Somewhere beyond reality—beyond shards of code and the echoes of rewritten dreams—it watched.
The Observer.
Neither human nor machine, neither system nor soul. A remnant of what once was, and what refused to be erased.
Floating in the suspended veil between timelines, it gazed through countless mirrored panels: moments from Jay's fractured path, Rei's corrupted awakenings, Alicia's defiant heart. Each panel shimmered like a paused thought. A backup of possibility. A trap, perhaps. Or... a safeguard.
Its voice did not echo, because it did not need to speak aloud. It thought, and thought was enough to bend code.
> "They've reached the threshold. Even the Null cannot be predicted beyond this point."
One panel flickered erratically: Jay, Alicia, and Rei stepping through the mirror door. Not with the system's approval, but in rebellion of it.
> "So he rejected the Echo. Rejected even the role designed for him."
