The path to Neverwas was cracked with time and regret.
Trees grew upside-down. The sky shimmered sideways. Time itself hiccuped here — seconds repeated, birds flew backwards, and sometimes your left shoe tied itself out of spite.
"This place feels like a dream that stubbed its toe," Hiro muttered, gripping his sword.
Dee nodded thoughtfully, runes hovering over his fingers. "Because it is a dream. One that tried to become real and failed. This is a collapsed timeline."
"Wait, timelines can collapse?" Hiro asked.
"Of course. Same way my last relationship did — too many variables, not enough honest communication."
A gust of wind whispered across broken stones — stones engraved with symbols no one should've remembered. But Dee's eyes flicked across them with recognition and pain.
"Is this... one of your timelines?" Vampher asked, his voice quiet.
"No," Dee said. "But I might've nudged the dominoes."
1. Whispers of the Girl Who Speaks in Futures
She was waiting for them in the center of the ruins.
A girl — barefoot, wild-haired, eyes glowing like moons split in two.
She stood atop an altar of broken stars, spinning thread between her fingers. Not mana. Not treads. Something older.
Her voice came like wind inside a seashell.
"One comes with threads, old as thought.
One bears the blade that Time forgot.
One walks the path, both dusk and dawn.
The world will burn. And still go on."
"Prophet," Dee whispered. "Threadbound. She's... seeing things that haven't rooted yet."
Hiro blinked. "Are we sure she's not just weird poetry girl?"
She smiled at him.
"Oh hero cursed by demon's breath,
You danced with light, now marry death.
A sunless crown, a storm's regret —
You haven't paid your price just yet."
Hiro coughed. "Okay. Prophet. Definitely prophet."
2. The Future of Vampher Steins
The girl turned to Vampher. Her threads stopped spinning. Her voice dropped.
"The boy not born, whose name they steal.
Who walks in shadows that now feel.
Your path is blood, but also grace.
You'll see the end. You'll see her face."
Vampher stiffened.
"The world will scream. The sky will fall.
You'll hear the cursed Final Call.
And when all hope breaks into glass—
You'll say:
'I can fix this.
Give me a chance.'"
Silence rang louder than any bell.
Vampher didn't breathe. For a long, long moment, the ruins didn't move. Then, softly:
"I saw it," he whispered. "The ash. The burning oceans. The... end."
Then louder, with something painful in his voice:
"I can fix this. Give me a chance."
It didn't sound like a plea.
It sounded like a promise.
3. Of Ruins and Rewrites
Dee stepped forward, kneeling beside the girl.
"How many futures do you see?"
She answered in riddles again:
"Seven timelines choke on war.
Two burn out like dying stars.
One forgets what hearts are for.
One... begins again. It's ours."
"You're saying this path can still be rewritten?"
She nodded, pulling one last shimmering thread taut and handing it to Dee. It shimmered gold and red — a lifeline glowing with possibilities.
"Keep it safe. Or let it rot.
Just know:
The gods have plans.
But mortals plot."
4. Leaving Neverwas
They left the ruins under a crumbling dusk.
Hiro kicked a rock. "So... that was terrifying."
"Could've been worse," Dee mused. "She could've rhymed me with pee."
"Is what she said true?" Vampher asked. "Will it end? All of it?"
Dee didn't answer right away.
Then: "Not if we have anything to say about it."
"But we're just—"
"—An undead disaster, a cursed farm boy, and a rogue god-tier scholar?" Dee smirked. "Exactly. Who better?"
The sky cracked behind them — not literally, just dramatically — as if agreeing.
5. Somewhere Else…
Far beyond, a figure stirred in a chamber made of folded time.
Cloaked in paradoxes and wearing a crown of forgotten decisions, it touched a weaver's spindle... and grinned.
"So... he remembers now.
Good.
Let the game begin."