjun did so, he blinked—and for a split second, time around him stopped.
Voices echoed.
"Never trust a Timekeeper who wears gloves."
"Feathers are fragments of gods."
"Every thread ends in fire, unless you change the way time breathes."
Suddenly, knowledge rushed in—combat techniques, minor thread-freezing, history of timeline splits, and the truth of the Temporal Crown, the godlike artifact at the center of the time war.
When he blinked again, the older Arjun was already clashing with Ritika in the courtyard, blade versus black code.
"You're not ready for her yet," the older version shouted. "Run to the Library of Shadows—your answers are there!"
---
The Library of Shadows
Arjun activated the Drive's thread jump—aiming for the Library of Shadows, as instructed.
Time melted.
He landed in a massive floating hall—endless bookshelves suspended in nothingness. Floating clocks ticked in reverse, while shadowy librarians moved without faces.
One of them approached him and whispered,
"To know the past is to know the betrayals."
It handed him a book:
"The Betrayal of the Kaladarshi: Volume I."
He opened the first page. The image inside made his blood freeze.
It was a painting—of Rael, the time defector who died saving him.
Except… in this book, she wasn't just a rogue agent.
She was listed as "The One Who Burned the Core Thread."
---
Before Arjun could flip the page, the pages turned themselves—rapidly—stopping at the end of the book.
There, a mirror appeared inside the book.
Arjun saw his reflection.
Only it wasn't him.
It was Ritika—but younger, dressed like a Kaladarshi.
A whisper echoed from the book:
"The Timekeeper you fight... was once the first Kaladarshi."