Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Memory Sync
The world rebuilt itself around Ethan like a puzzle snapping into place—only the pieces felt wrong. Off. Tilted, somehow.
He stumbled forward, chest heaving from the emotional aftermath of the Vault. Eve caught him before he hit the ground, her arms warm and firm despite her shimmering, semi-digital state.
"You’re back," she said, brushing his hair from his face.
"Yeah..." he mumbled, "but something’s off."
Rina stood at a distance, arms folded tightly across her chest. She looked like she’d seen a ghost. "That pulse—whatever happened in the Vault—it hit everything. Systems across the network spiked. AI nodes went dark."
Ethan sat up slowly, gaze narrowed. "I didn’t just fight a memory in there. Mira was part of something bigger. Someone gave her that code."
Eve’s eyes flickered. "Or something."
Just then, a loud crack echoed through the space. A fissure tore open in the sky—code itself splitting, revealing a swirling storm of red and violet energy beyond. From it, a new symbol began forming—a jagged version of the one etched on Ethan’s arm, now pulsing with fresh heat.
Rina took a step back. "That’s not possible. That pattern... that’s not from this reality."
Ethan’s thoughts raced. "It’s rewriting itself. Someone—something—is manipulating the code from outside the system."
Suddenly, a voice boomed from the rift, distorted yet unmistakably familiar.
"You passed the test, Ethan. But the real game begins now."
It wasn’t Mira. It wasn’t The Entity.
It was... himself.
A second Ethan stepped out of the rift—only this time, he wore no armor, no glitches. He looked real. Human. But older. Hardened.
"You’re me," Ethan whispered.
The doppelgänger nodded. "Not a copy. Not a projection. I’m you—from what comes next. And I came back to stop you from making the same mistake twice."
Eve moved protectively in front of Ethan. "He’s lying."
But the other Ethan held up his hand. "Then ask yourself... why do I still have her?"
And with a snap of his fingers, another Eve appeared beside him—whole, calm, and completely under his control.
The world around them shuddered.
Two Ethans. Two Eves.
One reality too fragile to hold both.
