This isn't the end of the world. It's the beginning of another.
---
1:00 P.M.
Geneva — Recovered Hollow Archive
Naomi moves through a charred server vault seized during a raid in Malta.
Technicians have barely managed to crack a fragment of Hollow's master logs.
Inside?
One project.
Heavily encrypted.
Buried under thousands of false trails.
Project Name:
> "Rebirth Protocol: The Transmigration Ritual"
> "He's not building a kingdom," Naomi breathes.
"He's building an exit."
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1:14 P.M.
File #010M-Threshold_Readme.txt
Discovered logs confirm:
Ten million deaths across specific emotional conditions (fear, agony, despair) act as ritual fuel.
The god-entity (Silas) must sacrifice himself at the ritual's end.
Upon completion, reality tears, and the soul—the primed vessel—is reborn into a different world.
Not reincarnated at random.
Not symbolic.
But literal transmigration to a world of magic, infinite growth, no gods but the self.
A perfect reset.
> "He doesn't want to die here," Naomi mutters, "he wants to be born again."
---
2:00 P.M.
Rome — The Sermon's Aftermath
Silas walks among the faithful.
Some reach out to touch him.
Others offer their own throats.
He stops at a young girl—
eyes wide, trembling—
and whispers something into her ear.
She smiles… and steps off the balcony without a sound.
> "Each death brings me closer," he says to his Choir.
> "Each scream sharpens my next life."
---
2:30 P.M.
Global Activation Begins
Simultaneously, 12 Choir chapters begin their final rites.
London: Hundreds walk into fire.
Cairo: Bridges collapse, detonated by zealots.
Mumbai: Metro poisoning—5,000 infected.
Santiago, Seoul, Cape Town—each follows.
Total confirmed deaths: 9,844,918
The counter ticks.
> "He's almost done," Naomi says through clenched teeth.
"He just needs the final number. And his own death."
---
2:45 P.M.
Naomi Calls a Global Broadcast
Her face appears across every channel that still listens.
> "This isn't about faith anymore.
This isn't about gods or punishment."
> "He is using your deaths—your children's deaths—your cities—as a ticket."
> "He plans to slaughter ten million, then kill himself, and transcend this reality."
> "Do not follow him.
Stop him.
If not for this world… then to protect the next."
---
3:00 P.M.
Silas Watches the Broadcast
He sits calmly in a cathedral of bone.
Choir leaders kneel behind him.
One speaks.
> "She knows."
Silas grins.
> "Then she knows this world has already lost."
He looks to the sky.
> "Ten million candles snuffed out…
and I will light a new sun."
He opens a golden book.
Inside is a ritual diagram, drawn in his own blood.
> "They called me Hollow here."
"Let's see what they call me next."
---
Final Scene
Naomi stands on a rooftop, wind howling around her.
Her comms officer steps forward.
> "The death toll just passed 9.9 million.
And he's disappeared."
She stares out over a burning skyline.
> "He's going to kill himself."
A beat.
> "And he's going to be born again."
---
Final Line:
> "He wasn't ending the world," Naomi whispers,
"he was outgrowing it."
---