Leo's lungs were on fire. Every breath tasted like rust.

  The screams wouldn't stop—some from the dark, some from him and some....

  He tried to walk. Another Leo stepped out of the shadows, laughing, skull cracking under his boot.

  Another begged, blood dripping from shaking fingers.

  A third stood over Lia's tiny body, eyes dead.

  Leo hit the ground, palms slamming into nothing. "STOP!"

  The word tore out of him—raw, animal.

  But the voices just got louder, slithering inside his skull.

  "You're me."

  "You'll become me."

  "You wanted this."

  Hands over ears did nothing. The ground split. Shadows clawed at his ankles.

  "I can't—" he choked. "I can't—"

  They smiled. Reached.

  Give in.

  He almost did. Felt his spine go soft.

  Then—

  Lia's giggle. Lyra's crooked grin. Mom's hand in his hair. Dad's proud grunt.

  Warm. Real.

  Leo's head snapped up. Tears cut tracks through the grime on his face.

  "No."

  He stood, knees knocking.

  "I'm not you."

  The echoes froze.

  "I'll screw up. I'll hurt. But I WON'T BE YOU!"

  His shadow flickered. The air shook like it was scared of him.

  He shoved—hands in front of him like pushing a door—shoving those twisted timelines away, balling them up, fixing them.

  One by one, they crumbled to dust.

  Silence.

  Golden cracks spider-webbed the dark. Light poured through.

  Meanwhile Zycrist and Aurelius still standing in that white realm while Leo wasn't there but Zycrist eyes were closed voice and then she finally speak her voice was way too soft for a dragon. "It begins…"

  Leo blinked. "What—"

  'Did I just hear her voice?' Leo wondered. Low as a whisper, he could finally hear Zycrist’s voice.

  "He did it," Zycrist announced, her gaze shifting to Aurelius.

  Aurelius narrowed her eyes. "He destroyed the overlapping timelines?"

  "Yes," Zycrist replied with absolute confidence.

  Aurelius paced forward. "So our world, which was being crushed by those other timelines... since Leo destroyed the overlaps, does that mean those invading worlds are gone?"

  Zycrist nodded. A grin spread across Aurelius’s face. "I almost feel bad for them."

  "No one gives a shit about them right now," Zycrist snapped. "Leo is the only one who matters, because..."

  She pictured him in her mind Leo, kneeling on the ground, his body trembling under the weight of a thousand worlds. He had consumed the timelines themselves—every soul, every life, every scream of agony and spark of joy that had ever existed in those timelines. They were all inside him now.

  Threads—thin, glowing—shot from his chest. Each one a heartbeat. They zipped away, stitching the universe back together.

  He felt it all. Every sob. Every gasp of someone blinking back into existence.

  Some didn't come back.

  The last thread snapped into place. Leo screamed—veins glowing, a broken ring burning into his palm.

  Then nothing.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He hit the floor, panting.

  Aurelius whistled. "Kid actually did it."

  Zycrist smiled. Then, within the endless white realm, a black portal tore open. It resembled a black hole, yet its gravity didn't affect Zycrist or Aurelius they simply stared, waiting. Finally, Leo emerged, his arms wrapped tightly around himself as if trying to hold his own body together. The moment he stepped through, he collapsed onto the white floor.

  Thud!

  Leo pushed up on shaky arms. "So… fixed?" He asked.

  "For now," she said. "But.. you should proud yourself you did good."

  He stared at his hands—gold fading under skin.

  "Why only me?" he rasped, his voice unsteady and trembling. "Why did I have to see myself killing everyone?"

  Zycrist crouched, her massive head low. "Because you were the one who touched timelines. And because of that, Timelines began to seek you out. It reflected your image across other timelines, showing you versions of yourself while pouring the collective consciousness of every human within them into your soul due to your Absolute Reclaim. Your Order, your skill just eat every timeline that was overlapping."

  Leo swallowed. "So I'm the problem."

  Zycrist flinched, asking with a sudden rush, "Where did that come from?" She snapped her gaze toward Aurelius, demanding an answer.

  Aurelius snorted. "You're the patch, dummy. The damage was already there—you just got stuck holding the glue." Aurelius was so amused that he seemed to forget the dispute that had just happened between them.

  Zycrist's eyes softened. "You're a Temporal Anchor now. Time's got your number. Break again? You're first on the list."

  Leo laughed—dry, cracked. "Great. Eternal janitor."

  He slumped, eyes closing.

  Thud!

  Aurelius sat beside him. "Get some sleep, boy. You earned it."

  The realm went quiet. Zycrist looked upward into the endless white as if searching for a sky that wasn't there. There was only the sound of Leo’s breathing—steady, heavy, and alive.

