The dome of runes cracked with a shriek like twisting steel.
The Collectors pressed against it, their faceless heads scraping along the barrier, clock-hand fingers striking sparks as they clawed for a way through. Their bodies weren't flesh but fractures in probability itself—shadows given purpose. Every strike bent the dome further inward, like glass under a hammer.
My mark flared, searing against my skin. The gear spun faster, the half-formed triangle glowing, burning, as though urging me to act.
Kairos's fractured mark spat arcs of light. He kept his palm against the barrier, jaw clenched. "Now, Luna! Open your seal, or the Market eats you whole!"
"I don't— I don't know how!" My voice tore itself from my throat.
"You do. You just don't believe it yet."
The Broker's voice purred into my mind, calm and poisonous.
"Oh, Kairos. Teaching another lamb to break locks with her teeth. How many did you shatter before you learned the bars weren't meant to bend?"
The street warped around us. Asphalt melted into black tar, rising in waves. Lamp posts twisted into spirals of brass, ticking softly as though they too had sprouted clockwork hearts. The pedestrians around us didn't notice; to them, nothing was happening.
A Collector's clock-hand stabbed through the dome. It brushed my arm.
Agony erupted—not physical pain but memory tearing. My favorite teacher's face flashed before me, smiling, kind, warm. And then her lips blurred. Her eyes lost shape. Her voice melted until silence was all that remained.
"No! Not her—!"
My knees buckled. I clawed at the dissolving fragments, but they slid away like sand between my fingers.
The system cut through my sob with ruthless clarity:
Debt Detected.
Origin: Incomplete Initial Transaction.
Projected Penalty: Fatal Event.
Time Remaining: 00m 00s.
Solution: Redraw clause with assistance from Kairos.
Cost: Temporary transfer of 5 Fate Points + symbolic fragment (personal datum).
Accept / Reject.
Kairos pressed against me, his fractured mark blazing. "Give it to me, Luna! Now! Or you'll keep bleeding pieces until there's nothing left!"
The Collector's grip burrowed deeper. Another memory faltered—laughter in a park, a hand holding mine, a sibling's voice whispering a nickname. The edges blurred. The weight of that connection wavered.
"I can't—" My chest convulsed with sobs. "I can't lose him—"
"Then fight," Kairos snapped. He slammed his fractured seal against mine. Sparks erupted. "Accept it, and let me anchor you!"
The words burned across the air: ACCEPT?
"Yes!" I screamed.
The mark on my forehead erupted in searing light. The runes of Kairos's fractured seal slammed into mine. For a heartbeat, the world became nothing but spinning gears, blazing triangles, runes colliding like armies.
Then the visions struck.
I saw Kairos's life. His seal unbroken once, whole and steady. Him signing a contract in blood. Him kneeling beside a woman, tears streaking his face as he offered his surname, his identity, his entire foundation to save her. The Broker's mask watching, impassive. The fracture that seared into his mark when the clause twisted against him.
The dome around us blazed white-hot. The Collectors recoiled, their faceless bodies warping backward, collapsing into smoke. Their clock-hands ticked frantically, spinning out of control until they shattered into streams of ash.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
I collapsed to the ground, clutching my arm where the Collector had touched me. The skin was whole, but inside I was hollow. The memory was gone. My teacher's name, her smile, her voice—all erased.
The system chimed with cruel precision:
Warning Contract Executed.
Clause Redrawn: Fatal Event → Risk Advisory.
Duration: 72h.
Collaborator: Kairos [ID: Fractured].
Cost Deducted: 5 Fate Points + symbolic fragment (favorite teacher's name).
New Fate Score: -85.
I gasped, tears hot against my cheeks. The name was gone. I could feel the empty space it had once filled, like a missing tooth in my soul.
Kairos crouched before me, panting but steady. His fractured mark flickered faintly, weaker than before, yet he managed a wry grin.
"You survived. That's more than most manage their first penalty."
I stared at him with a mix of fury and gratitude. "You took—" My voice cracked. "You took something else from me."
He shook his head. "Not me. The Market. I just made sure it didn't take everything."
The Broker's laughter echoed in my skull, velvet and venom.
"Beautiful. Today you trade a memory. Tomorrow, perhaps your voice. And one day… your soul. It all ends in my hands, Luna."
My mark flared again, brighter than ever. I stumbled toward the storefront mirror at the edge of the street.
And there it was—different now.
The gear still spun, but the triangle had shifted, its edges curling inward as if sketching a new lock. The lines almost formed a circle, incomplete but undeniably evolving.
Kairos stiffened. "Your seal's rewriting itself. That… isn't normal."
I pressed trembling fingers to my forehead. The burning was unbearable. "What's happening?"
His voice was low, cautious. "It's not the Market. It's you. Your mark's creating clauses by itself. That's impossible."
"Then maybe I'm impossible." My whisper was raw, trembling.
Kairos's smirk vanished. His eyes held something new—fear.
We stumbled back to my apartment. The city looked unchanged, ordinary. But every shadow, every flicker of light, now felt alive with threat.
Kairos slumped into a chair, lighting a cigarette that burned without smoke. His fractured mark glowed faintly with each drag. "You need to understand, Luna. The Market doesn't invent anomalies. If your seal's doing this, it means someone—or something—rewrote you before you ever registered."
I sank onto the couch, hugging my knees. "Then I'll use it. If I'm marked, I'll tear their rules apart."
Kairos barked a dry laugh. "That's exactly how you end up like me." He tapped the fracture on his forehead. "The Broker loves people who think they can outplay him. He calls it… entertainment."
The system interrupted us with a fresh notification:
Penalty Resolved.
Debt Remainder: Active.
Next Evaluation in: 12h.
The apartment lights flickered. A metallic taste filled the air.
And then his voice slid into my mind again—smoother, more intimate.
"Keys and doors. Kairos never learns. Do you really think he can teach you to wield what was grafted into your soul?"
The lamp in the corner warped into the shape of a clock tower, its hands spinning backward. My mark pulsed in response, the triangle nearly closing into a circle.
Kairos cursed under his breath. "He's watching. The Broker's in here."
I clutched my forehead. "What does he want from me?"
"To see if you'll lock the door… or open it," the Broker whispered, his words like silk wrapped around a blade.
My reflection shimmered in the window. For a split second, I saw not myself but a stranger—eyes glowing, mark complete, standing in a world of burning contracts.
Then the vision shattered.
The system blinked a final reminder before fading:
Warning Contract Active.
Protection: 71h 59m.
Note: Anomaly detected. Seal classified as unstable.
Kairos crushed his cigarette into nothing, staring at me with something grim in his eyes.
"You're not just another debtor, Luna. You're a crack in the system. The Broker knows it. That's why he's circling."
I wiped my face with shaking hands. "Then let him circle. If I'm a crack, I'll make it a fracture. I'll break his Market."
The words surprised even me, fierce and desperate.
Kairos leaned back, studying me. After a long silence, he muttered, "Careful what you promise. In this place, every word is a contract."