Kairos stepped into the Nexus.
All fell away.
No floor. No ceiling. Only an endless sea of revolving lights—each one a life. Past, present, future. All versions of him… all revolving around a hub of golden flame.
It was being inside the mind of the universe.
He heard voices—his voices—thousands of himself all speaking simultaneously.
> You were a king.
You were a coward.
You were a father, murderer, savior, liar.
You were I.
"Kairos," Riven said at his side, his form twisting, unstable. "We do not have much time left. The Nexus is collapsing in upon itself. The Circle poisoned the stream."
"Do we have any way of purifying it?"
"Yes," said the voice behind them.
Both of them turned—and saw her.
Elira.
But not as Kairos recalled. Ancient, this Elira. Emitted the same fire as the Nexus. Starlight robes wrapped around her, undulating with the power of the gods.
"Finally home, Kairos," she breathed. "I am the soul at your terminus… and beginning."
His breath caught in his throat. "You died. I. I tried to rewind it. I broke the world."
She nodded. "And each version of you has tried to find me again. Unknowing that I was here, holding the cycle. Waiting for you to remember."
"Remember what?"
"You're not a warrior. Not a king. Not a god."
She stepped closer, her hand on his chest.
"You're the collector of souls. Always were."
The Nexus throbbed. The wheel of reincarnation shook. Riven stumbled.
"The Circle is breaking!" he bellowed.
Black lightning rent the sky asunder.
The Severed King burst through the tear—now charged with the Anima Core. His form convulsed with borrowed timelines. Behind him, tainted reincarnates howled, driven to monsters.
"You will not rule destiny," he roared. "You will be consumed by it."
Kairos turned to Elira. "Then what do I do?"
She wept, but smiled. "You decide."
---
The Nexus responded.
Time was suspended.
And before Kairos stood four incarnations of himself—his strongest forms:
1. The Flame King – lord of flame and destruction.
2. The Seer of Ash – seer of fate, keeper of forbidden prophecy.
3. The Soulforger – wielder of resurrection and deathbinding.
4. The Silent Blade – godslayer, master of shadows and chronomancy.
Softly spoke Elira: "You may only bear one. The others must be won. Their power is too dangerous to invoke."
Kairos looked at them. Each was a burden. Each was a weapon.
And then, finally, he stepped forward—to the Soulforger.
"I will not fight to destroy," he declared. "I will fight to reclaim."
The choice was made.
The other selves distorted. and vanished.
Light filled the Nexus.
And Kairos changed.
Silver fire burned on his flesh. His eyes blazed like suns. He carried no sword—but his fists pulsed with raw power of life and death itself.
The Severed King roared. "FOOL!"
And the fight was over.
---
Time broke.
The Nexus was a war of resonances—every blow creating ripple realities. Veyra, Riven, and Arius fought shadow-copies of themselves from a thousand realities.
Kairos fought the Severed King—blow by blow.
Reality branched off.
And in that moment, Kairos went into the Core—into the very fabric of reality—and re-coded it.
He did not kill the King.
He unwrote the moment he was born.
The Circle shattered. Their souls ripped from battered bodies and tossed to the winds.
The Nexus steadied.
Silence.
Kairos knelt. Tired. Alive.
Elira was dying, her mission fulfilled.
She reached out with a hand and touched his cheek. "You've set us free. All of us."
And she died.
---
Seven days later.
Kairos stood atop the Dawnspire, seeing the dawn break. Riven had vanished into the world of dreams. Veyra and Arius were rebuilding what remained of the world.
He was alone—but not empty.
The reincarnation cycle had been restored.
And this time… it was his to guide.
---