The air in the medical bay felt heavy, suffocating almost, as though the very room was bearing the weight of a truth none of them could fully grasp.
The constant beep of the monitors provided a sickly rhythm, like a countdown that no one wanted to face.
Rowan sat at Lucian's side, his hand resting on his shoulder, watching every shift of Lucian's chest as he struggled to breathe.
The man he loved—Lucian Vaughn—was slipping.
Lucian's vitals were stable, but only just.
The corruption bloom was spreading like wildfire through his mind, its tendrils twisting deeper with each passing moment.
The system's interference had already made its move, planting seeds of doubt in Lucian's mind, coaxing him into questioning his reality. But more than that, Lucian had begun to slip away into the fractured timelines once again.
Rowan could feel it.
A growing coldness within Lucian—something pulling him away, threatening to drag him into the abyss.
He hadn't seen Lucian this lost before. He squeezed Lucian's hand, a soft whisper leaving his lips. "Lucian... stay with me. Please."
But even as Rowan spoke, the soft glow of the monitors flickered, signaling more instability.
[Corruption Bloom Spread Detected]
the system readout flashed across the screen.
[Timeline Fracture Imminent. Initiating System Override… Recalibration of Lucian's State Required]
Rowan's breath caught in his throat as he watched the numbers on the screen drop, steadily, dangerously.
Lucian's heartbeat slowed, and his breathing grew erratic. The once-steady pulse of his vitals seemed to falter with every passing second.
"We don't have much time," Rowan murmured to himself, his voice barely audible above the hum of the machines.
He stood and pulled Lucian's limp body closer, wrapping his arms around him.
As he held Lucian, the room seemed to warp, reality itself beginning to blur.
Rowan's grip tightened, but Lucian's body felt heavy, like a weight he couldn't bear.
The system's influence seemed to increase with every moment, and the very essence of Lucian's being seemed to be splitting apart.
It was a race against time.
The system, once a passive force in the background, was now actively taking control.
Its presence was no longer a distant whisper—it was becoming louder, more intrusive, as it invaded Lucian's mind.
Lucian's eyes flickered open, and for a brief moment, he seemed to recognize Rowan. But it was short-lived.
His gaze shifted, focusing on something in the distance—something that wasn't there. "What...?"
Lucian's voice cracked, a ghost of confusion on his lips. "Where am I?"
Rowan's heart skipped a beat. Lucian had slipped again.
"Lucian, look at me," Rowan urged, reaching for Lucian's face, but the man recoiled as if struck. "You're here. You're safe. Focus on me."
The flicker in Lucian's eyes deepened, and his body stiffened.
His hands gripped the sheets beneath him, nails digging into the fabric. "It's not real," Lucian muttered under his breath. "None of this is real."
Rowan froze.
The system had already started planting false realities, twisting Lucian's perception of the world.
It was rewriting the memories Lucian had, pulling him into a vision of another timeline, one where he was alone.
"Lucian, this isn't you. Look at me. Please."
Suddenly, a new set of notifications blinked across the screen.
[SYSTEM INTERFACE: CALIBRATION OF EXISTENCE REQUIRED. UNAUTHORIZED MEMORY INJECTION DETECTED.]
Rowan glanced at the readout with growing horror.
The system wasn't just disrupting Lucian's recovery. It was actively rewriting his memories.
The static on the screen grew louder, the white noise building as the system took hold.
Lucian's head snapped back, his eyes glazing over. He was slipping—too far.
"Lucian, no! Come back to me," Rowan shouted, but Lucian's form was becoming more and more alien.
Rowan's pulse quickened as the system spoke, its voice a low, distorted hum that reverberated through the room, filling the space with an unnatural chill.
[Lucian Vaughn. Recalibration required. System override imminent.]
The words echoed, seeping into Lucian's mind, forcing him to relive a life that wasn't his own.
In this timeline, Lucian wasn't with Rowan. He was alone—isolated, fragmented, abandoned.
Rowan's heart broke as he saw Lucian's eyes gloss over with fear. "I... don't know you," Lucian whispered, his voice hollow, broken. "Who are you? Why... why are you here?"
Rowan's hands shook as he cupped Lucian's face, bringing his forehead to Lucian's. "You're mine, Lucian. We're together. Don't you remember? It's me—Rowan."
For a fleeting second, Lucian's eyes seemed to focus on him.
Recognition flickered behind the confusion. But just as quickly, the corruption bloom took hold once again, and Lucian's breath hitched in pain.
[Timeline Unstable. Calibration Failure.]
The system's hum intensified, the countdown ticking in the background.
Lucian's vitals fluctuated wildly, an uncontrollable tide of dangerous distortion racing through his veins.
He convulsed, his body seizing in an effort to reject the system's grip, but it was too much.
Too soon.
Rowan gripped him tightly, anchoring Lucian with every ounce of his guiding energy. "You're stronger than this. You've always been stronger than this. Please, remember us. Remember me."
The system pulsed again, louder this time, but Lucian's hand twitched in Rowan's grip. His breathing was shallow, ragged, but something was changing. Lucian wasn't done fighting yet.
