BEEP… BEEP… BEEP…
The alarm kept screaming through the Refractor Chamber, loud enough to shake the metallic plates of the floor beneath us. Sparks rained from the overhead cables like artificial lightning in a dying sky.
I stared at the console as the text continued to pulse on-screen, taunting me.
:: USER DETECTED: [PRIMARY ARCHITECT]:: WELCOME BACK, KAITO.
Elira's voice cracked the silence. "Explain. Now."
"I don't know," I whispered. "I didn't… I didn't build this."
Rhys tapped rapidly on his interface slate, sweat beading at his brow. "The logs say otherwise. Architect profile, biometric ID, neural imprint—everything points to you."
"That can't be. I was just a student—"
Rhys's fingers stopped mid-air. "Kaito… What if the you we know… isn't the first you?"
The idea lodged itself in my brain like a shard of broken memory. It hurt to even imagine.
But deep down, something clicked.
Th-thump… th-thump…
My heart started racing—not out of fear, but recognition. My Voidbrand flared faintly on my left hand, reacting to the swirling glyphs now floating above the Refractor.
A memory—not mine—surfaced:
A lab.
A girl's laughter.
Me—or someone who wore my face—standing over a console like this, smiling.
"If everything breaks, the Refractor will know who we are.""No matter the timeline."
"I think…" I began, breath shaky, "I think the original version of me created this system."
Elira's eyes widened. "Like… an alternate Kaito?"
"Or a past one," Rhys added grimly. "Maybe a version from before Riftfall."
BZZZZZZZTTTT!
The console flashed again.
:: RESTORATION LOCK INITIATED:: ARCHITECT CONFIRMATION REQUIRED:: CONFIRM INTENTION TO PROCEED WITH UNDOING TIMELINE-42
I froze.
Timeline-42.
Our world.
Everything and everyone in it.
Aya…
Elira…
Rhys.
"I—I can't," I stammered, backing away. "If I say yes, we all disappear."
"But if you say no," Rhys said quietly, "our world dies anyway. Slowly. Broken."
Suddenly—
BOOOOM!
The chamber wall to our left exploded inward in a shockwave of heat and pressure. A massive figure strode through the cloud of dust, surrounded by black flame and arcane circuitry woven like veins across its body.
Elira shouted, "DOWN!"
CRASH!
She shielded me just in time as molten debris flew past.
Rhys pulled a pulse cannon from his belt and fired—FWOOOSH!—but the beam dissipated against a shimmering energy field surrounding the figure.
Its voice was unmistakable—male, calm, with a terrifying edge of intimacy.
"I knew it would come to this, Kaito."
My blood froze.
Because it was my voice.
The figure stepped forward.
He looked like me.
Exactly like me.
Same height.
Same face.
Same Voidbrand.
But his eyes were darker. Not in color—his irises were still a soft brown—but in weight. His gaze carried lifetimes of decisions I had never made… but somehow remembered.
"Who—" I began.
"I'm you," he said simply. "The one who finished what you started."
Elira raised her blade. "Bullshit."
He ignored her and turned back to me.
"You designed the Refractor," he continued. "You created the Warden Order. You set the safeguards. You tried to fix everything… and then you erased your memories."
My knees gave way slightly.
"No…"
"Yes," he said. "You chose to forget, because you couldn't bear the outcome. Aya's death. The collapse. The impossible choices you made. So you looped yourself into a backup version."
He stepped closer.
"You're the echo. I'm the source."
BOOM… BOOM… The Refractor's core throbbed like a heartbeat, pulses of light flickering faster as its systems synced with his presence.
He reached the console and laid a hand on it.
:: PRIMARY ARCHITECT VERIFIED:: REWRITING PERMISSION UNLOCKED
Rhys shouted, "Stop him! He'll erase us!"
"No," the other me said. "I'll merge the timelines. You'll become part of something better."
I shouted, "That's not your choice anymore!"
"It was always mine," he said, eyes narrowing.
FWWOOOOOOM!
A wave of energy surged outward from the core, knocking all of us off our feet. It didn't burn. It didn't sting. It felt like… being pulled apart.
I could feel memories shifting.
Changing.
The color of Elira's eyes. The day I met Rhys. My mother's name.
"No—no no NO!" I screamed.
I surged forward, tackling him away from the console.
We tumbled to the floor, fists flying.
His grip was iron. His blows were precise.
But I fought with something else—desperation.
"You think this makes you a god?" I shouted, kneeing him in the gut.
"I think it makes me responsible," he growled, slamming his forehead into mine.
CRACK!
Blood poured down my face, but I didn't stop.
I couldn't.
"If you erase us," I gasped, "you're no better than the things that broke the world."
He paused.
Just for a second.
And that's all I needed.
Elira hurled her spear.
WHUMP!
It impaled his shoulder, pinning him to a control pillar.
"GAAAHHHH!" he roared, the pain real—even for someone who'd forgotten what being human felt like.
Rhys screamed, "Shut down the core! NOW!"
I sprinted to the console, ignoring the sparks, ignoring the blood in my mouth.
:: ADMIN OVERRIDE REQUIRED
:: INSERT CORE-KEY SIGNATURE
My Voidbrand pulsed.
I placed my hand on the panel.
And whispered, "No more gods. No more architects."
THOOOOOOM!
A cascade of white-blue light erupted from the console, freezing time and space for a split second.
:: MERGE ABORTED:: THREAD STABILIZED:: USER 'KAITO.ECHO.42' REGISTERED AS PRIMARY ENTITY
Silence.
Real silence.
The air was still.
No alarms.
No hum.
No chaos.
Just us… breathing.
Elira collapsed beside me, coughing hard. Rhys sat down against the wall, gasping.
The other Kaito was gone.
Not dead.
Just… absorbed.
His memories flickered briefly through mine—glimpses of alternate lives.
A wedding.
A funeral.
A child.
Then they faded.
Elira grabbed my wrist. "You okay?"
"I don't know," I said honestly.
Rhys grinned weakly. "You just rejected a god version of yourself. That has to count for something."
I nodded slowly, still trembling.
But I felt lighter.
More… whole.
As if I'd just reclaimed a part of myself I never knew was missing.
The console dimmed.
The Refractor's lights faded into dormancy.
And for the first time since this nightmare began—
I felt peace.
But far above, in the sky that was no longer broken but still bruised—
A new rift opened.
And from it, something massive began to descend.
Wings of obsidian.
Eyes of fire.
And a voice older than time whispered—
"One thread corrected. A thousand still tangled."