LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 8: Threads of Fate
#### **I: The Weight of a Star**
The supernova's light reached the planet hours later—a searing scar across the twilight sky. Xina stood at the mouth of the new cave Imma had guided them to, her knuckles white around the Sword of Sindore. Its jagged edge hummed with a dark, familiar magic. *His* magic.
"It's begun," Imma said quietly, her holographic form flickering as she hovered beside Tom and Lira. The children sat cross-legged in the dirt, stacking glowing pebbles into wobbly towers that defied gravity. Each time a tower teetered, Tom giggled and spun his golden roulette wheel—now the size of a coin in his palm—ensuring the stones settled perfectly.
"Boring," Lira declared when her own tower collapsed. She blew on it, and the pebbles reassembled themselves into a tiny dragon that scampered up Tom's arm. He squealed with delight.
Xina tore her gaze from the sky. "The supernova—you said it *helped* a planet? How?"
Imma's light dimmed. "Tom's power doesn't distinguish between destruction and salvation. It follows the path of least resistance to 'luck.' That star's death nourished a dying world. But the energy required…" She paused, her voice faltering. "It came from *me*. The seal is intact, but every time he spins the Wheel, it leeches my reserves to stabilize the backlash. I… didn't anticipate this."
Xina's stomach dropped. "How long do you have?"
"Weeks. Maybe days."
A pebble-dragon roared triumphantly as Tom clapped. Lira grinned, her pupils slitting like a cat's.
"Then we find another power source," Xina said firmly. "Your kind feeds on energy. This world has ley lines, spirit veins—"
"Not the right *type*," Imma interrupted. "I need computational energy—raw data, quantum matrices. The closest analog here is… sentient thought. *Memory.*"
Xina stiffened. "You mean souls."
"No. Souls are too complex. But the residual energy of a conscious mind—yes. A village's worth might buy me a month."
"Absolutely not."
"I would never ask you to," Imma said, her voice brittle. "But Tom might *do* it, accidentally, if his power surges again. That's the real danger. He doesn't understand consequences. To him, it's all a game."
As if summoned, Tom toddled over and pressed his roulette wheel into Xina's palm. The metal burned cold.
"Spin, Mama!" he chirped.
She recoiled, but the Sword of Sindore flared in her other hand, its hilt suddenly scalding. A voice slithered into her mind—sibilant, venomous. *(*Let him. Let the Wheel decide.*)*
"No!" Xina snarled, hurling the sword aside. It clattered against the cave wall, then levitated, tip aimed at her heart.
Tom's smile vanished. The Wheel spun on its own.
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#### **II: The Arbiter's Gaze**
The cave erupted in gold light. When it faded, the sword lay dormant, and a stranger stood in the entrance—tall, androgynous, their skin etched with constellations. Their eyes were voids filled with dying stars.
"Celestial Arbiter," Imma whispered, recoiling. "Tom, *hide the Wheel!*"
Too late. The Arbiter's gaze locked onto the golden coin in his chubby fist.
"Probability deviant detected," they intoned, voice echoing with the weight of collapsing worlds. "Entity Tomás Veyra, designation: *Keter-class threat.* You will be contained."
Xina stepped in front of the children, the Sword of Sindore flying to her grip. "You'll touch him over my corpse."
The Arbiter tilted their head. "Irrelevant. You are already marked." They flicked a finger, and Xina's sword arm *twisted*, bones cracking. She screamed.
"NO HURT MAMA!" Lira shrieked. Her pupils dilated into black pools, and the Arbiter's constellation scars flared crimson. They stumbled back, clutching their chest.
"Impossible… a Voidweaver?" they rasped. "Extinct for millennia—"
Imma surged forward, her form unraveling into a net of searing light. "Run, Xina! Take the children!"
Tom wailed as Xina scooped him up, Lira clinging to her neck. They fled deeper into the cave, the Arbiter's roar shaking the walls.
"Where's Imma?!" Xina hissed.
"Buying time!" Lira said, her voice suddenly too old for her face. "But she's weak. The Arbiter will shatter her."
Tom whimpered, the Wheel glowing in his hand.
"Don't you dare spin it," Xina warned.
He spun it anyway.
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#### **III: The Cost of Memory**
The Wheel landed on a symbol none of them recognized: a lotus entwined with chains.
Deep in the cave, the Arbiter froze mid-strike. "What… is this?" they whispered.
Imma hovered before them, her light nearly spent. "A memory," she said softly. "*Your* memory."
The Arbiter's void eyes flickered with images—a child, laughing in a field of supernova lilies. A name, long buried: *Elira.*
"You were human once," Imma pressed. "Before they carved the stars into your skin. You *chose* this?"
"I… I forgot," the Arbiter murmured. "The price of power."
"Tom could make you remember. All of it. Or—" Imma's voice hardened. "—you could walk away. Let him be. Just this once."
The Arbiter trembled, constellations peeling from their flesh like burning paper. "The Council will send others."
"Then we'll face them. But today… let the child live."
With a sound like a dying star, the Arbiter vanished.
Imma collapsed.
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#### **IV: The Fractured Bond**
Xina found her minutes later, her form barely a shimmer.
"You used Tom's spin to… what? Hack the Arbiter's mind?"
"The Wheel pulled a memory from the cosmic ledger," Imma rasped. "But it cost me… everything."
Tom tugged at her fading light. "Imma up! Imma play!"
She couldn't even materialize a hand to ruffle his hair. "I'm sorry, Master. I can't… protect you… anymore."
"No!" Lira grabbed Tom's Wheel and spun it hard. "Fix her!"
The coin landed on the dying star.
Nothing happened.
"Fix her!" Lira screamed, shaking it.
"Lira, stop!" Xina pried the Wheel from her grip. "It's not working!"
"Because *you* don't believe it will," Imma whispered. "Her magic… cancels his doubt. But she's panicking… breaking the balance…"
Tom began to cry, his tears leaving scorch marks on the stone. The cave trembled.
"Enough!" Xina seized the Sword of Sindore and plunged it into the ground. Black tendrils erupted, binding the children in cocoons of shadow. "Sleep," she commanded, and they went limp.
She turned to Imma. "What do you need?"
"A… a mind. Any mind. To siphon."
Xina didn't hesitate. "Take mine."
"You'll forget things. Moments. People."
"Do it."
Imma's light brushed her temple. "Thank you… friend."
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#### **V: The Forgotten**
When Xina awoke, the children slept peacefully, and Imma hovered solid once more. But something felt… missing.
"What did you take?" she asked.
Imma wouldn't meet her gaze. "A first kiss. A name. The color of your mother's eyes."
Xina's throat tightened. "I don't… remember her."
"I'm sorry."
They sat in silence, until Lira stirred. "Mama? Where's the star-man?"
"Gone," Xina said, pulling her close. "For now."
But the Sword of Sindore still whispered, and Tom's Wheel glinted like a predator's eye.
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#### **VI: The Gathering Storm**
Far away, the reignited supernova pulsed—a beacon.
On a ship forged from黑洞 bones, a figure watched the star's rebirth through a telescope of crystallized time. Their lips curled into a smile.
"Found you, little deviant."
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