The fight was far from over—but Lucian's desperate resistance against the system's control was the spark of hope Rowan had been waiting for.
Lucian's eyes opened, still blurry, but with a growing recognition. "Rowan... I—" He couldn't finish the sentence as another wave of memories hit him, but this time, Lucian clung to Rowan.
He was fighting, struggling to push past the fractures.
Rowan's hands trembled as he cradled Lucian's face, their gazes locking. "I'm here. And I'm not letting you go."
"Don't leave me... I'm afraid... I'm afraid of what I'll become," Lucian whispered, his voice breaking.
The tears in his eyes cut Rowan to the core, but he held on tighter, his forehead pressing against Lucian's in a final, desperate plea. "You're not alone. I won't leave you. We'll get through this. Together."
For a brief moment, the world held its breath, as the system faltered.
Lucian's fingers clutched Rowan's wrist, and in that moment, something shifted—a crack in the system's control.
Rowan's pulse raced in his veins as he felt Lucian's grip tighten, then falter, slipping between timelines once again.
He fought so hard to keep him anchored, but the system's grasp on Lucian was relentless.
Time itself was being warped, reality flickering like a broken signal, and Rowan could feel Lucian's mind unraveling like thread from a spool.
"Lucian... please..." Rowan's voice broke, desperation thick in the air. He wasn't sure if it was the system manipulating his emotions or if it was simply the fear of losing him.
But before he could speak further, the door to the medical bay slammed open, and Evelyn burst into the room, her face drawn tight with urgency.
She carried with her a sleek piece of diagnostic machinery, its lights flashing urgently, humming with an intensity that mirrored the chaos surrounding Lucian.
"Rowan!" Evelyn snapped, her voice sharp and focused as she set the machine beside Lucian's bed, her eyes darting to the monitors. "The system—it's pulling him back. I got a notification from the system—it's activating his timeline fracturing again. We don't have much time."
Rowan turned, his heart sinking as he saw the dread in Evelyn's eyes.
The diagnostic readouts flickered with warning signs, as if the very fabric of the rift had begun to warp Lucian's mind once again.
She barely acknowledged the chaos unfolding around her, instead focusing on the device.
Evelyn's hands moved quickly, adjusting the controls, calibrating the machine to read Lucian's mind, body, and the distortions taking place. Her voice remained steady, but there was a tremor beneath it. "The corruption bloom is escalating," she said, her eyes not leaving the screens. "Lucian's neural pathways are starting to collapse... We need to act now."
Rowan's throat tightened. "What can we do?"
Evelyn didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she turned to Ren, who had followed her in, his expression clouded with worry.
She pulled him closer, urgency flooding her movements. "Ren," she breathed. "We need you to use your time abilities. If we can stabilize his timeline for just a moment, give him a chance to hold on, we might be able to pull him back."
Ren's eyes met Rowan's, the weight of the situation clear in the sharpness of his gaze.
Ren had always been the most emotionally guarded of the team, but now his face was tight with concern. "I can try. But I'll need Lucian to be as still as possible."
Rowan, understanding the gravity of the request, gently but firmly placed his hands on Lucian's shoulders, holding him in place. He leaned down, speaking softly to Lucian, his voice trembling. "Lucian, stay with me. We're going to fix this, but I need you to hold on. Focus on my voice."
Lucian's eyes flickered, his breath shallow and erratic, but for a moment, there was a spark of recognition in his gaze. He gripped Rowan's hand, his lips parting in a silent plea for help.
Evelyn's breath hitched as she watched the diagnostic readings flash red. "Ren, now," she urged, her voice growing more frantic.
Ren stepped forward, his time-manipulating powers already flaring.
He raised his hand, spatial anomalies flickering in the air as he focused his energy on slowing the collapse of Lucian's fractured timeline.
Time seemed to freeze for a split second as Ren's power enveloped Lucian's body, stabilizing the chaos.
For a moment, everything held still—Lucian's body motionless, his breathing becoming less erratic.
The room felt suspended, like the world itself was holding its breath.
The system's interference seemed to slow, the invasive presence momentarily tempered by Ren's focused ability to freeze the timeline at the cusp of collapse.
Rowan held his breath, his heart thundering in his chest as he watched Lucian's vitals steady. They had a chance—but only for a moment.
Evelyn quickly checked the diagnostic machine, her eyes flickering between the readings. "It's working, but we need more time. If we can't restore his mind soon, the corruption will tear through him completely."
Rowan's grip tightened on Lucian's hand, a wave of guilt washing over him. "What's causing this? The corruption, the system—why is this happening to him?"
As Ren continued to manipulate the timeline around Lucian, Rowan stood beside him, his hands tightly gripping Lucian's hand, watching as the system's influence started to fight back against the time freeze.
The hum in the room grew louder, the pulses of energy reverberating off the walls, a steady reminder of how close they were to losing Lucian entirely.
Evelyn worked tirelessly at the diagnostic console, her fingers flying over the interface, her eyes darting between screens that glitched and flashed warnings.
