Darkness fell without a sound. Not ordinary darkness darkness that felt… thinking.
Mira felt something yank her out of her own body, like roots torn suddenly from soil. Ensaria's voice called her name, but faded fast, as if the distance between them was suddenly stretched across thousands of kilometers.
Then Red light struck.
And everything collapsed.
She woke with a violent jolt. Not in the warehouse. Not in the Time Rift.
But in a stone chamber, its walls covered with carvings of ancient symbols that moved slowly like living flesh. The air smelled of hot metal and burnt incense.
Kael spat blood beside her.
"M-Mira… holy w-we got pulled out…"
From the darkness, chains scraped across the floor.
A figure in a black robe emerged, its face hidden behind a cracked obsidian mask. Above its head, three circles of red symbols rotated, forming an inverted halo.
Mira recognized the aura instantly something not of this world.
"Kael…" she whispered. "We're inside… a ritual."
The figure spoke. A distorted voice, like it was stitched together from thousands of mouths.
"Experiment twelve… successful. Subjects fully trapped within the Shadow Reality."
Mira froze.
Shadow Reality.
So everything… EVERYTHING she had experienced the battle, the shadow creature, the white desert, Sefir, even Ensaria fracturing was not real?
"So all of that was just your illusion?!" Kael forced himself upright. "For what?!"
The figure tilted its head slightly, as if smiling beneath the mask.
"Not illusion. Not dream. But an alternate timeline we forced you to live through."
Red light pulsed along the walls.
"We needed to see… what would happen if the Guardian of Eden faced destruction earlier than scheduled. How she reacts. Who dies. What breaks."
Cold crawled through Mira's bones.
"So you… played with our lives?"
"We studied you."
The chamber trembled.
From the air itself, white light pierced through.
Ensaria appeared not through a door, but through a slice in time she tore open by force. Her eyes blazed, her form trembling with overloaded energy.
"MIRA! Step out of the circle! This cult they're using the Ibelis Eden Pillar!"
The robed figure chuckled softly.
"Too late, Old Light."
Ensaria's expression changed instantly. "they're humans?! You dragged humans into Edenic resonance?! You're insane!"
Mira grabbed Kael and rose to her feet.
"How long were we… trapped?"
Ensaria looked at her and that look made Mira's heart stop.
"Physically? Only 0.42 seconds."
Kael gaped. "FOUR-TENTHS OF A SECOND?!"
Ensaria continued, voice heavy. "But the intensity of the ritual forced your perception… to live years inside the fabricated timeline."
Mira stepped back. Everything she felt struggle, fear, pain, even long conversations inside the Time Rift
happened only in her mind. But her body felt all of it.
The robed figure approached.
"They've demonstrated mental durability far beyond predictions. The Guardian of Eden… is not merely a vessel. She is a catalyst."
Ensaria wrapped Mira in crystalline light.
"Don't listen to him."
But the figure ignored Ensaria and focused on Mira.
"You saw… the trace of Tang Khaiel, didn't you?"
Mira flinched.
Kael stiffened.
Ensaria snapped in rage. "DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK THAT"
"Arel's father's death was no accident," the figure said. "And our cult wanted to see… whether you would uncover that truth in the false reality."
Something stabbed Mira's chest. Arel. Arel Jian Tang.
Why was his face suddenly so clear?
The figure raised its hand.
"We wanted to observe your reaction once you reached that truth."
"Enough," Ensaria whispered. Golden fire ignited around her.
"You touched forbidden timelines. And you will pay for it."
The chamber shattered.
White light burst outward.
Mira woke in the real world.
She collapsed onto marble flooring the WHSD headquarters. Kael lay dragged beside her, still unconscious. Agents rushed in panic.
Dr. Lynette Varro herself held Mira upright, her expression tense.
"Mira! Focus on my voice! You're safe here!"
Mira tried to steady her breathing.
"They… that cult… they forced us to live inside another timeline."
Varro glanced at Ensaria stabilizing herself.
"How much did they see?" Varro asked.
Ensaria answered shortly:
"more than they should have."
Varro clenched her jaw.
"And now… whatever they saw… they'll try to make it real."
Mira looked at them, trembling.
"Arel…" she whispered. "He… he was in that illusion. But… why did it feel real?"
Varro stared at her for a long moment. A very long one.
Then she said softly:
"Because Arel is the key to his father's mystery. And the cult is hunting him."
The room's lights flickered. Alarm sensors shrieked.
Ensaria spun around.
"They… breached our dimensional barrier—"
The steel door exploded.
A tall silhouette emerged through the smoke.
Mira froze.
Arel Jian Tang. the real one. the living one.
His eyes were dark.
And something followed behind him.
Something that should never have escaped that ritual.
Arel spoke quietly, flat:
"Mira… we need to talk."