The portal spat them out into chaos.

Not the bloody, apocalyptic kind Kael was used to — but the absurdly cheerful sort. Music blared from unseen instruments, confetti rained from a cloudless sky, and the scent of roasted fruit filled the air.

They had landed in the middle of a cobblestone street crowded with laughing people in golden masks and silk robes. Everywhere Kael looked, there were banners, streamers, and lanterns that seemed to breathe. The city shimmered with temporal energy, like a heartbeat pulsing under its surface.

Jorah blinked, brushing glitter out of his hair. "Did we… crash a party?"

Eira looked equally stunned. "It looks like one."

Kael squinted up at a floating banner overhead. The words rearranged themselves every few seconds, cycling through languages until it finally settled on one he recognized:

THE ETERNAL FESTIVAL – DAY ONE

He frowned. "Day one?"

A nearby woman overheard him and laughed joyfully. "Of course! The Festival always begins at dawn!"

"And ends?" Kael asked.

Her eyes flickered oddly, her smile too wide. "Why, it never does, dear traveler. It's always Day One!"

Then she twirled away, leaving behind a faint trail of clock dust that shimmered in the air.

Jorah made a face. "Okay, nope. Absolutely not. We're in some kind of cursed carnival."

Kael tilted his head. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

"Because it is!" Jorah hissed. "Look at that juggler — he's been juggling the same flaming skulls for five minutes straight and hasn't blinked once!"

Eira's eyes narrowed. "This city… isn't real. Or at least, it isn't stable."

Kael smirked. "Welcome to the funhouse of eternity."

---

They wandered through the streets, watching the endless celebration repeat itself. Musicians played the same tune on loop. Vendors offered sweets that never melted, drinks that refilled themselves. At every corner, laughter echoed — a little too loud, a little too rehearsed.

Kael stopped at a fountain where the water flowed upward, glowing faintly with blue light. He dipped his hand into it, feeling time ripple around his fingers.

"It's a loop," he murmured. "Every dawn, the day resets. But the people—"

"—don't know they're repeating," Eira finished quietly.

Jorah looked queasy. "That's horrifying."

"Efficient," Kael corrected. "A perpetual cycle of joy. No war. No aging. No death."

Eira gave him a sharp look. "No freedom either."

He smiled faintly. "Freedom is overrated."

"Tell that to the people trapped here."

Kael turned to respond — but froze.

Across the square, a man stood by a vendor's stall, flipping a golden coin between his fingers. His coat was crimson, his hair white as frost, and even from a distance, Kael could feel the temporal energy radiating off him.

He knew that presence. Too well.

"...Kieran," Kael whispered.

Eira stiffened. "The betrayer?"

"The one who broke the first loop," Kael said softly. "And one of the few who remembers."

Jorah frowned. "Wait, that Kieran? The one who—"

"Yes," Kael cut him off, voice low. "And if he's here, then he's part of this loop's design."

---

Kieran noticed them then — or maybe he'd been aware the whole time. He smiled, slow and cruel, and raised his glass in mock salute.

"Kael Vorrion," he called, his voice carrying effortlessly through the noise. "Still playing hero in your own tragedy, I see."

Kael's jaw tightened as he stepped forward. "Still alive, unfortunately."

Kieran chuckled. "Alive? That's generous. I've been dead in more ways than you can imagine. This city's just… a hobby."

Eira's hand went to her sword. "You created this loop."

Kieran's eyes glinted. "Created? No. Perfected. Everyone here gets exactly what they want. Joy. Celebration. Forgetting."

"Except you," Kael said.

"Someone has to host the party," Kieran replied smoothly.

Jorah looked around uneasily. "So these people…?"

"Echoes," Kieran said simply. "Memories pulled from a thousand lost timelines. They wanted peace, so I gave it to them. Eternal, blissful ignorance."

Eira's voice was sharp. "That's not peace. That's a cage."

Kieran smirked. "Funny, coming from the girl following the man who forged time itself into chains."

Kael's eyes flashed. "You're talking too much."

"Talking," Kieran said softly, "is the only thing left that changes."

The air trembled. The festival music warped, slowing and deepening. All around them, the dancers froze mid-spin — every movement looping, every laugh stretched into a haunting echo.

Kieran stepped down from the stall, his reflection flickering. "I know why you're here, Kael. You're gathering the Blades again. Trying to fix the cycle."

Kael said nothing.

Kieran's smile widened. "But what happens when the cycle is the only thing holding reality together?"

Eira's magic flared instinctively, but Kael held up a hand. His voice was calm. "Then I'll build something better."

Kieran tilted his head. "Always the same. Always trying to play god with broken tools."

Kael's grin was humorless. "Says the man throwing a tantrum in eternity."

---

Lightning crackled in the air — pure, violet time energy colliding between them. The sky above flickered between dawn and dusk, the sun skipping back and forth like a heartbeat out of rhythm.

The revelers screamed — and then vanished, dissolving into streams of gold.

Kael drew the Blade of Paradox, the light rippling from his chest into his hand, forming the weapon once more. Kieran's coin expanded in his palm, unfolding into a staff that glowed like a dying star.

They clashed.

The first impact shattered the air. Time fractured outward, and Kael saw every version of their duel at once — thousands of battles playing out in parallel. In one, he died. In another, Kieran did. In a third, neither survived.

This was the fight they'd always been destined for. Again, and again, and again.

Eira and Jorah could only watch from the edge of the frozen square as the two men blurred in and out of existence.

"Do we… help?" Jorah asked weakly.

Eira shook her head, eyes wide. "We'd only make it worse."

In the middle of the chaos, Kael's voice rang out: "You could have joined me, Kieran! You knew the loops were killing the realms!"

Kieran's laughter was sharp and broken. "And you think ending them won't? You think existence survives without the story repeating?"

Their weapons collided again. Sparks of timefire exploded across the city.

For a moment — just one — Kael saw Kieran not as an enemy, but as the man he'd once trusted. The friend who'd stayed awake with him for centuries, trying to fix the impossible.

Kieran's voice cracked through the storm. "You can't stop it, Kael! You are the loop!"

Kael's eyes burned gold. "Then maybe it's time the loop learned who's in charge."

He drove the Blade forward, piercing the staff.

Time screamed.

The explosion wasn't sound — it was silence collapsing. The city blinked, froze, then reset.

---

Kael stood in the same square again. The music started. The banners unfurled. The laughter returned.

Except Kieran was gone.

Eira looked around, stunned. "Did we… win?"

Kael stared at his reflection in a shop window. For a moment, he saw Kieran's face staring back — smiling faintly. Then it faded.

"Define 'win,'" he murmured.

Jorah groaned. "If you're about to say something ominous again, please don't."

Kael ignored him, gazing up as the banner shimmered once more. The words shifted:

THE ETERNAL FESTIVAL – DAY TWO

His eyes widened slightly.

Eira frowned. "It changed."

Kael nodded slowly. "Then the loop is broken. And somewhere out there, Kieran just made his next move."

He turned toward the glowing archway at the edge of the square. "Let's move. The next Blade won't wait."

Jorah muttered, "I'm starting to hate festivals."

Kael chuckled under his breath. "Wait until we reach the Garden of Echoes. You'll really hate that one."

And with that, they stepped through the portal — leaving behind a city that would finally, mercifully, wake up to Day Two.

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