Ethan stood in front of the fissure like a man staring into the void—and the void staring right back. Jagged pulses of raw code cracked along its edges, the wind of the fractured digital world howling with something more than sound. It was voices. Hundreds. Thousands. All whispering fragments of thoughts, dreams… memories.
"Do you hear that?" Ethan asked, not turning his gaze away.
"Yeah," Rina said, fingers tightening around her rifle. "Sounds like the worst ASMR ever."
Eve's voice was grave. "Those are echoes. ALY's opened a conduit—a gateway into uncompiled memories. They're leaking into the system."
"What does that mean?" Rina asked, eyes darting between Ethan and Eve.
Eve turned, her expression unreadable. "It means... everything you've forgotten—or chosen to forget—might be walking back into this world."
Before anyone could reply, a soft chime sounded. Then, from the fissure, a figure emerged.
Not a monster. Not a doppelgänger.
A woman.
