Morning arrived with golden light spilling through the crystal forests of the Seventh Layer.
The festival had ended.
Only a few lanterns still floated lazily across the emerald sky.
For the first time in weeks...
There was nowhere Zayden needed to run.
He stood on the balcony of the guest residence, watching the city wake.
Footsteps approached behind him.
Aria.
She held two cups of coffee.
"I guessed you wouldn't be asleep."
He accepted one with a grateful smile.
"You know me too well."
"I'm learning."
A comfortable silence settled between them.
Then...
A white dove landed on the balcony railing.
Around its leg was tied a silver ribbon.
Aria frowned.
"A messenger bird?"
The dove bowed its head.
Zayden untied the ribbon and unfolded the letter.
There was no name.
No seal.
Only six words written in elegant silver ink.
When tomorrow arrives, don't refuse it.
He turned the page over.
Blank.
"Who sent it?" Aria asked.
"I don't know."
As soon as the words left his mouth...
The paper dissolved into tiny points of light.
The dove vanished with it.
---
Elsewhere...
Aster stood beneath the Tree of Origins.
Its branches stretched across the endless white horizon.
Each leaf reflected a different Layer.
The Keeper approached.
"You felt it."
Aster nodded.
"A timeline shifted."
The Keeper frowned.
"I thought the cycle had ended."
"It has."
Aster looked up at the glowing branches.
"But the future is still being written."
He gently touched one silver leaf.
It trembled.
Then turned gold.
"Someone has reached across time."
---
That afternoon...
The Council of Choice gathered once more.
Representatives from every surviving Layer filled the circular hall.
Captain Lyra addressed the assembly.
"Reconstruction is progressing."
"The trade routes between the Layers are stable."
"The Seventh Layer has reopened its academies."
Applause echoed through the chamber.
Then...
The doors burst open.
A young courier stumbled inside, breathing heavily.
"Emergency!"
The room fell silent.
"What happened?" Lyra asked.
The courier swallowed hard.
"We found..."
He hesitated.
"A city."
"So?"
"It isn't on any map."
Murmurs spread through the council.
The Keeper stood.
"Where?"
The courier pointed toward the western edge of the Second Layer.
"It appeared overnight."
"No one saw it arrive."
"No one knows who built it."
Aster's smile disappeared.
"Impossible..."
---
By sunset...
Zayden, Aria, the Keeper, the Null King, Lyra, and Elysia stood before enormous silver gates.
Beyond them stretched a breathtaking city.
Towering white buildings.
Flowing canals.
Gardens untouched by time.
It looked ancient.
Yet brand new.
Not a single soul walked its streets.
"It feels..."
Aria whispered.
"...familiar."
The Null King slowly stepped forward.
"I've seen this place before."
Everyone looked at him.
"When?"
He answered without taking his eyes off the silent city.
"In a dream."
The massive gates creaked open on their own.
No guards.
No welcome.
Only silence.
In the center of the empty city stood a marble pedestal.
Resting upon it...
A single envelope.
This one carried a name.
To Zayden Cross.
He carefully opened it.
Inside was a handwritten letter.
The handwriting...
Was his own.
He read the first line aloud.
> "If you're reading this, then I finally found a way to send it."
His heartbeat quickened.
The next line made the world stand still.
> "I'm writing to you... from ten years in the future."
The wind died.
No one spoke.
The impossible letter trembled in Zayden's hands.
And somewhere within the empty city...
A clock struck midnight.
---