The wind howled like a wounded god.

Kael stood at the edge of the ravine, staring down into a chasm so deep that even sound seemed afraid to fall. The world had changed again — subtly, unnervingly. The sky rippled faintly, colors bending like an oil slick. Time wasn't just breaking anymore.

It was bleeding.

Jorah trudged up behind him, out of breath. "You sure this is where the next shard's supposed to be?"

Kael's eyes glowed faintly with that strange blue light — the mark of the Chrono Blade. "Not supposed to be," he said. "It already was. And it will be again."

Jorah groaned. "Right. Chrono logic. My favorite flavor of insanity."

Kael didn't respond. The voice inside the blade was whispering again.

You're wasting time, Kael.

It was his voice — but deeper, smoother. A ghost of confidence.

You think you're in control? You're just walking a path I already carved.

Kael clenched his hand around the hilt. "You talk too much."

Jorah frowned. "Huh?"

"Not you," Kael muttered. "The sword."

Jorah blinked. "...Okay. Yeah. Totally normal sentence."

---

The ravine wasn't just rock. Up close, Kael could see fragments of metal embedded in the stone — gears, runes, and fragments of frozen lightning. It was as if time itself had exploded here once, leaving shrapnel behind.

"Whatever happened here," Kael murmured, "it wasn't natural."

Jorah leaned over the edge and immediately stepped back. "Yeah, no. Nope. That's a long way down. You planning on climbing that?"

Kael smiled faintly. "Falling's faster."

"Not comforting!"

Kael stepped forward — and jumped.

---

The fall wasn't just a fall.

The air warped around him as he descended. Scenes flickered in the ravine walls — visions from other times, other versions of himself.

A battlefield. A burning city. A crown made of gears and flame.

Each vision whispered something different — accusations, laughter, screams.

You promised them salvation.

You became the monster they feared.

You forgot why you started.

Kael grit his teeth. "Shut up—"

Make me, the blade whispered.

He landed hard on ancient stone — knees bending, dust rising. The floor beneath him was circular, engraved with the same shifting runes as the Chrono Blade's hilt.

The Chrono Seal.

---

Jorah landed beside him seconds later, grunting. "You couldn't just take the stairs?"

"There weren't any."

"There are now!" Jorah pointed behind him. Stone steps spiraled up the ravine wall — forming from nothing, piece by piece, as if time was correcting itself.

Kael blinked. "Huh. Neat."

He turned back to the seal. At its center was a stone pedestal, holding a fragment of the same shimmering metal as the Spire. A shard.

The fifth one.

He reached for it — and froze.

The whisper came again. You shouldn't.

Kael's hand hovered above the shard. "Why not?"

Because it's not yours to take. It's mine.

---

The pedestal cracked.

A figure rose from the seal — its body half-metal, half-light, eyes glowing with burning symbols of time. Its voice was distorted, a thousand echoes layered together.

"KAEL VORRION," it intoned. "YOU WERE NOT MEANT TO RETURN HERE."

Kael tilted his head. "You'll have to be more specific. I break a lot of rules."

The figure raised its hand. "You stole from eternity. You fractured the loop."

Jorah stepped back. "Uh, Kael? That thing looks like it eats people for breakfast."

Kael smirked. "Good thing I'm not on the menu."

The guardian slammed its hand down. The seal erupted — bolts of pure time energy spiraling toward Kael. He blocked with the Chrono Blade, the impact sending ripples through the air.

Each clash created flashes of other realities — Kael saw versions of himself fighting in parallel timelines, each in a different world, each holding the same blade.

The guardian's voice boomed. "RETURN WHAT YOU STOLE."

Kael grinned. "Can't. I need it for my dramatic character arc."

---

Jorah ducked behind a rock as Kael leapt forward, slashing. The Chrono Blade met the guardian's arm — and time itself shattered.

They froze mid-motion, locked in a stasis field. The world around them fractured like glass — a thousand moments breaking and reforming at once. Kael's thoughts raced faster than time itself.

He's stronger than you, the voice in the blade said. But I remember how to kill him.

Kael hesitated. "You'd help me?"

I'd help myself.

The blade pulsed. A flood of knowledge slammed into Kael's mind — memories that weren't his. He saw a temple of gears beneath a dying sun, saw the first forging of the Chrono Blades, and the moment he — or his other self — bound his own soul into one.

The reflection's voice laughed. We are the blade, Kael. Always have been.

---

Time snapped back.

Kael twisted the sword, channeling the memory. "Let's see if this trick still works."

He cut forward — not through flesh, but through seconds. The guardian's attack froze midair, split apart, and dissolved into dust.

The figure staggered back, light flickering. "IMPOSSIBLE—"

Kael's eyes burned with blue fire. "You'll find I specialize in impossible."

He drove the Chrono Blade into the seal. The runes flared, swallowing the guardian in a burst of light. The shard lifted from the pedestal and merged into the sword's hilt.

The ravine fell silent.

Jorah peeked out. "...Did we win?"

Kael exhaled. "Define 'win.'"

"Still alive?"

Kael smirked. "Then yes."

---

The walls trembled. Time began to move backward — the cracks sealing, dust rising into the air, the fallen stones reforming. The ravine was healing itself.

Kael wiped blood from his nose. "It's resetting the event."

Jorah frowned. "Is that good?"

Kael looked at the glowing blade. The reflection's faint grin shimmered in its surface.

"No," Kael said quietly. "It means something woke up."

---

They climbed out of the ravine as the world rewound below them. The air above shimmered with auroras of broken time.

Jorah panted. "So what now?"

Kael looked at the horizon — at the faint silhouette of the next ruin.

"We find the next shard."

Jorah sighed. "You sure about that? Every time you grab one, something worse happens."

Kael sheathed the sword, his grin sharp and weary. "Exactly. Which means I'm getting closer."

Jorah groaned. "Closer to what? Death?"

Kael didn't answer.

The blade whispered softly. Closer to me.

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