As the ground beneath them quaked, E led Selene to another shimmering surface. This one was smaller, its light fractured and uneven.

“This is a memory fragment,” E explained. “It holds pieces of the past tied to the unraveling.”

Selene stepped forward, her reflection rippling across the surface. She reached out hesitantly, her fingers brushing the light.

Images flooded her mind.

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She saw Lydia, standing in the forest, holding a letter in her trembling hands. She saw the hollow tree glowing faintly, its roots twisting like a spiral. And then she saw something else—herself.

Selene stumbled back, her breath catching. “That’s me.”

E nodded. “Your thread has always been tied to Lydia’s. She didn’t cause the unraveling, Selene. You did.”

Her blood ran cold. “What are you talking about? I didn’t do anything!”

“You haven’t yet,” E said. “But the choices you make from here on out will ripple backward and forward. This isn’t about fixing the past—it’s about creating the future.”

The weight of his words pressed on her chest. The Seam, the threads, the unraveling—it all came back to her.

And now, she had to decide what to do.