Silence weighed on the shattered observatory.
Dust drifted like slow-moving stars. The massive gears of the Astrarium hung frozen above, each tooth trembling as if unsure whether to move forward or backward.
Kalo and Nox stood at the center of the chaos, breaths rising and falling in perfect synchronization.
Their newly formed symbol — the Gemini Verge — pulsed faintly between their palms, a loop of light and shadow spinning like a shared heartbeat.
The Constellation-Seers dared not approach.
One whispered, terrified:
"They rewrote the First Law…Two souls cannot share one destiny."
Another shook his head.
"They didn't merge… They aligned. Perfectly."
Nox tested his footing. His body no longer flickered. Reality accepted him now — reluctantly, but undeniably.
"That's new," he muttered, tracing the glowing mark on his arm. "Feels like… I'm standing in my own skin for the first time."
Kalo exhaled shakily.
"You should have always existed."
Nox looked at him — a quiet gratitude beneath the usual defiance.
"Guess I do now."
Before either could speak again, the observatory shuddered. Constellations carved into the walls ignited in flame-blue light. The Astrarium was waking up — or retaliating.
A voice like cracking glass echoed:
"Gemini Verge detected. Initiating contingency protocol: Reversion."
The gears above lurched downward.
Reality around them began folding inward, crushing the chamber into a single point.
Kalo's eyes widened."They're trying to compress the timeline—force us back into one soul."
Nox snarled."Not happening."
He stepped forward, raising a hand.
The shadows in the room bent toward him, forming a dome of darkness.
Kalo mirrored the gesture.
Threads of light spiraled outward, reinforcing the dome with lattices of glowing sigils.
Their powers interlinked — not overlapping, not competing — but stabilizing each other.
The collapse paused.
A stand-off against the Astrarium itself.
Kalo grit his teeth."We can hold it off, but not for long."
Nox glanced at the frozen Seers, then at the collapsing sky.
"I didn't claw my way back into existence just to let some cosmic clock delete us again."
Kalo clenched his fists."Then we strike first."
The air trembled.
The Gemini Verge flared.
The combined power surged outward, cracking the crystalline floor and sending shockwaves up the gears. The machinery that dictated every birth, fate, and ending in Meridian screeched as if being unmade.
One of the Seers cried out:
"Their resonance—it's destabilizing the whole system!"
Good.
Kalo stepped forward.
"Nox… we're going to break out of here."
Nox smirked."You lead. I destroy."
They ran together.
Light and shadow spiraled around them, creating a path through the collapsing observatory. Timelines flickered in the air — moments that were, moments never allowed to be — but the Gemini Verge cut through them, carving their own.
The main gate rose ahead, sealed by years of forbidden magic.
Kalo lifted his hand, glowing with the white pulse of a burning hourglass.
Nox mirrored him, shadows coiling like wings.
Together, they struck.
The gate shattered into stardust.
Wind howled from beyond the opening, pulling them into a new chamber — one even the highest Seers feared to enter.
A vast room of floating hourglasses, each the size of a cathedral, each holding a different version of Meridian's past and possible futures.
Kalo whispered:
"This is… the Archive of Lost Fates."
Nox's eyes narrowed.
"Then it's time to find ours."