LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 22: Fractured Timelines
Fractured Timelines**
---
### **I: The Unraveling**
Jerry jolted awake, the smell of stale coffee and mildew flooding his senses. His studio apartment—cracked walls, peeling paint, the same thrift-store furniture he'd left behind years ago. Panic clawed his throat. *Lisa. The kids. The life he'd built—gone.*
**[Memory Integrity Check – Failed]**
▸ *Timeline Discrepancy Detected*
He scrambled to the window. The streets were wrong—no playground where his daughter had learned to ride a bike, no café where he'd proposed to Lisa. Just urban decay and strangers.
"No, no, *no*," Jerry muttered, clawing at his chest where a family pendant should've hung. "Mike's machine—I have to fix this."
He sat cross-legged, aligning his chakras. Golden light enveloped him as his spirit tore through the astral plane—until he collided with an invisible barrier.
**[Temporal Lock – Active]**
▸ *Source: Unauthorized Weaver Intervention*
---
### **II: The Confrontation**
Diane stood on her porch, clutching a mug of cold tea, when Jerry's truck screeched into the driveway. His eyes—wild, desperate—locked onto hers.
"Where's Mike?" he demanded.
"He's… gone," Diane whispered.
"*Gone?*" Jerry's voice cracked. "You erased him. You erased *everything*."
The air thickened. Jerry's aura flared—crimson and gold, a storm of grief and power. Diane stumbled back as he advanced.
"You had no right!" he roared.
A shadow fell over them.
"Enough," rumbled a voice like tectonic plates shifting.
Orion materialized, seven feet of silver-haired menace, his amethyst eyes glowing. A single tap to Jerry's temple dropped him lifeless.
**[Intervention Protocol – Sanctioned]**
▸ *Entity: Orion – Celestial Arbiter*
---
### **III: The Hunter's Judgment**
Orion loomed over Diane, cape billowing in a wind that didn't exist. "Your selfishness unraveled three thousand timelines. Mike's absence is a cancer."
"I saved my family!" Diane protested.
"By destroying theirs." Orion snapped his fingers.
**Projection – Timeline 9.4.2 (Original)**
- *Mike's father dies in a gang shootout.*
- *His mother overdoses in a motel.*
- *An old man is struck by a car, his caregiver's son joins a gang.*
**Projection – Timeline 9.4.2 (Current)**
- *A politician rots in prison.*
- *Jerry's children fade like smoke.*
Diane sank to her knees. "I didn't know—"
"Ignorance is no excuse for a Weaver," Orion spat. "You've doomed this branch to entropy."
---
### **IV: The Banishment**
Orion's hand closed around Diane's wrist. "Your punishment is Oblivion—a realm where *you* are the pawn."
"Wait!" Jerry stirred, clutching his head. "She deserves worse, but… the timelines. If she's gone, can we restore them?"
Orion paused. "Only a Weaver can mend what's torn."
Diane's eyes widened. "Let me try! I'll fix it!"
"You'll fail," Orion said. "But failure amuses the Void."
He thrust her into a swirling rift. Her scream echoed as the portal sealed.
**[Oblivion Gateway – Secured]**
▸ *Prisoner: Diane Peters*
---
### **V: The Broken Alliance**
Jerry glared at the rift. "She doesn't get to run. I want her *gone*."
"Patience," Orion said. "Oblivion will break her. Then—and only then—will she become useful."
**[Celestial Council Directive – Priority]**
▸ *Objective: Harvest Weaver Post-Corrosion*
Jerry's fists clenched. "And my family?"
Orion tossed him a Loom shard—a glimmering fragment of erased time. "Find the threads. Rebuild them. But know this: every restoration demands a sacrifice."
The shard pulsed with Lisa's laughter.
**[Quest Added – Reknit Timeline]**
▸ *Cost: Unknown*
---
### **VI: Echoes Across Realities**
**Diane's Prison (Oblivion):**
She fell through a kaleidoscope of her worst moments:
- *Tom overdosing.*
- *Stacy's funeral.*
- *Mike's lab burning.*
**[Oblivion Protocol – Psychological Assimilation: 12%]**
**Jerry's Safehouse:**
He studied the shard, its light flickering with Lisa's face. "I'll tear the universe apart for you."
**Orion's Report:**
*"Weaver contained. Mortal's resolve… intriguing. Proceeding with Phase 2."*
**Tom's Nightmare (Prime Timeline):**
He woke gasping, the Golden Roulette Wheel whispering a new symbol: *[Mother's Debt]*.
---
### **VII: Threads of Retribution**
**Diane's Whisper (From Oblivion):**
*"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm—"*
**Jerry's Vow:**
*"You'll be sorrier."*
**Orion's Note (To the Council):**
*"The Gambler's rage will forge our weapon. The Weaver's guilt will temper it. Proceed with harvest."*