There's a moment during forced jumps. Right after your body unravels and right before it reassembles...when you feel everything!
Every version of you.
Every possibility.
Every timeline where you lived, died, or never existed at all.
In those few seconds, I felt a thousand heartbeats that weren't mine.
Then everything snapped back into a single, painful heartbeat...my own...
as I slammed down onto hard stone.
I groaned, rolled over, and lay there staring up at a sky I didn't recognize.
It was purple.
Purple sky.
Red clouds.
Wind that hummed like vibrating metal.
"Okay," I muttered to myself. "Definitely not home."
The divergence generator smoked beside me, fried half to hell by V-0's forced overload. Its surface was hot enough to sting when I picked it up. A warning light blinked erratically:
STRUCTURAL FAILURE. REPAIR REQUIRED.
STABILIZATION: 12%
Twelve percent
meant this thing could barely hold me together during jumps now.
"Twelve percent isn't great," I told the device. "But I've survived worse."
The device responded by sparking violently.
"Not helping."
A distant roaring sound pulled my attention toward the horizon. At first I thought it was thunder.
It wasn't.
It was the world.
The skyline ahead of me – black, jagged towers...was collapsing inward in slow, terrifying waves. Like someone had pressed rewind on a building's entire existence.
I stepped back instinctively.
"No. No, no, no—this timeline's collapsing too?"
V-0's words slammed back into me:
"Your presence breaks timelines."
I shook my head, forcing myself to breathe.
"No. That's not me. That's you. You're doing this."
But even saying it didn't ease the fear twisting inside my ribs.
Not when destruction followed me.
Not when worlds flickered after I left them.
Not when Riven accused me of the same thing.
A grinding hum built behind me.
I turned sharply.
A tear in the air split open – jagged, like claws ripping fabric.
"Oh, come on – NOT AGAIN."
Two MSD drones shot out of the breach, scanning lights sweeping across the barren plains. Their metal wings whirred as they locked onto me.
TARGET CONFIRMED: AREN VALE
INITIATING PURSUIT.
I ran.
The ground trembled beneath each step, fissures cracking open as the timeline destabilized further.
The first drone fired a tether shot – an electrified cable meant to immobilize fugitives. It grazed my shoulder, sending pain shooting down my arm.
I ducked and rolled behind a massive outcropping of crystal-like rock. The drones circled above, scanners whining.
I clutched the damaged generator. "Come on. One more jump. Just one."
It buzzed at me like an annoyed insect.
The drones descended.
Closer.
Closer.
I slammed my hand onto the activation plate.
The generator sputtered.
Gave a pitiful beep.
Then flashed:
DESTINATION LOCK FAILURE.
DEFAULTING TO NEAREST STABLE BRANCH.
"Nearest stable branch? That sounds questionable!"
The drones opened fire.
I didn't have a choice.
The generator flared and reality ripped open again.
I reappeared in…
a forest?
Leaves rustled overhead, sunlight filtered through dense branches, and the air smelled warm and familiar.
Too familiar.
My stomach dropped.
This was home.
My timeline.
But not the lab.
Not the city.
This was the forest I used to sneak into as a kid.
A quiet place.
A safe place.
A memory.
No.
A warning prickled down my spine.
Something is wrong.
I took a step and the world flickered.
For a split second, the trees around me twisted into metal beams. The leaves turned to digital static. The sunlight dissolved into glitching white squares.
Then everything snapped back.
I staggered.
"What… what was that?"
My head throbbed painfully. A sharp, stabbing sensation behind my eyes. I pressed a hand to my temple as dizziness washed over me.
And for a moment, I wasn't standing in a forest.
I was standing in a white room.
A voice echoed.
"You were never meant to remember this."
V-0's voice.
But not speaking to me.
Speaking about me.
To someone else.
Someone who answered in my voice.
"Erase it."
The dizziness hit again , so violently my legs buckled.
"No," I gasped. "No, what was that? I've never...I've never been..."
But the headache intensified, blurring the edges of my vision.
Something was wrong with me.
Something V-0 did.
Or something I forgot.
The forest flickered again, breaking into shards of broken timelines.
I forced myself to breathe.
"Focus, Aren. You need to..."
A rustle sounded behind me.
I spun.
An MSD enforcer stepped out from between two trees
...but not Riven.
A younger agent.
Armor unscarred.
Eyes fierce.
"Aren Vale," he said, voice steady. "You're under arrest."
I tensed, backing away.
"I am so tired of hearing that sentence."
He raised his weapon.
But didn't fire.
Instead he said, "I'm not here to kill you."
Unexpected.
"I'm here because Agent Riven sent me."
My breath froze.
Riven.
Alive.
Still chasing.
Still fighting.
"What did she say?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper.
The young agent lowered his weapon slightly.
"She said to tell you this exact message:
'I saw it. You're not him.'"
A wave of relief hit me – strong and dizzying.
Riven saw the truth.
She saw V-0.
She believed me.
But the agent wasn't finished.
"She also said…" His expression shifted –confusion crossing his face. "She said you need to stop running and start remembering."
I felt cold all over.
Remembering.
The word echoed through me.
And with it...
a flash.
A room.
A machine.
Lyra's voice crying out my name.
My own voice screaming, "Shut it down!"
Then darkness.
I staggered, grabbing a tree trunk for balance.
The agent stepped forward. "Are you okay?"
"No," I breathed honestly. "Noteven close."
And before he could respond...
The generator in my hand began to glow violently.
Stabilization dropped:
12% → 9% → 7%
The agent's eyes widened. "What is that? Is it going to explode?"
I didn't answer.
Because behind him...
between two trees...
a faint shimmering outline appeared.
A silhouette.
Watching me.
V-0.
Always ahead.
Always waiting.
Always pushing me down a path I didn't understand.
I gritted my teeth and lifted the generator.
"Not today."
I triggered the jump...
leaving the agent shouting behind me
and V-0 fading into white light.
As the world tore open again.