Elena looked from her window as the violet rift in the sky expanded, bringing back memories of thousands of deaths. Not anymore. Not this time.
Her smartphone buzzed one more time with the ominous message: "The day after today never comes." But the days of the past repeat themselves."
The ground lurched abruptly, hurling her into the wall. Luna yowled and raced inside the bedroom as photo frames smashed all around them. Elena scrambled to her toes, muscle memory from previous loops directing her movements.
"Sofia," she said quietly, grabbing her emergency pack, the only one she'd started keeping after the third reset. Her friend might be going to the subway station all the time. As it has been every time before.
The road outside had become chaotic. Automobile alarms sounded when cars collided. A fire hydrant exploded, sending water skyward. People screamed and went for walks down each path as another tremor shook the floor. As electric fires erupted throughout the cityscape, the bitter fragrance of smoke permeated the atmosphere.
Elena dashed toward downtown, avoiding falling particles. The grey-eyed man's words rang in her mind: "I'm sorry we failed once more." Who became he? Why did he realize? Her heart raced between her ribs as she followed the familiar path of ruin, engraved into her soul by countless deaths.
Her phone lighted up with Sofia's name. "Elena! Which one are you? The office building - it is-" The telephone went dead as a tremendous crack sliced through the air. Elena looked up and saw the Taylor Building, their workplace, swaying alarmingly. Her coronary heart hammered. No longer this moment. She would not allow Sofia to die. Not once again.
The floor trembled beneath her toes as she fled. Cracks spider-webbed across the pavement, steam hissing from below. The air became thicker, charged with something beyond strength. This is where she spotted the primary portal.
It formed in the center of Pioneer Square, a spinning vortex of darkness that appeared to eat light itself. Elena had seen it before, in each loop, but it still made her blood run cold. She knew what came next.
A clawed hand erupted from the void, visible through something that shouldn't exist. The thing unfurled itself, all angles and shadows, with too many eyes and teeth that glistened like broken glass. Human shouts reached fever pitch.
An elderly guy stumbled in front of Elena, his cane clattering on the ground. She assisted him up, realizing that these precious seconds could cost Sofia her life. She couldn't ignore him any longer, especially after seeing his broken body in loop seventeen as she ran past.
"Get to the library basement," she instructed him, recalling how it became one of the few homes that survived the original quake. "live there until the military arrives."
"ELENA!"
Sofia's words faded amid the tumult. She stood in the doorway of their office building, gesturing madly. Elena's heart raced as she realized she was ahead of schedule this time. Maybe she'd like to swap it.
"RUN!" Elena cried, racing toward her friend. "The building's going to-"
A legitimate sound like the universe splitting in half drowned out her words. The Taylor Building's base broke way, concrete and steel groaning as the structure began to disintegrate.
Elena reached Sofia and grabbed her arm. "This way!" She drew her toward the alley she'd discovered in loop twenty-three - the safe way, the only option that may work. Their footsteps bounced off the thin walls as they hurried, and the sounds of destruction became louder behind them.
A woman cradling a young baby looked toward the other end of the lane. Elena's blood ran bloodless; they hadn't been here in previous loops. The girl's presence implied that something had changed, or been adjusted. The butterfly effect of her rescuing the ancient man?
"comply with us!" Elena shouted at them. The lady nodded, dread in her eyes, tightening her grip on her infant.
They ran as death rained down from above. Elena's muscle mass burned with reminiscence: how often had she failed? How often had she witnessed Sofia die? The weight of each failure slammed against her chest, threatening to sink her clear up.
The thing from the gateway roared behind them, shaking loose further rubble. Elena took a look back and noticed it moving forward, leaving crystallized tracks in its wake. Other portals have begun to emerge, spreading throughout the metropolis like dark sores.
"What are those matters?" Sofia gasped as they rushed. "Elena, what's taking place?"
"I will explain later," Elena assured, knowing she would never grasp the threat. The loop could reset before
The ground buckled beneath them. Sofia stumbled and Elena's hold slipped. As she saw her companion fall, time seemed to move slowly, as it had before. Similar to continuously.
"No!" Elena rushed forward, but every other quake knocked her off balance. She gazed in terror as a big chunk of concrete fell towards them.
The female holding the infant yelled. Elena spotted them squeezed against the alley wall, the mother covering her kid with her body. This turned out to be wrong. They shouldn't be right here. This was not how it happened before.
In that frozen second, she noticed him again: the grey-eyed guy, impossibly calm in the midst of chaos. He reached out, as if to warn her of something. His lips moved, forming phrases that she couldn't focus on due to the destruction.
Then she noticed his eyes were not on her, but on something behind her. Elena became and her blood turned cold.
It wasn't the falling particles that could have killed them this time. It was not even the first monster to emerge from the portal. It became the second creature, the only one she had never seen in any previous loop, emerging from an unexpected portal.
This beast was exceptional; it moved like a liquid shadow, but its edges gleamed like polished obsidian. Six golden eyes stared at Elena with terrifying intelligence. It knew her. It recognized her, albeit inexplicably.
As death rushed towards them, Elena had a terrifying realization: this was no longer the same loop. Something essential had changed. The butterfly effect of saving the antique guy had ripped the timeline apart.
the world went black but this time, whilst Elena opened her eyes, she wasn't in her mattress
.
the grey-eyed guy stood over her, his countenance gloomy. "You eventually changed some thing," he said. "Now the whole lot adjustments."
In the back of him, thru a damaged window, Elena saw the sky. in which there have been one violet crack, there had been now many, spreading like a shattered duplicate.
And through each fissure, something become watching.