The plaza trembled violently, as if the earth itself were convulsing in anger. What had once been the proud heart of the village temple now lay in ruin, blackened stone pillars fractured and leaning at impossible angles. Fire clawed its way along scorched timber, embers dancing in spirals that resembled dying stars. Marble slabs crashed to the ground, sending clouds of dust billowing into the night, and each tremor shook the plaza as though the foundations of the world had become unstable.
Villagers screamed, some struggling to lift beams that pinned their neighbors. Others scrambled to drag the trapped free, but the weight was merciless, crushing, absolute. A mother's scream tore through the air as she attempted to save a child, only to be thrown back by falling rubble. Dust choked their lungs, flames licked their skin, and the fire threatened to consume everything.
Amid this chaos, a lone figure knelt. Laura, barely fifteen, dirt and ash streaking her pale cheeks, small hands scraped and trembling. She looked impossibly fragile against the collapsing inferno. Law's gaze swept over her instinctively, amber eyes narrowing as the scarf around his neck flickered with echoes that whispered in warning. She wouldn't survive this… not without something extraordinary.
And then it began.
The rubble around her slowed, almost imperceptibly at first, but rapidly the effect expanded. Falling beams, slabs, splinters—all hung suspended mid-air, frozen in impossible positions. Stones that should have crushed villagers were suspended as if invisible threads held them aloft. Even the wind seemed to pause, carrying only the faint smell of smoke and ash. Reality itself bent, reluctant to obey the natural order.
Laura's wide eyes reflected the glow of fire and ash, but within them, a strange light began to burn. Twin rings like turning clock hands formed in her irises, faint yet mesmerizing. Her hands trembled as they clutched the hourglass pendant at her chest, and her voice, cracking but determined, rang out through the chaos.
"Stop… just stop!"
And the world obeyed.
Villagers stumbled through the suspended debris, wide-eyed with shock, realizing that stones that should have crushed them now hung motionless, dangling like sculptures in midair. The plaza was frozen in a moment of suspended terror, giving them a chance to breathe, to live, to survive.
Law dashed forward, scarf flickering wildly as echoes multiplied around him. His afterimages fanned out like shields, diverting sparks and falling embers harmlessly into the ash-strewn ground. His blades carved apart collapsing timber, scattering them into harmless fragments. But when his gaze fell on Laura, he felt a sharp pang in his chest, a mixture of awe and fear.
"She… froze it?" he whispered, almost to himself.
Before the thought could settle, Laura's glow faded. Exhaustion slammed into her like a physical weight. She dropped to one knee, chest heaving, trembling as if the very act of bending time had drained her completely. Her fingers clutched at the hourglass pendant as if it were a lifeline, and Law could see the faint outline of temporal pressure still lingering around her like a halo.
Shadows moved within the smoke. A husk emerged, shards glinting ominously in the firelight. It lunged toward the weakened girl with jagged precision, a predator seeking its prey.
But faster than instinct allowed, Zero stepped forward. His void-steel blades crossed in an arc of blinding light. The husk's strike, meant to impale Laura, vanished mid-swing, erased as though that instant had never existed. The creature reeled back, screeching, utterly confused by a force it could not comprehend.
Zero's eyes flicked to Laura, narrowing with quiet recognition. Time. Dangerous.
More husks emerged from the burning alleys, grotesque figures hunched and jagged, circling with the inevitability of predators. Their mirrored eyes reflected only hunger and intent. The plaza was about to become a battlefield once more.
Light swept across the chaos as Liora arrived, her golden threads weaving shields over frightened villagers. Embers bounced harmlessly off her barriers as she lifted her blade, breathing steady despite the inferno. The precision in her movements contrasted with the raw chaos surrounding her; she was a calm eye within a storm.
Nysera followed, crashing into the fray like a comet of fury. Her claws sparked with golden aura, wolf-shadow manifesting behind her in flickering glimpses. The ground trembled under her landing, splinters scattering in every direction as she tore through a husk with brutal, practiced precision. Her movements were a perfect combination of instinct and awakening skill, wolf instincts guiding her as much as her conscious mind.
And then, for the first time, all five were there.
Law with his echoes, moving in protective arcs around villagers, guiding them through paths only he could see. Liora, weaving gold threads that tricked and shielded. Nysera, tearing through the enemy with claws and feral precision. Zero, a calm storm of void-light, erasing threats with surgical precision. And Laura—small, trembling, but surrounded by the unnatural, heavy weight of time itself.
The villagers froze. Awe, fear, and disbelief painted their faces.
"They… saved us…" whispered one, barely audible above the roar of fire and collapse.
The husks screamed and lunged. Law split into afterimages, leading villagers safely between suspended beams and debris. Each movement of his blades redirected danger, clearing paths as though choreographed in advance. Liora's golden threads moved with uncanny precision, creating illusions that tricked the husks into striking false targets, leaving their flanks exposed. Nysera tore through those gaps, her claws rending crystal limbs before the husks could react. Zero collapsed void-barriers inward, slicing creatures into fragments of existence itself, each strike precise and inevitable.
And Laura, trembling, raised her pendant again. The air rippled, shivered, and the world slowed once more. Falling rubble bent mid-air, twisting like fluid, beams suspended in delicate arcs. Stones hung frozen, fragile and impossibly balanced, while the villagers moved unharmed through the temporary sanctuary her power created.
They didn't speak. They didn't plan. They barely trusted one another. And yet their powers moved as one.
We didn't plan it, older Law's voice whispered from memory. Didn't even trust each other. But somehow… our powers moved as one.
The last husk fell with a hiss, collapsing into shards of crystal that dissolved into smoke. Silence fell over the plaza, broken only by the crackle of the remaining fire and the ragged breaths of five exhausted teenagers.
The villagers emerged, some bowing their heads in gratitude, others trembling in awe and fear. "Children… with shards…" a voice murmured.
Law stood, scarf torn, sweat streaking his face, eyes fixed on the others. He exhaled slowly.
"…So we're not alone."
Zero smirked faintly, blades resting at his side.
"Looks like the Mirror's collecting strays."
Liora lowered her weapon, threads of gold fading.
"We survived… because we stood together."
Nysera's wolf aura dimmed, but her teeth remained bared.
"And we fight. Or we die."
Laura lifted her head, dust streaking her face, voice cracked but steady.
"…Then we learn. All of it."
No one argued.
They began to walk, leaving the burning plaza behind. Smoke rose into the night sky like a funeral pyre, shadows stretching over debris and ruin. Around their footsteps, faint outlines shimmered—fractured Whispers, Path shards, remnants of the power that had bound them together.
Not as friends. Not as allies. But as something heavier. Something chosen.
Older Law's voice whispered from memory once more:
That night, none of us knew what we were walking toward. Only that the Path had chosen us. And there was no turning back.