The storm had long passed, but the air still buzzed—thick with thread static.
Kael sat beneath a shattered tram pillar, his breath steadying. His shirt clung to his side, blood crusted from the Remnant's attack. The Soul Loom had numbed the pain, but exhaustion pulled at his bones.
[Soul Loom: Stable]
[Sync Rate: 21%]
[Threads Active: 4 / 7]
[Recent Thread Imprint: Grief Weave]
He watched the last remnants of the creature's echo fade into the dust. The girl's voice still lingered faintly in the Loom—a thank-you. Or a warning.
He didn't know which.
But something inside had shifted.
He hadn't just fought back.
He'd chosen what to feel, what to pull, what to sever.
That power wasn't gifted.
It was earned.
Then he heard it.
A faint click, like a boot on loose gravel.
Kael froze.
Another sound—closer.
He stood slowly, his Loom pulsing behind his ribs.
A figure stepped out of the fog.
Cloaked in layered fabric woven with arc-thread patterns. A mask covered their face—smooth and reflective, like glass soaked in stars. No eyes. No mouth. Just a presence.
Kael felt the Loom pulse in warning.
[Threat Level: Unknown]
[Thread Visibility: Suppressed]
[Classification: ???]
Kael raised a trembling hand. "Who are you?"
The figure said nothing.
Then, a faint voice echoed—not aloud, but inside Kael's Loom.
"Thread Conduit 00001. Confirmed."
"Soul Loom Resonance: Impressive. Instability: Moderate."
"Subject: Dangerous. Potential: Exceptional."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Are you another Remnant?"
"No."
The voice shifted now—external, modulated, but masculine.
"I am called Veyrion. I belong to the Order of the Loomguard."
He paused.
"You… are not supposed to exist."
Kael felt cold.
"What do you mean?"
Veyrion stepped forward. "The Arkanexus Protocol was sealed nine millennia ago. Every Conduit born since has failed. Burned. Broken. Or worse—turned."
"You are the first to resonate beyond 3%. That makes you… dangerous."
Kael stood taller. "And what, you're here to kill me?"
Veyrion tilted his head. "Not yet."
Kael's fingers curled into a fist.
"Then what do you want?"
The Loom trembled in his chest, mirroring the tension rising in the threads between them.
[Thread Sync: Tension Detected]
[Thread Read: Veyrion—Emotion: Measured Caution]
[Passive Skill Triggered: Loomsense (I)]
Veyrion raised a hand.
Threads appeared—barely visible. Dozens of them, all folded into the air like origami lines.
"I came to observe," he said. "But now I offer a choice."
Kael's heart pounded.
Veyrion's hand opened—and a glyph appeared, glowing faintly. It matched the one on Kael's chest.
"Come with me."
"Learn what the Loom truly is. What it's protecting. What it's hiding."
"Or run. Keep pulling threads in the dark."
"But know this—every thread you bind, every Remnant you destroy, echoes through the Weave."
"Sooner or later… something bigger than me will come for you."
Kael hesitated.
He thought of Zane.
Of the Remnant girl.
Of the threads still pulsing in his chest—alive, whispering, waiting.
And the Watcher… still silent, watching from within.
He took a breath.
"What's the catch?"
Veyrion nodded, approving.
"The Loom doesn't grant power without demand. It records everything. Every decision. Every thread you pull will have a counter-pull. Including this one."
"You step onto the Loomguard's path… you never leave it."
Kael looked down at his hand. The echo of Grief Weave still glimmered faintly in his skin.
He could say no.
Go underground. Keep learning alone. Hide.
Or…
He could step into the thread before him—and see where it led.
He clenched his jaw.
"I'll come with you."
Veyrion turned silently and walked toward a stairwell leading deep beneath the station.
Kael followed.
As they vanished into the darkness, the glyph on Kael's chest glowed brighter.
Far above them, in the sky where the first Threadfall began, something shifted.
Something vast.
Watching. Waiting. Weaving.