The origin lab lay buried beneath the cathedral's roots, its steel doors rusted shut. Young Kael pried them open with Older Kael's shard, the metal screeching like a wounded beast. Inside, the air reeked of formaldehyde and roses. Rows of glass tanks lined the walls, each holding a Lyra clone in varying stages of decay. At the room's center stood a surgical table stained with old blood, Gideon's journal splayed open to a sketch of Kael's mother, her body dissected into glowing nodes.
"He called her Subject Alpha," Young Lira whispered, her violet-tinged eyes scanning the journal. "Her DNA was the… foundation." She traced Lyra's locket, now fused to her palm by tendrils of cobalt.
Older Kael leaned against a tank, his breath labored. Every heartbeat eroded him further—his hair fell in clumps, his joints creaked like deadwood. "Burn it all," he rasped. "Before it infects you too."
Young Kael ignited a torch, but Nyx blocked him. "We need answers. Why her? Why your mother?"
A clone stirred in its tank, slamming rotten hands against the glass. "Becauuuuse…" it gurgled, its voice Lyra's. "She was… time's first thief."
Young Lira gasped, the locket burning her skin. "It's her. Lyra's in the—"
The lab door slammed. Hybrids oozed from vents—not violet-eyed soldiers, but malformed horrors with too many limbs and mouths that dripped petals.
"Protect the Seed!" they shrieked.
Nyx and Mira fought back-to-back, blades carving through flesh. Older Kael staggered toward the surgical table, where a single rose sprouted from Gideon's journal—its roots burrowed into a golden seed the size of a fist.
"The Seed of Eternity," he muttered. "Gideon's first sin."
Young Lira grabbed it. The lab trembled, clones wailing as their tanks cracked. "It's warm," she breathed. "Like a heartbeat."
"Drop it!" Young Kael yelled.
Too late. The Seed fused to her chest, roots piercing her ribs. Her eyes flooded cobalt as Lyra's voice erupted from her throat: "You never learn."
She flung Young Kael into a tank. Glass shattered, embalming fluid drenching him. The clone inside stirred, its decayed hands seizing his throat.
Older Kael swung his shard, decapitating the clone. "Get to the Seed! It's controlling her!"
Young Lira levitated, the Seed's roots spreading across the lab. Hybrids knelt, their flesh knitting into a throne of bone and rose thorns. "This is where it begins," Lyra's voice boomed through her. "Where I become more."
Nyx lunged, dagger aimed at the Seed. A root speared her chest, suspending her mid-air. "You're predictable," Young Lira sighed.
Mira tackled Older Kael as another root struck. "We need fire!"
He nodded, trembling hands sparking flint. "Distract her."
Young Kael charged, torch blazing. "Lira! I know you're in there!"
Young Lira paused. "Lira's gone. But you…" She smiled. "You'll make a fine successor."
The Seed pulsed. Young Kael's torch dimmed, his veins glowing cobalt.
Older Kael hurled the lit flint into a pool of embalming fluid. Fire roared, consuming the lab. Young Lira screamed, roots retracting as flames licked the Seed.
"No!" She clawed at it, but the fire spread, melting clones and hybrids alike.
The lab collapsed.