Chapter 15 – The Convergence Clock
Aiden didn't remember standing up.
One moment he was staring at the empty space where the Watcher vanished, his pulse thundering through his ears—and the next he found himself gripping the window frame of the infirmary, knuckles white, breath shaking.
Three words pressed against his mind, suffocatingly heavy:
72 hours left.
Leah stood a few steps behind him, still trembling, bow limp in her hand. Her voice finally broke the silence.
"Aiden… what do we do now?"
He didn't answer.
Outside, the camp stirred in panic. Survivors rushed out of their shelters after hearing the System broadcast. Lights flickered on. Doors slammed. Voices rose sharply through the night, a chorus of fear and confusion.
Aiden could hear some of them.
"Aiden Cross? The System named him—""What kind of 'interference' did he do? Did he cause the rift?""Marked… what does that even mean? We're screwed—""If a Watcher appears again, this place is done."
The weight of their fear pressed against him.
He stepped away from the window and sank onto the metal cot, rubbing his temples.
"I didn't ask for any of this," he muttered.
Leah sat across from him, forcing her hands to steady. "But it doesn't matter. A Watcher came—for you. You can't pretend none of this happened."
Aiden stared at the floor. "Leah… I could feel the Void reacting to it. Like it wanted to devour the Watcher."
"Yeah," she whispered shakily. "I saw it."
"It wasn't me controlling it.""I know."
"It wasn't even responding to a threat.""I know, Aiden."
"It was just—hunger."
This time she couldn't answer.
He took a long breath, trying to steady the storm inside him. But the Void still churned under his skin, restless, awakened from its slumber by the presence of the entity.
The Watcher.
A being that felt beyond understanding.
Its words replayed in his head:
"Your evolution frightens even you.""You wield a seed of the Empty One.""Survive the next convergence… then I will return."
He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
"Empty One… what the hell does that even mean?" he muttered.
Leah didn't answer. Instead, she leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"A timed convergence…" she whispered. "Something meant to consume. Aiden, that sounds like an event on the scale of the first rift outbreak."
Aiden stood suddenly, pacing.
"No. The Watcher wouldn't give a warning without reason."
"You trust it?" she asked sharply.
"No."He exhaled shakily."But it knows what the System won't tell us."
A rustle sounded outside the door before Leah could respond.
A second later, Commander Rhea pushed her way into the infirmary, armored jacket half-worn, hair tied back haphazardly, expression grim.
"Cross. Leah. Up."
Aiden straightened instinctively. Leah did too, wiping sweat from her palms.
Commander Rhea looked like someone who had sprinted across the base.
She didn't waste a second.
"I saw the broadcast," she said. Her eyes scanned each of them. "And half the camp did too. I need a full report."
Aiden opened his mouth, but Rhea held up a hand.
"Not summaries. Not interpretations. Every detail."
So he told her.
About the crack they found.About the harbinger monsters.About the way the Void reacted.About collapsing the rift.About the whispers from the other side.And about the Watcher.
By the time he finished, Leah's breathing was uneven, and Rhea's expression had hardened to stone.
The commander turned her attention to Aiden fully.
"You touched the boundary of the rift?"
"Yes."
"And used your void ability to suppress it?"
"Yes."
"And the entity—this 'Watcher'—appeared immediately afterward?"
"Yes."
Rhea exhaled slowly. "Then we have a bigger problem than unstable rifts."
Aiden swallowed. "The convergence?"
Rhea's jaw clenched. "That too. But I'm talking about you, Cross."
A cold weight settled in his stomach. "What about me?"
Rhea stared at him long enough for him to feel stripped bare.
"The world has changed. People don't trust what they can't categorize. And the System just put your name out to everyone in this settlement as a variable."
"Commander—" Leah started.
Rhea cut her off. "I'm not throwing him out. If I wanted him detained, I would've brought the guard."
Aiden tensed.
Rhea stepped closer to him. "But you need to understand this, Aiden Cross: right now, your power is unstable. You are a danger to the camp if you lose control again."
He looked away.
She continued.
"I'm not blaming you for the rift. If anything, we owe our lives to you. But gratitude and fear can coexist. And fear spreads faster."
Aiden's hands curled into fists at his sides.
Leah looked furious. "Commander—Aiden would never hurt this settlement. He's risked his life every time!"
Rhea didn't flinch. "I know that. But the Void inside him doesn't care who it hurts."
Aiden closed his eyes.
The truth stung more than anger would've.
He remembered the moment his power lashed out at the Watcher—remembered Leah being thrown across the room.
He hadn't meant it.
But meaning didn't matter.
Control did.
Rhea's voice softened slightly. "I'm not ordering you to lock yourself away. I'm ordering you to prepare."
Aiden looked up slowly. "For what?"
"For war," she said. "Not against monsters. Against whatever is coming in seventy-two hours."
She crossed her arms.
"Here's what we know:A timed convergence means the rift will open at a predetermined moment. That's coordinated—not random. Which means it's intelligent. And if it's meant to consume…"
Rhea's gaze sharpened.
"…it won't be the settlement it's targeting."
Aiden felt his blood run cold.
"It's targeting me," he whispered.
Leah's breath caught. "Aiden—"
Rhea didn't deny it.
"And that," she said, "is exactly why you will not fight alone. We are mobilizing every combat-capable survivor. We're calling in our allied camps. We're preparing fortifications."
She stepped closer, meeting Aiden's eyes.
"If the convergence wants you—it will have to get through all of us."
Aiden shook his head slowly. "You don't understand. If the Watcher is right… whatever comes through that rift won't be something you can fight with levels and guns."
"Then we adapt," Rhea said firmly. "Or we die."
Silence filled the room.
Aiden finally sat back on the cot, burying his face in his hands.
"I don't even know how to prepare for something like this."
Rhea looked at him steadily.
"You start by learning what your power really is."
Aiden stared at her.
Rhea continued.
"There's a research bunker fifty miles east of here. Pre-collapse facility. They were analyzing System anomalies during the first year. If we're lucky, they might have something on void signatures. Or on these Watchers."
Leah's eyes widened. "But that place is—"
"—sealed. I know," Rhea finished. "But we're opening it. And you, Aiden, are going there."
Aiden's pulse spiked. "Why me?"
"Because whatever you're becoming… that bunker might be the only place with answers."
Aiden swallowed hard.
When he spoke, his voice was low.
"How much time until we leave?"
Rhea raised her wrist, tapping her System interface.
"Exactly seventy-one hours," she said. "Every minute counts."
Aiden nodded slowly.
The Void inside him stirred—anxious, restless, hungry.
The Convergence Clock was already ticking.
And for the first time since the rifts appeared, Aiden felt like the world wasn't descending into chaos by accident.
Something was steering it.
Something was watching.
And it was coming for him.