[The narrow streets of the Old District, lined with old Victorian-style buildings. Steam pours from rusted pipes. Gas lanterns cast light into the dark alleys.]
The Old District was where Ironhaven began. Before the Council. Before the Familia. Before Manipulators took control of everything.
Now it was nothing but ruins, inhabited by outcasts. Nulls like me. Criminals. Prostitutes. And—according to Aether—a mad doctor who could awaken dormant powers.
"His name is Morgen," Aether said as she led us through a narrow alley. "He's an Abstract Manipulator. Time-based."
"Time Manipulation?" Nyx whistled. "That's one of the rarest abilities there is."
"And the most dangerous." Aether stopped in front of a rusted iron door. "He used to be a Council researcher. But he rejected Project Severance and fled."
She knocked in a specific pattern. Three quick knocks, two slow ones, then one more.
The door opened. A tall man with white hair and ash-gray eyes stared at us. His face looked young, but his eyes were ancient—as if they had witnessed thousands of years pass.
"Aether Luxford," he said flatly. "I thought you were dead."
"I'm stubborn."
"Just like your mother." Morgen stepped aside. "Come in. Quickly."
The inside of his house was chaos. Papers were scattered everywhere. Old clocks ticked out of sync. And in the center of the room stood a strange machine, its core pulsing with glowing crystals.
[ILLUSTRATION: Morgen stands beside a complex machine of gears and crystal. His gray eyes are fixed intensely on Clotho.]
"So this is him," Morgen said, studying me. "The Null who is actually Conceptual."
"How do you—"
"I can see timelines," he cut in. "And in every timeline I observe, you always appear. It always ends the same way—you either kill God in the Seventh Heaven, or you die trying."
My body tensed. "You're talking about the future?"
"I'm talking about possibilities." Morgen smiled faintly. "And the most likely one? You will change everything."