The rooftop was scorched, cracked, and littered with broken stone. Smoke curled into the night sky, and the air smelled of lightning and fire. Kairos stood in the center, his body bruised, bloodied, but alive. Across from him, the mysterious figure knelt in the dust, cloak singed, mask cracked.
"You've grown," the figure rasped, finally removing their mask.
Kairos froze.
Underneath the steel plating was a face he recognized—though not from this life. It hit him like a tidal wave, flooding his mind with memories that weren't his, but felt deeply familiar.
Arius.
The warrior-mage from his third life. Once a brother-in-arms. Once... a friend.
"You remember," Arius said, standing. "Good. Then you know I'm not your enemy. But I won't go easy on you until you understand what's at stake."
Kairos took a cautious step back. "You tried to kill me."
"No. I tested you. And you passed. Barely."
Lightning sparked at Kairos' fingertips again, instinctual, protective.
Arius raised a hand, not to attack—but to calm. "The Circle isn't just watching you. They fear you. You're the first reincarnate to awaken every past life. They want to seal you, before you remember them all."
"What do you mean 'seal' me?" Kairos narrowed his eyes.
"They plan to strip your soul, erase every echo of your past, and reprogram you as their weapon. You'll look the same, sound the same—but you'll be nothing more than a puppet."
A pit opened in Kairos' stomach. The battle hadn't been a hunt. It had been a capture.
"Why?" he whispered.
"Because you were one of them," Arius said grimly. "In your first life—you founded the Circle."
Kairos staggered. Images exploded in his mind—rituals in bloodstone halls, armies kneeling, galaxies burning. He saw his own face, crowned and cold, commanding power beyond imagination. A conqueror. A god.
"I—no, that's not me—" he choked.
"But it was," Arius said. "And if you're not careful... it could be again."
The ground suddenly trembled beneath them. A distant roar echoed from below, growing louder. Arius turned toward the edge of the rooftop, his face grim.
"They found us."
From the alleyways below, a dark swarm surged upward—agents cloaked in silver armor, wielding weapons that shimmered with temporal energy. Behind them flew obsidian drones, scanning for Kairos' energy signature.
"Run?" Kairos asked, fire already gathering in his palms.
Arius cracked his knuckles. "No. We fight. And this time, we fight together."
The rooftop exploded into motion. Drones screamed as Kairos hurled fire and lightning into the sky, tearing holes through their formation. Arius leapt into the air, conjuring a blade of pure memory—a weapon forged from past lives—and crashed into the front line.
Blades clashed. Time fractured. One agent struck Kairos, and for a moment he blinked into another life—on horseback, leading warriors into battle—then snapped back, blocking the next blow.
The more he fought, the more his past selves bled into his awareness. A priest whispered healing mantras. A thief dodged with fluid grace. A tactician mapped the battlefield in his mind.
He was becoming more than himself.
He was becoming all of them.
"Kairos!" Arius shouted. "They're summoning a soul cage!"
At the far end of the rooftop, a Circle mage raised a glowing monolith, ancient runes spiraling around it. The air warped with unnatural gravity, pulling at Kairos' soul like a magnet.
If it activated, it would trap him—mind, body, and every soul fragment.
He sprinted across the roof, dodging a blast of energy, and launched himself into the air. He landed in front of the monolith just as it began to hum—and slammed both hands against its surface.
"I am not yours to control."
Power surged from within him, a surge of all his lives combined. The monolith cracked... then exploded in a shockwave of brilliant blue fire.
Silence fell.
The agents staggered. Many turned and fled.
Only a few remained, and they knew... they were outmatched.
Kairos stood in the glow of his own power, trembling, overwhelmed but victorious.
Arius joined him, breathing hard. "You're awakening faster than I thought."
Kairos didn't answer. His eyes were still locked on the fading runes in the air, his hands still sparking from the monolith's destruction.
He turned to Arius.
"What happens now?"
Arius looked skyward, where a second wave of drones blinked into view on the horizon.
"Now?" he said grimly. "Now we run. And we find the others."
"Others?"
"Like you. Like me. Reincarnates. The ones they haven't found... yet."
Kairos clenched his fists, every inch of him buzzing with fire, fear—and purpose.
"Then let's start a war."
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