Elya stood in the dim light of the courtyard, her expression calm, unreadable.

  Darius' mind was still racing.

  The Thanatarchy was not simply destruction.

  Not a mindless force.

  Not an enemy to be fought in the way he had imagined.

  Ais's voice was sharp. "You're saying the Thanatarchy isn't erasing the world—it's repairing it?"

  Elya nodded. "Yes."

  Darius exhaled slowly. "Then what is it repairing?"

  Elya met his gaze.

  "Whatever should not have existed in the first pce."

  Darius tensed.

  Ais froze.

  Those words were heavier than they should have been.

  "What do you mean by that?" Ais asked.

  Elya tilted her head slightly, as if considering.

  Then she spoke.

  "Have you ever wondered why the Thanatarchy erases certain things and not others?"

  Darius narrowed his eyes. "It erases everything."

  Elya smiled slightly. "No. It doesn't."

  She took a slow step forward.

  "Think about it. Not all history is rewritten. Not every kingdom vanishes overnight. Some pces remain untouched."

  Her voice lowered.

  "Have you ever asked why?"

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Darius' breath slowed.

  Because she was right.

  If the Thanatarchy was truly absolute, then why did anything remain at all?

  Why did Celestara still exist?

  Why were some pces rewritten, while others were left untouched?

  Darius clenched his fists.

  "If it's repairing the world, then what was broken?"

  Elya exhaled. "That is the question, isn't it?"

  She turned toward the city.

  "The world you see now—Celestara as it exists—is not the first version of itself. It is not even the second."

  Her voice was steady.

  "It has been rewritten countless times. Each time to remove the fractures. Each time to erase the things that should never have been."

  She turned back to Darius.

  "And yet, you survived."

  A heavy silence stretched between them.

  Ais spoke first. "Are you saying Darius is one of those 'fractures'?"

  Elya's gaze didn't waver.

  "I'm saying the Thanatarchy believes he is."

  Darius' pulse pounded.

  The Thanatarchy wasn't erasing him just to maintain order.

  It was erasing him because it believed he was an error.

  His survival wasn't an accident.

  He wasn't supposed to be here at all.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Darius' hands curled into fists.

  "Then what am I?"

  Elya sighed softly. "That is what you must find out."

  Ais took a step forward, her voice tense. "And what do you get out of this? Why help us?"

  Elya's expression didn't change.

  "I have seen many things erased. Many things rewritten. I have watched history reshape itself over and over again."

  She paused.

  "But in all that time, I have never seen someone survive it."

  Her eyes locked onto Darius'.

  "You are different. And that means you are dangerous."

  Darius' breath hitched.

  Not dangerous to the world.

  Not dangerous to himself.

  Dangerous to the Thanatarchy.

  Elya sighed. "You wanted to know the truth. Now you have the first piece."

  Ais's expression was still guarded. "And the rest?"

  Elya smiled slightly.

  "That depends on how long you survive."

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  The ground shuddered.

  The air thickened.

  Darius immediately recognized it.

  The weight of reality bending.

  The Thanatarchy had found them.

  Elya turned toward the sky, her eyes narrowing slightly.

  "They're moving faster than I expected."

  Ais swore under her breath. "We need to leave."

  Darius was already moving.

  Elya lingered a moment, watching the sky.

  Then she turned, stepping into the shadows of the alleyway.

  Her voice was quiet.

  "This is only the beginning."

  Then she was gone.

  And the Thanatarchy descended.