We had reached a town called Furstenberg.
The road had been cold, uneven, and empty. We hadn't seen signs of people for weeks—only ruined shelters, broken wagons, and time anomalies that left fields frozen in motion, or birds hanging still in the air. But Furstenberg had smoke. Lanterns. Movements. Life.
A town still breathing.
Not bustling. Just surviving.
If the locals feared us, they didn't show it. They watched carefully but said nothing as we entered. A few nodded, cautiously. One man handed us a flask of water without speaking. A boy offered bread, then ran off.
They gave us a corner of the square near the clock tower. Firewood. A roof. Nothing more—but more than we'd expected.
Clara sat beneath a frostbitten archway, eyes fixed on nothing. She hadn't spoken since the fracture. The way she moved—quiet, controlled, like glass in motion—told us enough.
Konrad stood just beyond the market, near the well. He didn't interact with anyone. His hands rested at his sides. Empty. But his eyes never stopped scanning the horizon.
The rest of us waited.
***
It began just after dusk.
A pulse—not loud, but wrong.
Every lantern in the square flickered at once. The wind reversed. The clock tower, rusted into stillness, began to chime.
One. Two. Three.
Each toll bent the thread behind my ribs.
Clara rose.
Erich shifted, glancing sideways. "You feel that?"
I nodded. "Something's not right."
Then she appeared.
Not from the gate. Not from a door.
She was just there.
Standing near the well.
Helene.
Same violet coat. Same composed stance. Same eyes—still, calculating, almost gentle if you didn't look too long.
The townspeople froze. One child clung to his mother. An old man sat down like he suddenly remembered something he'd never lived.
"She found us," Erich muttered.
"She was already here," Konrad whispered.
He stepped forward, steady.
Helene turned toward him. Her gaze softened, almost mockingly.
"You kept me waiting," she said. "Long enough."
Konrad didn't answer. He didn't blink.
A child wandered into the square. Barefoot. No more than six.
Helene looked down at him. Her lips curved—not cruel, not kind. Just curious.
She snapped her fingers.
The ground shimmered.
The boy dropped—not onto the stone, but out of the moment. Like time let go.
Konrad moved before I saw him start.
He caught the child. But when he rose—
His arms were empty.
The child was gone.
Not killed.
Erased.
Helene looked at him.
"Another failure?" she said, smiling like it amused her.
She lifted her hand.
And Furstenberg exploded.
***
The blast wasn't fire. It was pressure. Time itself shattered.
The far side of the town square cracked open. Buildings warped. Carts crumpled inward. A horse blinked twice—and vanished.
Civilians screamed.
A man staggered forward, aged decades in seconds. A woman ran, but he shadow didn't follow.
Konrad was already moving.
His thread flared—bronze and bright. He dove toward the worst of it, extending his thread in a wide arc.
He caught three civilians beneath it—locking their time in place, shielding them.
His knees buckled.
But he held.
Clara moved to our right. She stepped cleanly through debris, lifting a girl into her arms and pulling her behind a collapsed stall just before a second ripple collapsed the stones.
Erich accelerated—his thread blinking him between falling debris, grabbing and dragging survivors behind cover.
I moved.
But Konrad didn't retreat.
He stood in the center.
The point where every wave seemed to break.
Helene watched.
She didn't move.
"So noble," she said, almost bored. "But you already know how this ends."
Konrad was breathing hard. Thread bleeding from his fingers like light turned heavy.
He said nothing.
A second pulse rolled across the square.
Konrad caught it with his body.
The ground cracked beneath him.
He dropped to one knee, gasping.
Still, he kept the thread up.
Six civilians now. Double what he had before.
Each one, a piece of him.
He looked at Helene.
"They don't have to be a part of this!" His voice was hoarse. Unshakeable.
Helene tilted her head.
"How long will you let the illusion of choice fool you?" Her voice depened, eyes glowing violet.
The sky folded inward.
The third wave began to build.
And the fight hadn't even started yet.