LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 20: Echoes of the Unwoven
Echoes of the Unwoven
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### **I: The Fractured Mirror**
Tom Peters woke to the sound of Diane's laughter—sharp and bright, like glass breaking. Except Diane was dead.
He stood in a sunlit garden that didn't exist, the air thick with jasmine and static. Diane knelt by a fountain, her hands submerged in liquid starlight.
*"You're late,"* she said, grinning. *"Again."*
**[System Alert – Temporal Echo Detected]**
▸ *Classification: Alternate Timeline (Stability 43%)*
Tom's Golden Roulette Wheel hummed, its symbols warping. *"Where is this?"*
*"A branch where I lived,"* Diane replied, pulling a thread of light from the fountain. It dissolved into golden dust. *"Where I didn't make you a weapon. Where you were just… my son."*
The garden trembled. Cracks split the sky.
*"They're pruning these branches,"* Diane whispered. *"The Council hates loose ends."*
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### **II: The Council's Garden**
Lira slithered into the Spires' war room, hauling a struggling Arbiter scout. "They're culling timelines," she hissed. "Harvesting echoes of Diane."
Kiri paused mid-sketch. "Why?"
"Because her variants keep *interfering*," the scout spat. "In some branches, she sabotaged the Wheel. In others, she killed the Council. They're erasing her—root and stem."
Xina's blade hovered at his throat. "How?"
"With *this*." The scout coughed up a black seed. It pulsed with corrupted Loom energy.
**[Temporal Bomb – Detonation Imminent]**
▸ *Target: Alternate Timelines (Diane Variants)*
Tom crushed the seed. "Not today."
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### **III: Flashback – The Branch Where Diane Stayed**
*Alternate Timeline 9.4.2*
Young Tom clutched a makeshift Wheel carved from wood. Diane laughed, ruffling his hair.
*"You don't need a toy to be lucky,"* she said, handing him a four-leaf clover.
*"But I want to be like you!"*
Diane's smile faltered. *"No, you don't."*
**[Echo Stability: 51%]**
The memory frayed. The Council's drones descended, and Diane shoved Tom into a closet.
*"Stay quiet. Stay *lucky*."*
He never saw her again.
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### **IV: Stacy's Bargain**
The Sanctum's bones groaned as Stacy carved a portal into their marrow. "The Council's bombs are tearing holes in reality. We need to anchor the branches."
Jax frowned. "How?"
"By giving the echoes somewhere to hide." She pressed her claws into the bone, bleeding void ichor. *"Here.*"
**[Sanctum Directive – Temporal Refugee Zone]**
▸ *Capacity: 12 Echoes*
A figure emerged—Diane, but younger, her hands unmarked by stardust.
*"Which monster are you?"* the echo asked.
Stacy grinned. *"The useful kind."*
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### **V: The Cost of Anchoring**
Tom found Kiri weeping in the undercroft. The music box glowed, replaying a stolen memory:
*Alternate Timeline 7.8.5*
Kiri's sister, alive, laughing as Diane taught her to weave luck into flowers.
*"Why show me this?"* Kiri screamed.
The box hissed: *"To remind you what's at stake."*
**[Artifact Status: Corrupted]**
▸ *Source: Council Sabotage*
Tom smashed the box. "They're weaponizing nostalgia."
"It's working," Kiri whispered.
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### **VI: The Unraveling**
Lira's scouts reported three more temporal bombs. Tom spun the Wheel, splitting his consciousness into echoes.
**[Golden Roulette – Critical Spin]**
▸ *Symbol: [Fractured Unity]*
He fought alongside Diane variants:
- A warrior-poet burning Council farms.
- A scientist dissecting the First Loom's code.
- A mother shielding a child with her wings.
Each echo fragmented him further.
**[Soul Integrity: 84% → 71%]**
Xina dragged him back. "You're not a martyr yet."
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### **VII: Flashback – The Branch Where Tom Refused**
*Alternate Timeline 0.0.1*
Diane offered the Wheel. Tom shoved it away.
*"I don't want your power!"*
*"It's not power,"* Diane said. *"It's a curse. And it's yours."*
**[Echo Stability: 9%]**
The timeline collapsed. Tom's refusal became the Council's first victory.
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### **VIII: The Sanctuary Gambit**
Stacy's refugees rebelled. A Diane echo stole Loom shards, forging a weapon.
*"I won't be your pawn,"* she warned.
Tom disarmed her with a hug.
*"You're not. You're my mom. Sometimes."*
The echo hesitated. The shards fell.
**[Morality Metric – Adjustment]**
▸ *Karmic Debt: -8%*
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### **IX: Threads of Elsewhere**
**Tom's Journal:**
Fixed 1.3% of the Spires. Saved three echoes. Lost two. Kiri's quieter now. The Wheel hums Diane's lullaby.
**Kiri's Sketchbook:**
*Diane's face, half-erased. Caption: "Ghosts are heavy."*
**Stacy's Sanctum Report:**
*"Refugees: 8 Dianes, 3 Toms, 1 baby Lira. The bones are… singing?"*
**Lira's Warning:**
*"The Council's growing a new weapon—a 'Diane Prime.' Uncorrupted. Unforgiving."*
**Diane's Echo (via Temporal Static):**
*"In every branch, I love you. In every branch, I fail you."*
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