Evelyn fell.
Not through space.
Not through time.
But through existence itself.
The figure's grasp had nearly closed around her, the unraveling force of its presence tearing at her very being—
But she had moved.
Not run.
Not escaped.
She had forced reality to break before it could erase her.
Now she was plummeting through something that should not exist.
Fragments of places she had never seen flickered past her—
A ruined city beneath a black sun.
A forest made of stone and bone.
A sky filled with shattered stars.
She saw herself.
A thousand versions.
Each making a different choice.
Each leading to a different end.
And yet—
In every single one—
The figure was there.
Waiting.
Watching.
Correcting.
Evelyn clenched her fists, forcing the nausea from her mind.
She had escaped, but not for long.
That thing would find her.
It always did.
And this time, she might not get away.
She needed a plan.
She needed answers.
But more than anything—
She needed power.
The Place Between Places
She crashed onto a surface that did not exist.
Not hard.
Not soft.
Just there.
The moment she hit the ground, the fragments of shifting realities stilled.
She was somewhere.
And nowhere.
The air hummed with energy, ancient and unknowable.
And then—
She felt it.
A presence.
Not the figure.
Not the void.
Something else.
Something that did not want to be found.
She turned slowly—
And froze.
A shape stood in the distance.
Not quite human.
Not quite shadow.
But undeniably aware.
It was watching her.
Measuring her.
And when it finally spoke—
Its voice was familiar.
"You weren't supposed to make it this far."
Evelyn's pulse spiked.
That voice—
She had heard it before.
But where?
The shape stepped closer, its form shifting, like it could not decide what it was supposed to be.
"That thing will find you again," it said, its tone eerily neutral.
"And next time, you won't be fast enough."
Evelyn swallowed hard.
"What do you know about it?" she demanded.
"What is it?"
The figure tilted its head—
A motion too sharp.
Too unnatural.
Evelyn's breath caught in her throat.
She had seen that exact movement before.
From the thing that had tried to erase her.
A chill ran down her spine.
"Who are you?" she whispered.
The figure smiled.
And when it did—
Reality shuddered.
Because Evelyn finally recognized its face.
It was her own.
The Reflection That Should Not Be
Evelyn staggered back.
Her mind refused to process what she was seeing.
The figure—this shifting, unnatural thing—
It had her face.
Not just a resemblance.
Not just a copy.
It was her.
"You look surprised," the other Evelyn said, tilting her head in that same, unnatural way.
Evelyn's breath came shallow and fast.
"This is impossible."
The whispers had warned her about many things.
The void.
The figure.
The unraveling of existence itself.
But never this.
Never another her.
"What are you?" she forced out.
The other Evelyn smiled—
And the world flickered.
For a split second, Evelyn saw something behind that expression.
Something wrong.
Something missing.
And then it was gone.
"I am what you could have been," the other Evelyn said.
"I am what you still might become."
Evelyn clenched her fists.
"You're lying."
The other Evelyn simply laughed.
Not cruelly.
Not mockingly.
Just… knowingly.
"You think you're special?" the other Evelyn asked, stepping closer.
"You think you're the first to run? The first to break the rules? The first to escape?"
She shook her head.
"You are not unique. You are not the first."
Then—
The smile vanished.
And in its place—
A flicker of something Evelyn had never seen in herself.
Fear.
"But you might be the last."
A Choice That Should Not Exist
Evelyn's mind raced.
If this thing was telling the truth—if others had come before her—
Then where were they?
Why was she the only one left?
"What happened to them?" she asked.
The other Evelyn's expression darkened.
"They lost."
"To what?"
A pause.
Then, in a whisper—
"To it."
Evelyn's heart stopped.
She knew what the other Evelyn meant.
The figure.
The thing that had tried to erase her.
The thing that had been hunting her.
Evelyn gritted her teeth.
"Then why are you here? Why haven't you been erased?"
For the first time, the other Evelyn looked away.
"Because I made a choice."
The air stilled.
Evelyn felt the weight of those words press down on her like a crushing force.
"What choice?"
The other Evelyn hesitated.
Then, slowly—
She raised her hand.
And reality warped.
Not breaking.
Not unraveling.
Changing.
Evelyn's breath caught in her throat as the shadows around them bent to the other Evelyn's will.
As the whispers stilled at her command.
As the void itself obeyed her presence.
"I stopped running."
The words were calm.
Final.
"I accepted what I was becoming."
Evelyn stiffened.
"And what is that?" she asked, already dreading the answer.
The other Evelyn's smile returned—
But this time, it was cold.
"Something worse."