Kael didn't wake up.
He just… opened his eyes.
And the world had changed again.
The hospital was gone. The blood. The mirror. Even the pulse in his chest.
Now, he sat at a dining table in a house he had never seen.
His fingers wrapped around a spoon.
Soup.
"Eat. Before they see you not pretending."
It was her voice—but she wasn't there.
Around the table sat people with no faces.
Mouths in the wrong places. Blank skin where eyes should be. Their movements looped, like corrupted video—one laughed every three seconds. Another blinked thirty times per minute. All… perfectly timed.
He tried to stand.
They all turned at once.
And the room reset.
Same soup. Same loop. Same words.
"Eat. Before they see you not pretending."
His heart pounded. His body didn't move.
Then—
The door creaked.
And they entered.
Tall. Thin. Suits too clean. Eyes like blank TV screens.
The Reset Men.
Their steps were silent.
As if they weren't walking on the floor—but on something deeper.
One of them pointed at Kael.
> "Subject 714 is experiencing inconsistency."
Another spoke, monotone.
> "Should we erase him?"
Kael screamed.
And the world folded. Again.
He found himself in a bathroom, drenched in water. His clothes soaked. His hand bleeding.
The mirror?
Cracked. But not broken.
In the reflection—he wasn't there.
Just her. Behind him.
Whispering something.
He turned.
No one.
But carved into the mirror, shaking with static:
> "Kael, they're watching your mind. Not your body."
And just like that—
he forgot where he was again.
---