The portal closed behind Arin with a thrum that vibrated down to his bones. The light around him dimmed into dusk, though no sun existed in this place. Trees reached skyward like obsidian spears. The air hummed with entropy. And there, etched into the black stone beneath his feet, pulsed a symbol older than the Spiral:
The Eye of Eidolon.
Kairos pulsed.
[Location: Timeline Zeta-91. Primary emergence point of Eidolon Core. Universal Index: Degraded.]
Arin took his first step forward. He had no illusions left. The truth of Astra's fracturing, the Spiral's failing logic, and the ever-closing maw of the Core—all of it led here.
To the root.
---
The Warden's Echo
As Arin crossed a bridge of fading memory over a void of forgotten timelines, a ghost appeared.
Not a spirit.
A version of himself.
Older. Wiser. Wounded.
> "So you made it to Zeta-91. Most of us don't."
"Most?" Arin asked, breath tight.
> "You are the 112th divergence to reach this point. Only three survive."
The ghost smiled bitterly.
> "But maybe you'll be the one who remembers how to break it."
He passed Arin a shattered piece of Kairos. It embedded into Arin's own.
[New Function: Eidolon Pulse Detector — trace anomalies and illusions within layered timelines.]
---
The Eidolon Grove
Arin arrived at a clearing where gravity twisted and trees whispered alternate lives. The ground was seeded with lotus-like nodes—each one pulsing with memories not his own.
He touched one.
And screamed.
Memories flooded him:
—A world where he murdered Astra. —A life where he was Astra. —A future ruled by a perfect spiral... without free will.
He tore away, panting.
Kairos: "This grove grows from altered memories—the Core's primary weapon: perception distortion."
From behind the largest tree emerged a woman clad in scales of ink and light.
> "You've stepped into the heart of the parasite. And yet you still cling to the idea of truth."
Her eyes were galaxies. Her voice—static and song.
> "I am Nyhessa. Warden of the Root. Former Spiral Guardian. First to fall."
Arin stood defiant. "You serve it now?"
> "No. I am it now. The Core doesn't corrupt. It absorbs."
She raised her hand.
The grove twisted.
---
Duel of Minds
They didn't clash with weapons.
They clashed with possibilities.
Arin activated the Eidolon Pulse Detector.
Nyhessa's body shifted through roles: mother, murderer, mentor, monster. He saw her full arc—once a Spiral Guardian who tried to seal the Core, only to become infected by its fundamental idea:
Control is salvation.
Arin pushed back. He used Temporal Forge to reject projected fates.
Nyhessa screamed as her form flickered. Arin reached into Kairos and activated the Final Glyph—
—no. Not yet.
Instead, he rewrote one constant:
[Law of Perception: "Only truth sustains memory."]
The grove cracked. The trees withered. The Core's illusions burned.
Nyhessa faded.
> "You remember too well," she whispered as she vanished. "They'll come for you now."
---
The Forbidden Tower
Where Nyhessa fell, the ground split, revealing an obsidian stairway descending into true darkness.
Kairos pulsed frantically.
[Warning: Core Nexus Detected. High Compression Zone. Proceed with caution.]
Arin began his descent.
Inside the earth, he passed remnants of entire civilizations. Fused timelines. Hollowed-out worlds stitched together by something hungry.
Then, at the heart of it all—
—a door made of flesh and glass.
It pulsed. It breathed.
A voice echoed from behind it:
> "Hello, Arin. We've been expecting you."
The door split open.
And Arin stepped into the core of the Eidolon.