Scene: Yun Fei's Apartment – Morning After the Battle
Yun Xi slept soundly on the bed, his breath finally steady.
Yun Fei hadn't slept. He sat by the window, watching the city breathe. Traffic buzzed below. Rain had washed the dust off the skyline.
But the world felt thin, like glass stretched over something trying to break through.
Behind him, Lin Xiya gently changed Yun Xi's damp clothes, tucking him in again with the kind of care that only mothers who've faced loss know.
"He looks… normal," she whispered.
Yun Fei didn't answer for a moment.
"He's not," he finally said. "And neither are we anymore."
---
System Notification (Visible to Both Parents):
> NEW ALERT: Temporal Interference Detected in Proximity
Status: Disguised Entity Approaching
Codename: "Weaver-01"
Estimated Arrival: 10 Minutes
Yun Fei stood, heart pounding.
"She's already here…"
---
Scene: Downstairs Entrance Lobby – 10 Minutes Later
The elevator chimed.
Lin Xiya waited just outside the building entrance, dressed in a long beige coat and carrying a fake grocery bag. She smiled politely as a woman stepped inside the complex.
She was tall, dressed in elegant grey, with a small clockwork pendant ticking softly at her throat.
Her eyes were too calm.
Her steps too light.
She looked like someone who didn't disturb time when she walked.
"Lost, miss?" Lin Xiya asked, tone casual.
The woman smiled. "Actually, I was invited."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out… a photo.
A photo of Yun Xi.
"Your son drew this," the woman said softly. "He left it at the school steps."
Lin Xiya's heartbeat skipped.
> He hasn't gone to school in days.
---
Scene: Apartment – Same Time
Yun Fei stood beside the sleeping Yun Xi.
The boy stirred.
"Papa…"
Yun Fei leaned closer. "I'm here."
"I saw her… the lady with the ticking eyes," Yun Xi mumbled. "She was there… before the world changed."
"What do you mean?"
Yun Xi clutched his blanket.
"She's not real. But she smells like time."
Yun Fei's chest tightened.
He grabbed the pendant Yun Xi always wore—the feather crystal—and it pulsed faintly.
Danger was here.
---
Scene: Confrontation at the Door
Lin Xiya didn't flinch.
She stepped between the elevator and the stranger.
"You're not human, are you?"
The woman smiled. "Not entirely. But I'm not your enemy… yet."
Her eyes glowed faintly with bronze script.
"I'm here to test the Echo. Not destroy it. But if the child is unstable—"
Lin Xiya's eyes narrowed.
She didn't need System alerts. Her mother's instinct lit up like a wildfire.
"If you touch my son…"
She stepped forward.
The elevator lights glitched behind her. Even reality flickered.
"I will erase you myself."
---
Scene: Apartment – The Test Begins
The door opened quietly.
Yun Fei stood inside, cradling Yun Xi.
The woman entered.
For a long moment, all was still.
Then she raised her hand, and time stopped.
> Birds outside froze mid-air.
A curtain hung, forever halfway.
Even Yun Xi's heartbeat dimmed.
Only four remained conscious: Yun Xi, Yun Fei, Lin Xiya, and her.
"You're... protecting him with fragments," the Weaver said. "Not sustainable. The Council believes this anomaly must be resolved."
"We don't care what the Council believes," Yun Fei snapped.
The Weaver walked over, kneeling by Yun Xi.
He stared up at her, silent. Studying her.
"You're not like the others," he whispered.
"No," she replied. "I remember what it was like to love something."
That surprised even Lin Xiya.
"You… loved?" she asked.
The Weaver nodded.
"I failed once. So I was turned into this."
She looked at Yun Xi.
"I won't kill him. Not yet. But he must be tested."
---
Test of the Echo
A silver orb appeared.
It hovered in the air, spinning.
> "Touch it," the Weaver instructed. "It reads stability. If he's fractured, the orb will shatter. If he's balanced… it will sing."
Yun Fei looked at Yun Xi. "Only if you want to."
Yun Xi nodded once and reached out.
His fingers touched the orb—
A high, pure tone filled the room.
The orb glowed.
And then it sang.
The Weaver stepped back, stunned.
"No… It's not just stable. It's harmonizing multiple threads..."
She looked at the parents.
"You don't realize what he is yet. But the boy has begun weaving new fates—not breaking them."
---
Weaver's Departure
The woman stood slowly.
"I must report this. But for now… he lives."
She paused at the door.
"You have two more visits before the Council votes. Protect him, or he'll become a fixed point—and those don't get to grow up."
She vanished like mist before they could reply.
---
Last Scene: Later That Night
Yun Xi lay asleep, safe again for now.
Yun Fei sat beside Lin Xiya.
"She said he was… harmonizing fates," he murmured.
Lin Xiya nodded.
"Maybe that's what love does," she whispered. "It doesn't just protect—it rebuilds."
Yun Fei smiled faintly.
"We're not just raising a child."
"We're raising a new world."