The world below Velith had started to sound wrong.
Every pipe, every machine, every living breath carried a faint delay —
as if reality itself was trying to catch up to something unseen.
The Ninefold walked deeper into the vault's corridor,
their shadows bending unnaturally under the pale blue light.
Each step echoed twice.
Once for the step they took —
and once for the one they hadn't taken yet.
---
The Vault Awakens
The passage ended in a chamber vast and circular,
its walls pulsing faintly with veins of light that formed spiral patterns.
In the center floated the Aethern Kernel.
It wasn't an object.
It was an idea given shape —
a sphere of translucent glass and mist,
every second inside it looping endlessly before it escaped.
The silver-haired woman whistled softly.
> "That's it? We risked everything for a glowing marble?"
> "Don't touch it," Mael said, voice quiet but heavy.
"It's remembering us."
The others exchanged uneasy looks.
> "Remembering us?" one of the twins muttered.
"It's a machine, not—"
The floor shifted.
Not a tremor.
A correction.
The air pulsed, pushing them all back a step as light rippled across the walls.
A high, thin sound filled the air — not from the relic, but from time itself.
---
The Guild Arrives
The glyph-covered man turned sharply.
> "They're here."
From the tunnel behind them came the clang of relic boots —
the Guild Seekers, armed in full mechanical suits, their bodies half-synced with Mirra amplifiers.
The silver-haired woman raised her gloves, sparks dancing.
The twins stepped into mirrored stances.
Even the boy looked ready, clutching one of his humming spheres.
But Mael didn't move.
He just stood there, watching the Kernel spin —
his relic dial ticking faintly against his wrist.
---
The Clash
The Guild Seekers opened fire — beams of pressurized relic energy slicing through the air.
The first blast hit the ground where Mael had stood.
Except he hadn't moved yet.
He blinked, and the blast passed through empty space —
as if it had missed a target that wasn't there a moment ago.
One of the twins gasped.
> "Did he just—?"
The second twin cut him off.
> "Don't ask. Move!"
The chamber erupted into chaos — light, motion, sound.
But at its center, Mael was still.
---
The Loop
The relic on his wrist flared, a faint ring of light spreading outward.
He whispered, almost to himself:
> "Five seconds, nothing more."
The world folded.
The blast that had missed him repeated —
same sound, same light — only now it struck a different target:
the same Guild soldier who had fired it.
The impact was instantaneous.
The armor collapsed inward, silent.
The silver-haired woman froze mid-motion, eyes wide.
> "He—he just—"
> "Looped it," the glyph-covered man murmured.
"He looped time."
Mael glanced at them over his shoulder, calm and unbothered.
> "Not time," he corrected.
"Just the beat."
---
The Cost
The light on his wrist dimmed, flickering erratically.
He exhaled slowly, and the hum in the air faltered —
like a song ending mid-note.
The boy looked at him, half in awe, half in fear.
> "How many times can you do that?"
> "Once," Mael said.
"If I'm lucky."
The glyph-covered man frowned.
> "And if you're not?"
Mael smiled faintly.
> "Then I forget where I was."
---
The Counterattack
The Ninefold regrouped, moving with lethal precision.
The twins mirrored each other perfectly, slicing through relic suits with synchronized blows.
The silver-haired woman overloaded her gloves, sparks arcing through the chamber.
The boy rolled one of his sound spheres across the floor —
a low hum burst out, distorting the Guild's sensors and shattering their coordination.
But even as they fought, the Kernel pulsed faster.
The chamber trembled.
The air thickened.
And somewhere in the chaos, Mael was humming again.
---
The Collapse
The light exploded outward —
a blinding, rhythmic surge that threw everyone backward.
When the glow faded, the Guild soldiers were gone — erased, folded out of sync.
The chamber was silent.
No ticking.
No hum.
No time.
Then Mael opened his eyes.
The relic dial on his wrist glowed red now, faintly cracked.
He looked at it almost fondly,
as if admiring a faithful instrument that had played one note too many.
> "Five seconds," he murmured. "A perfect measure."
---
The Aftermath
The Ninefold regrouped, shaken.
The boy stared at Mael like he'd just seen a ghost.
> "You could've died."
Mael shrugged lightly.
> "Everyone dies. I just prefer to schedule it properly."
He turned back toward the Kernel, which now pulsed erratically — like a heartbeat out of rhythm.
> "Let's finish the song," he said.
"Before the world catches up."
They moved forward again.
Behind them, the chamber began to hum —
not mechanical, not human —
like a pulse remembering how to beat.
---
End of Chapter 25 – The Measureless Dial
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