Location: Nexus Tower – Sub-Level Omega
Time: 8:01 AM
The lift screeched to a halt far below ground level. Kaen stepped into a corridor he had buried under thousands of simulations—a place even he had sealed shut until now.
Steel walls pulsed faintly with electric veins. He wasn't walking into a room.
He was walking into his own memory... the one he had locked away after Loop #57,920.
And standing at the far end, waiting in perfect stillness, was him.
His own face. His own voice.
Only colder.
> "Kaen Arden," the duplicate said, a slight smile on his face, "I suppose it was only a matter of time."
Kaen didn't flinch. "I didn't create you to become this. You were meant to protect the timeline, not rewrite it."
Mirror Kaen tilted his head.
> "And yet... you've rewritten it 99,999 times. I simply followed your example."
