Selina gasped sharply as the visions finally released her.
Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
Lucian caught her immediately before she hit the floor.
"Selina."
His voice sounded distant beneath the violent ringing in her ears.
The archive continued shaking around them.
Silver light pulsed erratically from the Core at the center of the chamber, illuminating the room in unstable flashes.
Selina struggled to breathe evenly.
The visions still clung to her mind.
Too many deaths.
Too many endings.
And worst of all—
they all felt real.
Because they were.
Lucian steadied her carefully.
His hand against her shoulder remained firm despite the tension radiating through him.
"What did you see?"
Selina looked up slowly.
Her silver-gray eyes looked different now.
Brighter.
Almost glowing faintly beneath the unstable light.
Damian noticed immediately.
So did the Hollow Circle members behind him.
One of them whispered quietly—
"The synchronization is progressing faster than projected."
Projected.
The word made Selina's stomach twist.
They had been studying this.
Planning around it.
Watching her.
Lucian's expression darkened dangerously at the man's comment.
But Selina spoke first.
"There were more timelines."
The room became still.
Adrian frowned slightly.
"More?"
Selina nodded faintly.
"Not seven."
Her breathing remained uneven.
"There were dozens."
Silence crashed through the archive.
Even Damian's composure shifted slightly.
Selina pressed trembling fingers against her temple.
"I saw different outcomes."
Fragments still flashed behind her eyes.
Blood.
Fire.
Collapsed cities.
Lucian dying over and over.
And herself—
always at the center of it.
The Core pulsed brighter again.
SYNCHRONIZATION LEVEL: 86%
A sharp mechanical sound echoed through the chamber.
Lucian immediately looked toward the display screens.
His expression hardened.
"We're running out of time."
Selina frowned weakly.
"Time for what?"
Before Lucian could answer—
Adrian spoke quietly.
"For the system to decide which timeline survives."
The words settled heavily through the chamber.
Selina slowly looked toward the Core again.
"The system?"
Adrian gestured toward the rotating structure.
"The Temporal Core."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"Your family created something far beyond memory retention."
Damian's voice turned sharp instantly.
"Enough."
But Adrian ignored him.
"They created a mechanism capable of preserving consciousness across collapsing timelines."
Selina's pulse slowed painfully.
Consciousness.
Not memory.
That explained too much.
Lucian remembering everything.
The overwhelming visions.
The feeling of living multiple lives at once.
Selina looked at Lucian slowly.
"You weren't just remembering timelines."
His silence answered her.
Adrian continued quietly.
"You were surviving them."
The room became suffocatingly still.
Selina's chest tightened violently.
Lucian finally spoke.
"Yes."
One word.
Quiet.
Heavy.
Her thoughts spiraled unevenly.
Every timeline.
Every death.
Lucian carried all of them continuously.
No wonder his eyes always looked exhausted beneath the calmness.
Selina swallowed slowly.
"How many times have you watched me die?"
Lucian looked directly at her.
And for the first time—
his composure cracked visibly.
"…Too many."
Pain flickered across his expression before disappearing again.
But she saw it.
Real pain.
The kind that never fully healed.
The Core pulsed harder suddenly.
The archive lights flickered violently overhead.
Then—
every screen in the room changed simultaneously.
A single message appeared across all of them.
PRIMARY HOST DETECTED
Selina frowned immediately.
"What does that mean?"
No one answered.
Then the Core emitted another low mechanical hum.
And suddenly—
silver light erupted outward from the center of the chamber.
The force knocked several Hollow Circle members backward instantly.
Adrian stumbled against one of the pillars.
Damian shielded his eyes sharply.
Lucian immediately pulled Selina against him protectively.
The silver light spread across the floor like liquid.
Ancient symbols illuminated beneath the stone surface around them.
Selina's heartbeat became painfully loud.
Then—
the voices returned.
Not fragmented this time.
Clear.
Different versions of Lucian speaking across overlapping timelines.
"Run."
"Don't trust Adrian."
"I'm sorry."
"I couldn't save you."
"This is the final timeline."
Selina's breathing broke unevenly.
Tears burned unexpectedly behind her eyes.
Because every voice carried the same exhaustion.
The same desperation.
Lucian tightened his grip slightly around her shoulders.
He heard them too.
She realized that instantly from the look in his eyes.
Then suddenly—
another voice echoed through the chamber.
Her own.
"Lucian… stop trying to save me."
The entire room froze.
Selina's chest tightened violently.
That voice—
older.
Sadder.
Broken.
A future version of herself.
The Core's light intensified further.
And then—
a holographic projection appeared directly above the rotating mechanism.
A woman.
Silver-eyed.
Wearing dark ceremonial clothing marked with the Blackthorn crest.
Older than Selina.
But unmistakably her.
The archive fell silent.
Even the Hollow Circle members looked shaken now.
The projection spoke calmly.
"If this message has activated, then the eighth convergence has begun."
Selina stared in disbelief.
The woman looked directly at her.
At Lucian.
Then softly—
"You both failed again."
Lucian's entire body stiffened instantly.
Selina's pulse slowed painfully.
The projected version of herself continued quietly.
"The moment the Core reached eighty percent synchronization, the cycle became irreversible."
Damian's expression darkened sharply.
Adrian frowned immediately.
"What cycle?"
The projection's silver eyes shifted slowly toward the Core.
"Timeline correction."
The room became completely still.
Selina's breathing slowed unevenly.
The future version of herself looked back toward her.
And suddenly—
her expression softened with heartbreaking sadness.
"You still don't understand what you really are yet."
The projection raised one trembling hand toward Selina.
"You were never created to survive the timelines."
A pause.
Then quietly—
"You were created to reset them."