The city was still fuc..ng cracking when Brian and Selene reached the edge of the plaza.
The sky wasn't sky anymore — just a torn fabric of color and lightning, and in the middle of it, that impossible thing:
a spire stabbing upward from the ground, made of glass, metal, and… memory. Every surface shimmered with flashes of other worlds.
"Fuck" Brian whispered. "That's one hell of a skyscraper."
Selene tightened her grip on her blade. "That's not architecture. It's a wound."
Around them, chaos churned.
Civilians ran for cover while flickering soldiers in different uniforms appeared and vanished — echoes of wars that hadn't happened yet.
Aurora's voice crackled through comms. "We've got multiple energy signatures converging on your position. The Spire's pulling everything toward it like gravity."
"Great," Brian muttered. "Reality's magnet now comes with bonus explosions."
He vaulted a cracked car hood, pulling a trembling man to his feet. "Get somewhere safe!"
The man nodded, eyes wide, then blinked — and vanished mid-stride.
"Shit," Brian hissed. "We're losing people to the merge."
> [ECHO MERGE: 57 %]
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
The text burned across his HUD before the System's voice warped:
> [Bri a…n… st—stay a…way fro—m th—e…]
Then static.
Selene glanced at him. "System's dying?"
"Or getting possessed," he said. "Neither's great."
---
They reached the Spire's base. The ground around it pulsed with white-blue light, each heartbeat louder than thunder.
Lyra, Kira, and Aurora joined them, exhausted but alive. Aurora's hair sparked with energy from overusing her plasma guns; Kira's blades dripped static.
"Status?" Selene asked.
Lyra panted. "Half the district's gone. People blink in and out. I saw my own double—she screamed something about don't let him in."
Brian frowned. "Him who?"
No one answered.
> [INCOMING SIGNATURE: CREATOR—PHASE 01]
A rumble shook the air.
The Spire's surface rippled, forming a massive doorway of light.
Out of it stepped a figure — tall, lean, wrapped in a dark coat that fluttered like smoke. His eyes glowed silver. His face was… Brian's.
Just older. Sharper. Tired.
The team froze.
Selene whispered, "Is that—"
"Don't say it," Brian said, voice tight. "Don't you say it."
The other man smiled faintly. "I already know what you're thinking, because I thought it first."
"Holy shit," Brian muttered. "Okay. Either I'm having a breakdown or you're the world's worst identity thief."
The double chuckled. "I'm what you become if the System finishes rewriting itself. The Creator doesn't build us — he recycles us."
Selene stepped forward. "You're lying."
He looked at her with weary amusement. "Then why do you remember dying? All of you."
Lyra flinched. Kira's knuckles went white. Aurora whispered, "How does he—"
"Because you've done this before," the double said. "Hundreds of resets. Each time, you think you're fixing reality. Each time, you're the glitch keeping it from stabilizing."
Brian's heart slammed against his ribs. "You're saying we're the reason everything's falling apart?"
"I'm saying you're the loop," the double said softly. "And the loop needs to end here and now."
He raised his hand. The Spire's walls glowed — and Brian felt his System convulse.
> [FORCED SYNC INITIATED]
Pain lanced through him, sharp as lightning. He dropped to one knee. "Shit—what the fuc..ng hell are you doing?!"
"Taking you home," the double said. "To the beginning."
Selene slashed her blade across the field, breaking the sync beam. Sparks showered them both.
"Over my dead body!" she shouted.
Brian staggered up, eyes blazing. "That makes two of us."
He activated Shadow Step, appearing behind his double, landing a solid punch that sent the man skidding backward through the light.
But when the double looked up, his grin was identical.
"You hit hard," he said. "So did I."
---
The Spire's pulse intensified, throwing shockwaves across the plaza. Whole buildings began to levitate, spinning like debris in a hurricane.
Aurora fired a plasma burst to anchor them; Lyra erected a barrier; Kira cut through falling debris in a blur of silver.
"Brian!" Selene yelled over the roar. "If he's you, he knows your moves—"
"Then I'll improvise!"
He dashed forward again. The world slowed, colors smearing. For a heartbeat, every version of him in every mirror fought alongside him — hundreds of Brians charging one impossible enemy.
The double caught his fist, their eyes locking.
"Still trying to be the hero," the double said.
"Damn right," Brian growled. "Somebody's gotta break the loop."
They collided in a burst of light.
---
When the dust settled, half the plaza was gone. The Spire's glow dimmed but didn't die.
Selene knelt beside Brian, who lay half-conscious, blood at the corner of his mouth.
He forced a grin. "Holy shit… did we win?"
"Not yet," she whispered. "He's still up there."
Brian's eyes fluttered open. "Then we're not done."
Above them, the double stood at the Spire's midpoint, arms raised, voice echoing through every reality:
> "Let the merge begin."
The sky cracked again.