Kael woke up screaming.
Not in his room. Not in a hospital. Not anywhere real.
He was on a rooftop that didn't exist. Floating above a city made of mirrors.
And his chest was bleeding ink.
He looked down. The red notebook was open on its own beside him. But this time, every page was filled—with names. Thousands of names.
All crossed out. Except one.
> "Kael."
He picked up the notebook with shaking hands.
"Where am I?!" he shouted.
The wind answered with whispers.
> "We're sorry. We had to forget you."
The sky above shattered like glass, and behind it: eyes. Not human. Not kind. Watching him through layers of forgotten dreams.
Aria appeared beside him, but she looked... older. Weaker. Her voice echoed like a glitch.
"You were never meant to remember. The more you remember, the more they feed."
Kael grabbed her.
"What are they?! What am I?!"
Her hand touched his chest—where the ink bled from his heart.
"You were real. Once. Before the erasure. Before they turned you into a story for their amusement."
The notebook pulsed. The city of mirrors trembled.
Kael looked at his reflection in the glass below. He wasn't human anymore.
Something in his eyes was... missing. Like someone had reached inside his soul and edited it.
He turned to Aria.
"Tell me how to kill them."
Her lips quivered.
"You can't kill what writes reality, Kael. But you can glitch it. You can corrupt their script."
He smiled. The first real smile.
And the world began to fracture again.