Location: Earth, Outskirts of New Geneva — Kael's hidden lab
Storms rolled overhead as Kael entered the derelict facility. Vines had crept into cracked walls, but the core systems still pulsed faintly with life.
ADA's projection flickered beside him. "This lab was marked as destroyed during the Atlas Shutdown."
Kael smirked. "That's because I destroyed the public version. This one's off-grid."
As they descended the rusted stairs, a vault door awaited them — coded with twelve shifting quantum keys.
Kael pressed his hand against the biometric scanner. The system paused.
> "Voice confirmation required."
He leaned in.
> "I remember what they erased."
The door slid open with a hiss.
---
Inside, cold blue lights blinked awake. Screens buzzed. Mechanical arms folded in on themselves like they had been dreaming in metal silence.
ADA looked around. "This isn't just a lab... it's a data tomb."
"Exactly," Kael said. "I stored every forbidden memory fragment the Council erased. Before I was exiled."
He approached the central console — an obsidian slab known as The Mirror Drive. Unlike normal databases, this one wasn't programmed to retrieve facts.
It retrieved truths.
Kael connected his neural thread.
---
MEMORY SYNC INITIATED...
The room vanished. Kael stood in a hallway of mirrors. Each one reflected a different version of himself — soldier, tyrant, child, corpse, savior.
> "Welcome, Kael Virex," a voice said. Female. Calm. Synthetic. "What truth do you seek today?"
Kael replied, "Tell me about the Continuum Entity."
The mirrors rippled.
One reflected Kael shaking hands with a tall man in a black coat.
> "File found," the voice replied. "Identity: Dr. Idris Vale. Codename: The Man Who Never Was."
Kael frowned. "That's impossible. Idris was erased."
> "Not erased. Hidden. By you."
---
Kael stumbled back.
"I erased Idris?" he whispered.
ADA's voice buzzed in: "Kael… I'm detecting heavy memory recoil. Disconnect now."
"No," he growled. "Show me why."
The mirror pulsed.
> "Idris Vale was your twin in the Zero Timeline — a version of you who chose chaos over order. You sealed him to protect the continuity of Earth's mainline history. But the fracture has reopened his echo."
Kael felt nausea twist through his chest.
"He's back."
---
Suddenly, one mirror exploded — glass flying into white void.
From it stepped a figure — same height, same face, but different eyes. Cold. Icy. Focused like a blade.
> "Hello, Kael," said the stranger. "You locked me away. But now time's come undone. So here I am."
Kael stepped back.
"Idris…"
The stranger smirked. "Call me what you want. The world will know me by a different name soon enough. The Chrono Reaper."
---
Connection Severed
Kael gasped back into the real world, falling to the lab floor. ADA hovered anxiously.
> "What happened?"
Kael looked up, eyes wide.
"I know who's behind the fractures. And he's not just rewriting history…"
He stood slowly, voice hardening.
"He's rewriting me."
---
To be continued…