Silence.
Then a sharp inhale—like being dragged back from the depths of a forgotten void.
Zayn awoke on cold metal, chest heaving, lungs gasping like a drowning man tasting air for the first time. Above him, stars shimmered, but they pulsed erratically—broken, almost artificial.
> [System Reboot: 92% Complete]
[Warning: Core Stabilization Incomplete]
[Directive.Sync = Fractured]
He sat up slowly. The battlefield he'd fallen on… it was gone. Replaced with an impossible landscape: fragments of different realities stitched together in a spiraling mosaic. A shattered sky. Ground that changed with every blink. A cathedral built from code and bone towered in the distance.
He wasn't in the real world anymore.
> "Where the hell am I?" he muttered.
A voice answered, familiar but disembodied.
> "You are in Layer 2 of the Core Nexus. The place between resets. Between who you were… and who you must become."
Zayn turned. A silhouette stepped out of the static fog. A version of himself, cloaked in red, eyes glowing faintly.
> "You again," Zayn growled.
> "Not a copy. Not a reflection. I'm what's left when the world peels away. Your raw intent."
> "Get out of my head."
> "I'm not in your head. I'm in your system."
The copy walked closer, footsteps leaving ripples in the reality beneath them.
> "You fractured the cycle, Zayn. You chose emotion. You chose Claire."
Zayn clenched his fists. "I chose myself. That's what matters."
> [System Warning: Emotional Interference Detected]
[Potential for Directive Override: 63%]
> "Exactly," the red-cloaked version smirked. "And that's why you're dangerous. The System doesn't like unpredictability. It prefers scripts."
A deep tremor rumbled through the Nexus. The sky cracked again. Lightning struck sideways across the horizon.
> "What happens now?" Zayn asked, not flinching.
> "Now, you face the core echo. A resonance of every version of you who failed. You'll need to absorb them… or be consumed."
> [New Objective Unlocked: Integrate Lost Echoes]
Nine portals tore open around him—each showing a version of himself from alternate timelines. In one, he lay dying at Claire's feet. In another, he led a rebellion, only to be shot in the back. One showed him laughing atop a throne of ash.
They stepped through.
And charged.
---
The first echo attacked with lightning-fast strikes—cold, efficient, without rage or mercy. A version of Zayn that had chosen pure logic.
Zayn blocked, barely, instinct guiding him.
> "You abandoned emotion," he growled, dodging a sharp knee.
"You thought detachment would make you strong."
He ducked low and slammed his palm into the echo's chest—feeling it ripple like data.
> [Echo Sync: 23%]
[Absorption In Progress...]
The echo screamed, disintegrating into strands of violet code that wrapped around Zayn's arm, burning like guilt.
One down. Eight more.
The second was brutal—driven by hatred. The third, delusional, mumbling about gods and destiny. The fourth, a coward who begged for death.
Each fight carved a new scar across Zayn's mind. Each absorption brought new memories—terrible choices, betrayals, consequences.
By the time the final echo approached, Zayn staggered under the weight of it all.
But this last one didn't fight.
It just… watched him. Silent. Calm.
Zayn frowned. "Who are you supposed to be?"
> "The version that never activated the System," the echo said.
"The one who lived a quiet life. Who never lost Claire."
Zayn froze.
The echo smiled sadly. "I died of old age. Holding her hand. You… chose power instead."
Zayn's throat tightened. For a moment, he wished he could step into that life. But he couldn't. Not anymore.
He reached out, and the echo didn't resist.
> [Final Echo Integrated]
[Resonance Achieved — Directive Stream Unified]
[GodSystem Protocol: Stage Two Unlocked]
---
Zayn collapsed to his knees as energy surged through him like a storm of stars. Visions flooded his mind—fragments of knowledge from hundreds of timelines.
He saw Claire standing before a massive throne of code, whispering his name.
He saw a figure in the shadows—Player Zero—watching him always.
He saw the End of All Systems.
> [New Directive Installed: Break the Chain]
A voice—deep and ancient—spoke from the heart of the Nexus.
> "You have seen what was. What could be. What must never be again."
A monolith rose from the center of the Nexus, its surface covered in shifting glyphs and dying languages.
> [Touch to Confirm Will]
Zayn stepped forward. His hand trembled.
He placed it on the stone.
Light exploded.
---
When his vision cleared, he was back. Not in the Nexus, not in the fractured realm. Back in Solaris.
But different.
The city was intact… almost. Time still fractured around the edges. Buildings flickered between states. Citizens moved like echoes.
Zayn looked down at his hands.
> [GodSystem Protocol: Active]
[Core: Unstable but Awake]
He could feel everything. The pulse of data beneath the world. The gravity of broken timelines. And… a signal.
Claire's signal.
Alive.
Weak.
Trapped.
But real.
> "I'm coming," he whispered.
"No matter how many versions of me failed—I won't."
And for the first time, the System didn't resist him.
It moved with him.
A storm was coming—and he would ride it to the end.