The Breathing Book

In a central chamber of the sanctuary rested an artifact:an open book, placed on a pedestal of black stone.
It beat.Like a heart.
— The Book of Lines, Saya whispered.It contains the complete story of Inverso. Past, present… and possible futures.
Mira stepped closer.She touched the cover.
The book opened.Its pages turned on their own.Visions exploded in her mind.
Floating cities.Children becoming Guardians.The Mirror Heart, trapped inside a shattered crystal.
Then… she saw the future.
A portal.Riven at its center.And a figure—herself—alone, faced with a choice.
She collapsed.

The others revived her.She told them what she saw.
— There will be a choice. One. And if we fail… both worlds will fuse. Total chaos.
— So that’s our goal? Theo asked. Save ours, shut down Inverso?
Saya shook her head.
— Inverso… is alive. It doesn’t want to die. It wants you to decide who deserves to live.


They kept moving.Toward the final chamber: the Heart’s Threshold.
But at the second-to-last door… a trap.
A civilian.A Japanese boy, trapped in an inverted glass pillar. Still alive. Breathing slowly.
— He’s not supposed to be here, Saya said.But he exists outside the flow.
To open the final door, one Guardian had to stay behind.To stabilize the zone.
Silence.
Theo stepped forward.
— I’ll do it.
— No, said Lyana.
— Let it be me, Mira offered.
But Akaru raised his hand.
— We’ll find another way.
Then… Mira disabled her stabilizer.A rift opened beneath her.
She fell.And the fissure sealed shut.
— NO! MIRA!
Saya looked down.
— The path is open.