I didn't take the hand.
But I almost did.
The pool rippled violently, and the reflection vanished—taking the silver-eyed version of me with it. But its echo lingered, coiled behind my ribs like a second heartbeat, waiting.
Riven found me not long after.
His boots crunched leaves, his Mark glowing faintly in the dusk.
"I felt your thread tug," he said quietly, brushing a branch aside. "Even though you're… unanchored, part of me still knows when you're slipping."
I turned, hugging my arms.
"I saw her again. The version of me that let go completely. No ties. No fear."
His jaw tightened. "And did you want to become her?"
I didn't answer.
Because the truth was complicated.
"I'm losing pieces, Riven. Not just memories. Desires. The fire that pushed me forward, that made me fight... it's fading."
He stepped close and took my hand—not because he thought it would fix me, but because it reminded us both that something still connected us.
"You're not gone," he said. "You're changing. And maybe that scares you. It scares me too. But we don't run from who we become. We shape it."
"You can't shape a storm," I said bitterly.
"You anchor it," he replied, "with love."
That word—love—cut deeper than any threadblade.
Because I didn't know if I still understood what it meant.
Back at camp, Kael was waiting, arms crossed and tension thick in the air.
"There's movement at the outer folds of the Veil," he said. "The Threadless aren't coming. They're already here."
He unrolled a map, revealing several flickering zones—places where thread magic had collapsed entirely.
"They're gathering. Like they're being pulled toward something. Or someone."
His eyes met mine.
"It's you, isn't it?"
I didn't deny it.
Because deep down, I knew.
Every second I remained severed, every moment I resisted anchoring again, I pulsed like a signal—calling others like me.
"I think they believe I'm their beginning," I said softly. "Their proof that they can survive without the weave."
"And what do you believe?" Riven asked.
I looked at my hands—one glowing faintly from his touch, the other pulsing with a dull silver hue.
"I believe… I'm becoming something new."
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