In the quiet aftermath of the battle, light began to return to the Crown Nexus. The warped skies above softened, timelines slowly stitched themselves back into order, and the lingering echo of conflict faded like ripples in a still pond.
But not all wounds could be healed.
As Akuzai turned from the collapsed Rewrite Matrix, he saw her—Ishara—slumped near the altar of convergence, her hand pressed against her side, blood blooming between her fingers.
"No," Abhishek whispered, rushing to her side.
Akuzai dropped to his knees beside her. Her skin had gone pale, her breath shallow. The battle hadn't touched her in the moment—but the backlash from the Matrix's collapse had torn through the unseen lines of fate… and she had been standing too close.
"I held the weave too long," Ishara said weakly. "Even Seers have limits."
"We can heal you," Aditya said, kneeling. "We'll find a way—"
Ishara shook her head gently. "Time doesn't always give second chances."
Akuzai looked down at her, anger and helplessness clawing at his heart. "You gave us everything."
She smiled. "No. You gave me hope again."
Her eyes shifted toward the broken fragments of the Rewrite Matrix, still glowing faintly in the silence. "Listen closely. There's something you need to know… about Rivan."
They leaned in.
"He wasn't the true source of the corruption," she whispered. "He was the vessel."
"What?" Abhishek asked, stunned.
"There's… something else. Older. It chose him… guided him. His father—his true father—it's not who you think."
And then, with a final breath, Ishara pressed a silver crystal into Akuzai's hand—etched with the symbol of the First Chronomancer.
"Follow this," she said, voice trembling, "and you'll find the origin of all this."
Her eyes faded.
Stillness.
Ishara—healer, seer, warrior—was gone.
Akuzai stood, silent.
The others followed, each of them bearing a new weight. The war wasn't truly over. They had stopped Rivan, yes. But they hadn't stopped what created him.
And now they had a name.
A trail.
A crystal marked with the sigil of the First Chronomancer—the one who whispered from the dark before time began.
Akuzai looked out at the restored horizon.
They had won a battle.
But the war… had just evolved.