⟁
The symbol followed them.
It burned into walls.
It appeared in puddles.
It echoed in wind chimes.
Jayden had seen runes, wards, brands — but this was none of them.
"It's not a language," Seraya murmured, tracing it into her notebook.
"It's a door."
---
The Meeting of Three
Jayden, Seraya, and Elira stood in the center of Graveton, where the heartstone had once glowed. Now, it pulsed with the same ⟁ symbol.
Elira — still no more than a child in form, but ancient in voice — placed her hand on the stone.
> "Three threads were cut to make the Fifth Path," she said.
"But one thread… survived."
Jayden stepped forward. "Whose?"
She looked at him.
> "Yours."
---
The Threadkeeper
That night, something descended into their world.
Not with fire.
Not with sound.
Just… presence.
A cloaked figure appeared at the edge of the city.
He walked barefoot.
His face was made of shadows stitched into the shape of a man.
Around his neck: thousands of threads, each one glowing a different color.
> "I am the Threadkeeper," he said.
"And one of your threads has gone… unchosen."
Seraya summoned the Unity Flame. "You're a god?"
"No," he said softly. "I'm what comes after gods. The custodian of potential."
He turned to Jayden.
> "You never chose your final self. And now it's choosing you."
---
The Trial of Paths
The Threadkeeper raised his hand, and Jayden vanished.
Seraya shouted, but Elira held her back. "He has to walk this part alone."
---
Jayden appeared in a void made of memory.
Before him stood three versions of himself.
One in white — peaceful, quiet, a healer.
One in red — powerful, feared, a warlord.
One in grey — hidden, wise, a silent observer.
They spoke in unison:
> "Only one of us becomes real."
Jayden clenched his fists. "I'm not picking a cage again."
"You must," they echoed.
He looked at them — then past them.
And saw…
A fourth path.
Not a Jayden at all.
A child.
A blank.
A story just beginning.
---
Jayden knelt beside it.
And whispered: "Let's write it together."
The other selves screamed — and collapsed.
The void cracked.
The Threadkeeper bowed.
> "So be it. You are now… the author."
---
Message in Ink
When Jayden awoke, his arm bore a new mark — not a brand, but a quill, black and simple.
Seraya stared at it.
Elira smiled faintly.
> "The Sixth Path begins now."