Chapter 72 Echoes of Tomorrow II
I saw the throne room. The feast. The moment before Nyx reset everything.
Saw her face. Her determination. Her love.
Tried to reach for her. Grab her. Stop her.
Too late. She was already glowing. Already becoming light and sacrifice.
But as I passed through that moment, I felt something. A whisper. A touch. Her voice in my mind.
I left you a gift, Mother. Find it. Use it. Bring me back.
Then I was somewhere else. Somewhere gray and empty. Between moments.
And standing there was a figure. Small. Child-sized. Made of light and shadow and possibility.
"Nyx?"
She turned. It was her. But not. Younger. Maybe four years old. Transparent. Flickering.
"Mother." Her voice echoed wrong. "You found me."
"You are alive."
"I am memory. I am echo. I am what remains when everything else is erased." She moved closer. "I am not dead. Just scattered. Pieces of me exist in every timeline. Every moment. Every choice."
"How do I bring you back?"
"You do not. Not yet. Not until the moment I am born. Then you remember. You hold the memory so strongly that reality has to acknowledge it. You give me substance by refusing to forget." Her hand reached out. Could not quite touch.
"But first you have to stop the war. Stop Daemon. Stop the bad future from happening. If you fail, I cannot return." There won't be anything to go back to. Tell me how.Look. She is the most important person. She is not who she says she is.
In the old timeline she was loyal. In this one she is not. Daemon already turned her. Already has her working against you." Nyx's form flickered. Fading. "Find proof. Expose her. The rest falls apart. But hurry. You have less time than you think."
"Wait. Do not go. I have so many questions"
"I love you, Mother. In every timeline. Always." She smiled. "Now wake up. Before you get stuck here."
I jerked back into my body. Gasping. Kael caught me before I fell.
"What did you see?"
"Her. I saw her. She is alive. Scattered but alive." I grabbed his shirt. "And we have a traitor. Mira. We need to find proof before she acts."
"Mira is not in this timeline yet. We have not met her."
"Then we find her before Daemon does. We turn her. We make sure she stays loyal." I stood on shaking legs. "How long until Daemon starts moving?"
"He is not a threat yet. Not for another year at least. He is still consolidating power." Kael helped me stand. "We have time."
Time doesn't exist. particularly when someone is attempting to murder you.
I looked at Arianna. "Thank you. For helping me see her."
"She was right about one thing. You need to hold the memory. Need to make it so real that when the time comes, reality cannot deny her existence." Arianna's voice was soft.
"Tell me about her. Every detail. Every moment. Make me remember too so you are not alone in this."
So I did. For hours. Told them everything. Nyx's birth. Her first words. Her power. Her kindness. Her choice to save us all.
Kael listened. Started to believe. Maybe. A little.
"You almost died tonight. Again. You need recovery."
"I need to find Mira. Need to"
"Tomorrow. You find her tomorrow. Tonight you rest." He pulled me against him. "I am trying to believe you.
Attempting to see what you see. You must, however, meet me halfway. You must look for yourself. Because I lose both of you if you die attempting to save a daughter I don't recall. And I can't make it through it."
He was correct. I knew that he was correct.
We proceeded to our rooms. I lied down in an uncomfortable bed. In a seemingly vacant room.
In a future that felt broken.
But I had seen her. Seen Nyx. Knew she was out there. Scattered but real.
That was enough. For now.
I woke to screaming.
Guards. Servants. Everyone panicking.
"What is happening?" I grabbed weapons.
Kael burst through the door. "The Vault. Someone breached it. Released something."
"What something?"
"I do not know. But it is killing everything in its path."
We ran. Down corridors. Toward screaming. Toward death.
Reached the Vault entrance and found carnage. Guards dead. Drained. Grey husks.
And standing in the center was a creature I recognized. Shadow wraith. But bigger.
Stronger. Wrong.
"How did that get here?" Kael demanded. "Those things do not exist yet. They should not"
"Timeline bleed," Arianna appeared behind us. "The reset was not perfect.
There are remnants of the previous chronology showing through.
Forcing their way back into existence."
"How do we stop it?" We don't. Not without the strength of Nyx. She gave me a look. "When someone so powerful is erased, this is what occurs. Real life attempts to bridge the gap. Brings back nightmares to replace what was lost."
The wraith turned. Saw us. Charged.
Kael threw himself between me and it. His blade met shadow-flesh and passed through.
"Magic!" Arianna shouted. "It is pure magic! Physical weapons are useless!"
I threw shadows. My power met the wraith's and exploded. We both staggered back.
But it kept coming. Hungry. Endless. Wrong.
"We need to seal it. Contain it. Something!" Kael was beside me. "Sera. Can you do what Nyx did? Can you stop time for just this creature?"
"I do not have time magic. Just shadow magic."
"Your daughter had both. Shadowborn and Draeven. What if you do too? What if the bond gave you abilities you have not discovered?" He grabbed my hand. "Try. Please. Try."
I reached deep. Past shadows. Past blood magic. Past everything I knew.
Found something else. Small. Weak. But present.
Time magic. Faint echo of Nyx. Left behind when she reset everything.
I grabbed it. Pulled. Threw everything I had at the wraith.
Time stuttered. The creature slowed. Stopped. Frozen.
"It worked," Arianna breathed. "You have her gift. Partial. Weak. But real."
"How long will it hold?"
"Minutes. Maybe less. We need to seal it now."
We worked fast. Drew symbols. Spoke words. Bound the wraith in wards that would hold for centuries.
When it was done, I collapsed. Exhausted. Drained.
Kael caught me. "That was incredible. Terrifying. But incredible."
"That was a fragment of what she could do. She was so much stronger." I looked at the sealed wraith. "If timeline bleed is real. If more things are coming through. We are in trouble."
"Then we prepare. We adapt. We survive." He pulled me close. "Like always."
"Like always," I agreed.
But as we walked away, I felt it. A pull. Coming from the sealed wraith. Coming from the Vault. Coming from somewhere beyond time.
Nyx was calling. Trying to reach me. Trying to come back.
And I would find a way to answer. No matter what it cost.
Because that was what mothers did. They never stopped fighting for their children.
Even when their children did not exist yet. Even when reality said it was impossible.
Especially then.