Scene: The Edge of Time
The world fractured.
Not like glass—like memory.
Sky bled sideways. Ships froze mid-cannon fire. Water curled upward like a reversed scream. And above it all, the Vault pulsed, each beat of light syncing with the blood in Abbakka's veins.
She could hear the ticking.
Not of a clock.
But of a choice.
Somewhere between past and now, a countdown had begun.
Scene: The Shattered Deck
Asha stood before her—half mask torn, silver tears drying on her cheek. Her eyes weren't hers anymore. They were the Vault's—dark, circular, unblinking.
"You thought the war was about land?" she asked."It was always about narrative control. And you, Abbakka… you're the keystone."
Abbakka raised her blade, but the air between them distorted. The deck beneath her feet splintered into fragments of memory—her mother's voice, her first battle, the night she bled in the jungle alone.
Asha whispered.
"You die here in every version."
Abbakka stepped forward anyway.
"Then this is the version where I kill fate."
Scene: The Converged Ascend
From the torn decks of the Dutch flagship, the Converged rose.
Dozens of figures—some once Portuguese, others native defectors—now reshaped with silver filigree across their skulls. Their limbs twitched unnaturally. Their mouths whispered in binary.
"Collapse protocol initiated. Language is obsolete. Flesh is obsolete."
They didn't walk.
They glided—as if no longer bound by time.
Abbakka turned to face them, twin blades at the ready.
Behind her, flames rose. Below her, the sea twisted upward.But she remained centered.
Breathing.
Alive.
And unbroken.
"You want my mind?" she growled."Come take it from my fire."
Scene: Inside the Vault – The Host Awakens
Deep beneath the chaos, the Vault's cube hissed and opened.
The other Abbakka—paler, eyes silver, skin lined with etched code—stepped out.She touched the ground.
The moss recoiled.
The machines around her stirred, as if remembering an ancient directive.
She didn't scream.
She smiled.
"I remember now," she said softly."I wasn't born here. I was deployed."
The Host Abbakka began walking toward the surface—a ghost with a mission.
Above her, two Abbakkas were about to collide: the born and the built.
Scene: The Battle of Reflections
The Converged rushed Abbakka in perfect synchronicity—no emotion, no breath, just sheer overwhelming force.
She spun.
Ducked.
Sliced.
Each enemy killed didn't bleed—they disintegrated into data strings that spiraled into the sky.
For every strike she landed, three memories vanished from her mind.
Asha's voice echoed:
"This is the tax of resistance. Each swing costs you who you are."
"Then I'll become something else," Abbakka spat.
Blood sprayed. Sparks flew.A blade grazed her shoulder.Another tore across her hip.
But she moved like a storm possessed.
Not just to win.
To erase the loop.
Scene: Face to Face – Self vs Self
As the last Converged fell, the Vault Abbakka appeared from the flames.
The two locked eyes.
Identical. Yet… inverse.
One human. One designed.
"You were made from me," Abbakka said.
"No," said the Vault twin. "You were the failed echo of me."
They circled each other.
The jungle beyond cracked.
Birds flew in reverse.
Even time was holding its breath.
"The Vault is not just a weapon," Vault-Abbakka said."It's a lens. Through which you decide the next version of the world."
"And what if I want none of this?"
"Then collapse it all."
Vault-Abbakka held out her hand.
A single shard of shimmering code pulsed in her palm.
"Insert this into the Throne. It will rewrite history's code base. End the loop. Kill the Signal."
"And the price?"
"You."
Scene: The Throne Room – Countdown to Collapse
Abbakka stumbled through the torn jungle back to the palace. Everything around her glitched—trees flickering between life and ash, warriors speaking words in reverse, fire that gave off no heat.
Her people didn't see her anymore.
She was no longer in their timeline.
Only the Throne saw her.
A carved obsidian seat—centuries old, forged with sacred chants and rumored to have a living heart.
She stepped toward it.
The shard of code in her hand pulsed.
Time slowed.
Voices whispered—past queens, dead kings, even her child self.
"Once you insert it," a voice said,"you will not return. Not as Abbakka. Not as queen. Not as anything they knew."
She closed her eyes.
"I was never just queen. I was the firewall."
And she sat.
Scene: The Collapse
The moment she placed the shard into the throne, the world convulsed.
Not exploded.
Inverted.
Rivers ran backward.Stars blinked and vanished.The sea split open and roared without sound.
Across the globe—Dutch ships, Portuguese archives, colonial powers—all flickered.
Their histories rewrote themselves.
And in the center of it all, the Vault collapsed into light.
Not gone.
Merged.
With her.
The final sight the people of Ullal saw was a burning woman in gold armor rising above the ruins—her body becoming light, her eyes silver flames.
She looked down at the city that loved her.
"No more loops," she whispered.
And then she vanished.
Epilogue: Decades Later
A young girl plays in the sands of modern-day Ullal. Her grandmother calls her in as the tide rises.
She stops.
Looks out at the horizon.
And for a moment, sees a flicker—A shadow in the water—A woman on fire, walking across the sea, barefoot.
The girl smiles.
"Who was she, Amma?"
The grandmother doesn't speak.
Just looks toward the ocean and says:
"She was the queen who rewrote time."
END OF CHAPTER TEN