  Leo's head felt like someone had used it as a gong. He peeled his eyes open, groaned, and rolled onto his side.

  "Ow. Note to self never volunteer for cosmic plumbing again and Hey! You Zycrist I have some questions."

  Zycrist hovered nearby, half-lit like a glitchy hologram. "Two questions. Clock's ticking."

  "Only two? I just fix everything!"

  "Not just for me, kid."

  Aurelius snored against a pillar. "Lizard's always stingy…"

  Tail snap. Spark. "Call me that again, I dare you."

  Leo waved a hand. "Cool it, lovebirds. Question one—are those evil me really gone?"

  Zycrist's glow dimmed. "Gone from timelines. They're bunking in your skull now. Every screw-up, every hero moment. New ones will respawn later— because timelines doesn't do retirement. And you shouldn't even be focus on that the main thing was to eat every overlapped timeline which you already did so everything comes back to normal. The versions of you doing bad things is not applicable for you. Maybe in some different timelines your friend might be in the wrong path."

  Leo rubbed his neck. "Great. Therapy's gonna be a riot."

  "Question two," he pressed. "Can I have a peaceful life?" He asked curiously.

  Her gaze slid away. "Look... I can’t tell the future. But with the skills you have, it’s going to be hard. Especially because of Order."

  "...So by 'Order,' you mean my two strongest skills?"

  Zycrist nodded quietly in approval.

  "Can I remove them?" Leo asked.

  Zycrist suddenly rushed forward, closing the distance until she was staring directly into Leo's eyes. Leo flinched, instinctively taking a step back.

  "Only my master can," she answered.

  "Wait—who—?"

  CLAP.

  A blinding white light kicked them out like a bouncer at closing time.

  They landed hard on a hill. Sky the color of old dishwater. Castle ruins ahead—half-melted, half-dust.

  Leo sat up, spitting grit. "Rude exit."

  Aurelius brushed off his coat. "She's allergic to goodbyes."

  Leo squinted. "City should be—"

  His jaw dropped for a moment.

  Empty streets. Crumbled walls. A kid's shoe in the dirt, no kid.

  Leo's knees buckled. "We fixed it… right?"

  Aurelius looked sick. "I… don't know."

  Leo clawed the ground. "We go back. Pound on her door."

  "Can't. Realm's on cooldown. Twenty-four hours, minimum."

  Leo stared at the ghost town. "So we're stuck in this graveyard till tomorrow?"

  Aurelius snapped his fingers. "She said you got a new toy."

  Leo's pulse jumped. "New… ability?"

  "But when?" Leo asked.

  Aurelius replied, waving his hands.

  "When you was sleeping."

  Aurelius reminded the conversation in his mind that happened in that unusual realm.

  After Leo had collapsed into a deep, exhausted sleep on the white floor, the silence of the realm felt heavy. Aurelius stood over him, looking down at the man who had just swallowed a thousand lifetimes.

  "He’s a mess," Aurelius muttered, though his usual biting tone was gone.

  Zycrist moved closer, her presence like a cooling shadow. "He has endured what no mortal—and few gods—could survive. He did not just patch the holes; he became the bridge."

  She reached out, her claws hovering just inches above Leo’s chest. A faint, golden light pulsed from her hand into his heart.

  "What are you doing?" Aurelius asked, his eyes narrowing.

  "A blessing," Zycrist whispered. "A gift for the one who lost his peace to save ours. I have bestowed a new ability upon him—one that will help him carry the weight he now bears."

  She looked at Aurelius, her gaze ancient and commanding. "Do not tell him here. When you are outside, when the air is real again... tell him then." Aurelius smiled, a question forming in his mind.

  'So, did I do my work, Zycrist?'

  Wind hissed through broken windows. Somewhere, a single red flower pushed through cracked stone—impossible, bright.

  Leo stared at it.

  "…Guess we need to find out what it does."

  ---

  Inside the dimming hall, Zycrist floated alone, her tail curled tight.

  Her wings flared, light splintering around her as her voice broke. "My Patriarch..."

  The name tore through the void like both a prayer and a curse.

  "Would you forgive me and my kind?" Tears—actual tears—glimmered on her scales. "Please, please forgive me. Forgive us… We weren't able to fulfill the work for which you created our kind."

  She bowed, her form trembling. "I just hope you're watching........ my Sovereign Ruler."

  Silence swallowed the hall. Then, soft and almost shy, she whispered into the dark.

  "…All hail Lord Raze."

  Her words echoed through the quiet realm, carrying a crushing weight of pain and love for someone far beyond her reach.