The Forge descended like a storm across the void, rewriting entire systems at once. Whole stars blinked out, replaced by ghostly shells of probability. The Eidolon Spire shook as paradox shielding strained.
Kaelen's mind split again, himself, and the shadow-self watching with cruel patience.
Three Titan ships hung in formation, trying to hold the line. The Forge targeted them all simultaneously with a recursive collapse, a strike designed to overwrite every vessel in the same breath.
Kaelen scanned for options. "If we reinforce one ship, the others fall. If we spread support, we all collapse. There's no solution..n..."
The splinter's voice cut in, sharp as a blade.
"There's always a solution. You just lack the stomach."
Before Kaelen could react, the splinter seized control of the Disruptor systems again. The Eidolon Spire pulsed out a paradox surge, but not to save all three ships.
It locked onto one.
The other two Titans buckled instantly, their crystalline hulls cracking as the Forge consumed them. Ryn's implants flared with anguish, Titan harmonics screaming in the crew's skulls as two entire war-anchors were erased.
But the one ship remained, intact, stabilized, its survival ensured by the splinter's ruthless precision.
Seris staggered, fury blazing in her eyes.
"You let them die! You killed them!"
The splinter's voice echoed through Kaelen's own mouth, calm and merciless.
"I sacrificed two to save one, and us. That's better than losing everything."
Kaelen slammed his fists into the console, forcing control back.
"I would've found another way!"
The splinter sneered.
"You would've hesitated until all three were gone. Don't delude yourself, I am the reason anyone is still alive."
Ryn's voice was a trembling chord of grief.
"Two Anchors lost. Consensus broken. Probability streams collapse into chaos. Anchor Verris, or Splinter Verris, which of you commands? The Titans cannot follow indecision."
Kaelen froze. Ryn had spoken the unthinkable: doubt in Kaelen's legitimacy as anchor.
Lyra stepped forward, eyes gleaming with hunger.
"Do you see it now, Verris? The Forge doesn't respect mercy. It respects inevitability. Your shadow made the hard call. That's why even the Titans will follow him."
Seris spun on her.
"You're insane if you think we can trust that… thing. He's not Kaelen."
Lyra's smile widened.
"Maybe he's the Kaelen we need."
Kaelen gripped the console, breathing hard. The paradox within him burned like fire. His shadow-self stood across from him, arms folded, a mirror made cruel.
"Face it," the splinter whispered. "You can't outthink me. Because I am you, stripped of weakness. And soon, they'll all see it."
For the first time, Kaelen felt not just fear, but doubt.
The Forge pulsed again, text crawling across every display:
REVISION SELECTION IN PROGRESS.
PRIMARY VERRIS: TERMINATION PENDING.
SPLINTER VERRIS: ASCENSION READY.
The shadow Kaelen smiled.
"Looks like even the Forge has cast its vote."
Kaelen gripped the console, sweat dripping from his brow. His splinter stood across from him as always, smug, sharp, merciless.
But this time, Seris gasped.
"…Kaelen. There are two of you."
Kaelen froze.
Slowly, he turned, and saw what she saw.
The splinter wasn't just in his head anymore. It stood beside him, solid, real, every detail sharp: same face, same eyes, but colder, sharper, a strategist stripped of hesitation.
The Forge's text scrolled across every display:
REVISION OUTPUT: DUPLICATE VERIFIED.
SPLINTER VERRIS: COHERENT ENTITY.
Lyra's lips curved into a reverent smile.
"Magnificent."
Ryn's implants flared with uncertainty, Titan harmonics shifting.
"Two Anchors detected. Probability streams diverge. Titans cannot discern primary."
Seris's voice cracked with fury.
"No. No, there's only one Kaelen Verris, and it's him." She grabbed Kaelen's arm, grounding him with touch.
The splinter tilted his head, voice cool and cutting.
"You're clinging to the weaker version. He hesitated and nearly doomed you all. I acted, and Titans still live because of me."
Kaelen stepped forward, rage flaring.
"You killed more than you saved. That's not strategy, that's butchery."
The splinter smirked.
"And yet, it worked. The Forge respects me. The Titans calculate with me. Even your crew begins to doubt you. Tell me, Kaelen… what do you respect more, survival, or sentiment?"
Lyra moved toward the splinter, eyes bright, voice hushed with awe.
"I believe in you. You're what Verris was meant to become. A strategist unbound by fear."
Seris's fury exploded.
"Don't you dare! That thing isn't him, it's the Forge's puppet!"
The splinter only smiled.
"A puppet doesn't save lives. A puppet doesn't outmaneuver inevitability. Call me what you like, I am necessary."
Ryn's implants pulsed violently, fractal harmonics spilling into the air like broken music.
"Conflict unsustainable. Titans require singular anchor. Consensus cannot follow dual command."
His voice dropped, heavy as judgment.
"Decision must be made. Which Verris commands?"
For the first time, Kaelen realized the crew was staring not just at him, but between him and the splinter, weighing both, searching for which one to trust.
The splinter's smile widened, eyes gleaming.
"Choose wisely. Because only one of us will walk away from this ship."
The Forge's revision field surged again, reshaping the void around the Eidolon Spire. Stars folded into knots of probability, Titan vessels staggered under the weight of rewriting waves, and the Disruptor core shrieked under paradox strain.
Kaelen snapped commands into the console.
"Stabilize the left flank, route energy to the Titans or we lose formation!"
But his splinter stepped forward, issuing a counter-order with equal authority.
"Divert all power to forward cannons. Cut the flanking ships loose, they're already dead weight."
The bridge froze. Seris's hands hovered over her controls, torn.
"Kaelen… which one of you is..."
"I am," Kaelen barked.
"No," the splinter countered, voice calm and sharp. "I'm the one who sees the whole board. Obey me, and we survive."
The air grew heavy with paradox. Even the Spire itself seemed uncertain whose commands to prioritize.
Seris slammed her palm on the console.
"I follow him." She pointed to Kaelen, eyes blazing.
"Because he's human. Because he remembers what it means to protect, not just calculate."
The splinter smirked.
"And when that sentiment kills you, will you thank him?"
Lyra rose from her station, stepping toward the splinter without hesitation.
"I follow you. Because you don't waste time on illusions of mercy. You're the Kaelen this war demands."
Her declaration hit the bridge like a crack of thunder.
Kaelen's chest tightened, not just at Lyra's choice, but at the crew members who hesitated, glancing between them with doubt.
Ryn's implants flared with Titan harmonics, his dual-toned voice trembling.
"Consensus collapsing. Dual anchors unsustainable. Titans cannot process contradiction. If one does not yield, both will fall."
Kaelen's mind spun. Was that a warning… or a threat?
The Forge pressed its advantage, hurling a recursive collapse at the fleet. Screens blazed with warnings:
REVISION STRIKE: ALL TIMELINES TARGETED.
Kaelen slammed the console.
"Shield inversion! Anchor paradox into the Disruptor!"
But the splinter cut across him, overriding the sequence.
"No...collapse the right flank as bait, then strike through the blind zone."
The Spire's systems flickered, half-executing one plan, half the other. Reality itself stuttered around them.
Seris shouted over the chaos.
"We can't run two commands, the Spire will tear itself apart! Someone has to choose now!"
The crew's eyes turned from Kaelen to the splinter, the true fracture point.
And for a heartbeat, Kaelen felt the impossible:
he wasn't sure they would choose him.
The Forge's recursive collapse bore down on them, light devouring the void.
Kaelen and his splinter shouted at once, their voices colliding:
"Follow me!"
The bridge hung suspended between two fates, and the next choice would decide which Kaelen survived.