Morning came late—if it came at all.
The usual sunrise was gone, replaced by a smeared gradient of gold and gray that looked like someone had tried to repaint the sky and gave up halfway.
Brian stood at the HQ balcony, sipping cold coffee that tasted like anxiety.
Down below, the city looked normal enough… until you noticed the details. Cars glitched for a frame before continuing. Neon signs rewound their own animations. People walking down the street flickered for half a second—like someone had pressed rewind on reality itself.
"Holy moly," Brian muttered, rubbing his temple. "It's like the universe caught a virus."
Aurora joined him, balancing a plate of toast. "You think this is just us?"
He pointed toward a massive digital billboard across the street. It was supposed to be showing a fashion ad, but instead it displayed a single phrase:
> [TEMPORAL SYNC FAILURE. PLEASE STAND BY.]
A car alarm went off below. Then another. Then all of them.
Brian groaned. "So yeah, I'm thinking it's not just us."
---
By the time they reached the ground level, panic had already started spreading. Civilians were rushing through the plaza, shouting into glitching phones. A woman screamed as her reflection in a shop window didn't mimic her movements anymore—it turned its head slowly and winked.
Lyra was trying to calm people down, but her voice kept cutting in and out like a corrupted radio.
Selene crouched beside a frightened kid whose eyes glowed faint blue. "Temporal echo," she whispered. "He's phasing across timelines."
"Can you fix it?" Brian asked.
"Not yet." She pressed a hand to the child's forehead. "I can stabilize him for a bit."
The System chimed—louder now, distorted, almost like it was struggling to speak.
> [ECHO MERGE: 32%]
[UNAUTHORIZED SOURCE DETECTED]
[WARNING: CREATOR SIGNATURES MULTIPLE]
Brian squinted. "Multiple? As in… plural Creator? Yeah, that's not ominous at all."
Kira cursed under her breath. "Someone's hijacking the rewrite."
Aurora frowned. "So what—someone's trying to become the Creator?"
Brian gave her a sharp grin. "Well, if they are, they're about to get the ass-kicking of a lifetime."
---
They split up.
Brian and Selene headed toward the western district where the flickering was strongest. Aurora, Lyra, and Kira stayed behind to help the civilians.
Halfway through the streets, the world blinked again.
One second, it was the same city.
The next—it wasn't.
Glass skyscrapers became towers of black metal veined with violet light. The air reeked of ozone and burnt code. Floating drones zipped overhead, projecting symbols across the sky.
"Holy—shit, okay, nope, that's not normal!" Brian yelled, ducking as one drone scanned him with a blue beam.
Selene drew her blade, eyes narrowing. "Alternate Layer. A fractured future bleed."
People screamed around them as parts of buildings phased in and out of existence. Cars hovered for a heartbeat before crashing back onto the street.
Brian clenched his fists. "Alright, time to do something stupid."
He activated Shadow Step—his body dissolving into black mist before reappearing on top of a drone. He slammed his fist into it, sparks bursting out like fireworks.
> [SYSTEM BONUS: +1 ADAPTATION POINT]
"Oh, hell yeah!" he shouted. "Still got it!"
Selene rolled her eyes from below. "Less cheering, more stabilizing!"
Brian grinned down at her. "Multitasking, sweetheart!"
The drone exploded behind him, throwing him into a wall. He hit the ground with a groan. "Okay… maybe less multitasking."
---
In the chaos, a group of civilians huddled under a bridge. A middle-aged man shouted, "What's happening?! Are we under attack?"
Selene crouched next to him. "Not exactly. The world's... blending with others. Just stay behind this barrier."
Brian leaned against the wall, cracking his neck. "Think we're gonna need a bigger band-aid for this one."
Then the sky cracked.
No thunder, no flash—just a sound like glass breaking in space.
Everyone looked up.
Above them, through the widening rift, they saw another world. A desert world, with twin suns and hovering spires. Something huge was moving across it—a silhouette that looked vaguely human but made the clouds ripple.
The System flared again:
> [CONVERGENCE POINT IDENTIFIED]
[LOCATION: CENTRAL SPIRE]
[WARNING: CREATOR SIGNATURE—INBOUND]
Brian straightened, eyes hard. "Guess we just got our destination."
Selene met his gaze. "If the Creator's coming through, we might not survive this."
He smirked. "Then we'll make sure he remembers who the hell we are."
---
The wind screamed as reality twisted again. In the reflection of a shattered storefront, Brian saw dozens of versions of himself—each one in a different outfit, different world, different weapon—looking right back at him.
They all smiled the same way.
"Holy moly," he whispered. "Guess I've got competition."