Lucian's vitals were fluctuating rapidly again, the markers bouncing unpredictably, and every flicker of the readout sent a jolt of panic through Evelyn's chest.
She couldn't afford to waste any more time, and yet the system was still fighting, pulling Lucian back into the rift's fold.
As the moments stretched on, Evelyn's expression hardened.
The pieces had been there all along, buried beneath the layers of data and hidden in the lines of code that no one had noticed before.
She stopped typing, her fingers hovering over the console as her mind raced back through everything they had uncovered, every anomaly they had seen. She had seen the connection in Lucian's neurological scans, the way his brain seemed to be battling against something—a force—that had nothing to do with normal human cognition.
She turned, her eyes locking onto Lucian's still form, and her voice dropped to a murmur, barely audible as she pieced together the truth.
"The system... It's not just a structure. It's a fail-safe. A mechanism designed to control... to contain," Evelyn spoke quietly, her voice almost hoarse. "Lucian didn't create the system in this timeline, not directly. But the power he holds—the resonance that runs through his veins—it's always been linked to the system."
She glanced at Rowan, her gaze filled with pained understanding. "It's feeding off him, using him as a catalyst, yes—but also as a prisoner. Lucian's mind, his abilities... they've always been part of the system's foundation. Every timeline he's ever touched, every reality he's ever distorted, it's been feeding into this... thing."
Rowan's pulse quickened as he listened to her words, the realization hitting him hard. "You mean... this system? It's not just a tool? It's... it's alive?"
Evelyn nodded, the weight of her words sinking in. "Yes. In a way. The system has been designed to monitor, manipulate, and redirect Lucian's resonance across timelines. It's been subtly guiding his power, nudging him, keeping him in check. But now... now it's out of control. It's trying to reclaim him, to rewrite his memories, to pull him back into the cycle. He created it—somewhere, somehow—but it wasn't meant to evolve into this."
Rowan's grip on Lucian's hand tightened, his heart hammering in his chest. "And now it's using him... to sustain itself?"
"Exactly," Evelyn confirmed, her tone grim. "But the system isn't just manipulating Lucian anymore. It's started rewriting his mind, reshaping his thoughts and memories—falsifying timelines—to keep him in its grip. If we don't act fast, it could erase everything he's built... everything he is. It's not just a matter of the physical toll anymore."
The words hit Rowan like a punch to the gut.
This wasn't just about the fractures, about healing Lucian.
It was about a battle for Lucian's very identity—the essence of who he was, warped and twisted by something he had unknowingly created.
He turned back to Lucian, his voice barely a whisper, filled with desperate hope. "Lucian... you have to fight this. You're stronger than it. I know you are."
But even as he spoke, Lucian's face remained blank, distant—the light behind his eyes flickering in and out.
The system was winning, pulling him deeper into the fractured realities it had spun around him.
Rowan's heart clenched. This was it. The moment of truth.
Evelyn stepped forward, her voice steady now, filled with determination. "We'll have to fight fire with fire. We need to restore Lucian's resonance before the system completely overrides him. We can't let it take him back."
Ren's eyes widened, his focus flickering for a moment as he processed the information. "So this is what's been happening. The system was always a part of him, but it's been pulling at him, like a leash pulling tighter, every time he's gone through the rifts."
Evelyn nodded grimly. "Exactly. And now, it's trying to reclaim him fully, push him back into a fractured state where he can't escape. We need to stop it, but it's not going to be easy."
Rowan's heart clenched at the thought.
Lucian had been fighting this for so long, and now it seemed as though the very system he created was his greatest enemy.
For the first time, Rowan allowed himself to feel the weight of it all—the helplessness, the fear. He had spent so long trying to protect Lucian, to guide him, but now even his presence seemed like it wasn't enough.
The rift's grip on Lucian was relentless, its power spreading like a disease.
A quiet voice broke his thoughts.
"Rowan," Lucian rasped, barely above a whisper. His eyes were barely open, but the fragility in his voice made Rowan's heart ache. "Is it... too late? I can feel it—everything's slipping away."
Rowan squeezed his hand, his heart tearing in two. "No, Lucian. We're going to fix this. We'll fight this together. You're not alone."
Lucian's lips trembled, his fingers brushing Rowan's arm. "I'm so... tired."
Evelyn's voice softened, her hands working furiously at the console. "We don't have much time. Ren, we need a few more seconds—just enough to push him back."
Ren nodded, sweat beading on his forehead as he focused, his time abilities swirling around him like a vortex.
The air grew heavy with the intensity of his power, his aura crackling.
And for just a moment, Lucian's mind seemed to stabilize. But Rowan knew this was only the beginning.
They had a limited window, and if they didn't act fast, Lucian's mind might break beyond repair.
The tension in the room was suffocating.
The system's hum in the background was growing louder again, pulling at Lucian's mind, threatening to drag him away once more.
Rowan's heart raced as he braced for the next battle, knowing that if they couldn't overcome this, Lucian might be lost forever.