The boy sleeps again.
But the world doesn't.
Outside the chapel, the wind screams through trees that weren't there yesterday—black-barked things, swaying in rhythm with a pulse only the Seed can feel.
Inside, silence reigns.
Kara cleans her blade with trembling fingers. Not from fear. From fury.
Liora hasn't moved since the sigil appeared in the sky. Her eyes are locked on it, like it holds the answer to a question she never asked.
Ashen reviews the Codex diagnostics. "The glyph's spreading," he mutters. "The sky's not the only thing being rewritten."
I approach the child again. No longer floating, but resting—if you can call it that. Every few seconds, a pulse of golden light ripples out from him. Measured. Alive.
"Does he dream still?" Navi asks.
I shake my head. "No. He remembers."
That's when the chapel door opens.
No knock. No warning. Just opened.
And two people walk in.
Not agents. Not survivors.
Observers.
New ones.
Both wear armor laced with fractured code, their faces blurred by shifting quantum veils. One male. One female. And something tells me they weren't born into this cycle.
The female speaks first. "Observer Zero, designation confirmed."
The male raises a hand. "We are Iterants of Cycle Nine. Protocol Override: Initiate Custodial Claim."
Kara steps in front of the boy. "He's not yours."
The female tilts her head. "He belongs to no one. But if left in your hands, he'll belong to nothing."
Liora finally stands. Her voice is low, dangerous. "Say that again."
The Iterants exchange glances—no emotion, no fear.
Ashen speaks quietly to me. "Cycle Nine was thought erased."
I nod. "And yet they're here."
The male lifts his hand again. "We have come to extract the Seed. He must complete the Integration, or this world will become a fracture zone."
Navi steps forward. "And what happens if we say no?"
The chapel lights dim. The boy stirs.
And the stars blink.
Not fade—blink. Like someone momentarily turned them off.
The Iterants glance upward, then back at the boy. Their faces flicker—briefly human, briefly not.
"He is waking again," the female says.
The boy opens his eyes. Looks around.
Then says, flatly:
> "They're lying."
The Iterants stiffen.
He points to them. "You're not from Cycle Nine. You're from what came after. The Timeline That Burned."
A pause.
Then chaos.
The male Iterant lunges. Kara intercepts mid-air. Steel clashes with anti-time. The chapel shatters into a half-phase zone—reality stuttering between present and something older.
Ashen grabs the boy. "Run!"
But the boy doesn't move. Instead, he lifts one hand—calm, unshaking—and the world responds.
> BOOM.
A wave explodes outward—silent, golden, clean.
Both Iterants are thrown back. Their forms glitch violently—veils burning off, revealing what they truly are beneath.
Not people.
Remnants.
Echoes wearing flesh.
The female Iterant screams as her body collapses into code. "The Seed has chosen!"
The male claws forward. "You don't know what you're protecting!"
> "He is not protecting me," the boy whispers. "I am protecting you."
And just like that—
The Iterants dissolve.
The Codex pings softly.
> [Unauthorized Entities Deleted. Timeline Stabilizing…]
Kara falls to her knees.
Ashen stares at the boy.
Liora walks up to him—expression unreadable.
> "What… are you becoming?"
The boy looks at her, eyes ancient.
> "I don't know yet."
He looks up.
> "But I'll need all of you to find out."
Outside, the symbol in the stars splits… into two.
A choice.
A war.
And a question that has no right answer.
End of Chapter 23