My eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, everything was chaos—a blinding kaleidoscope of colors. I blinked hard, focusing, and the world came into view. Above me, a massive holographic billboard loomed, advertising a glowing blue drink with the slogan: "Life in a Bottle—Drink Eternity." The neon lights around me seemed endless, their artificial glow outshining even the faintest memory of stars. Skyscrapers towered above, their facades alive with pulsing advertisements and streaks of glowing electric ivy, like veins of light crawling upward into infinity.
The air was thick, humid, and smelled faintly of burning circuits mixed with something sharp and metallic. People bustled past me on the narrow streets, their faces hidden behind masks, visors, or augmented eyes that flashed with data streams. Some zipped by on hoverboards, while others clanked along on mechanical legs. It was overwhelming, a sensory overload of light, sound, and motion.
The city buzzed with a low hum—a cacophony of distant engines, fragmented conversations in languages I barely recognized, and something... off. The sounds of drones above, their green beams scanning the streets, cut through the din with mechanical precision.
I pushed myself up slowly, the cold metal beneath my fingers grounding me in the surreal scene. The sidewalk beneath me wasn't concrete but glowing tiles that flickered faintly with each step passersby took. Vehicles hovered along invisible tracks, their shapes sleek and alien, as if plucked from someone else's dreams—or nightmares.
Before I could make sense of where I was, the sharp growl of an engine pierced through the ambient noise. A black car rolled up beside me, its edges angular, the faint blue under glow casting eerie shadows. The door hissed open, revealing Evelyn—or at least, a version of her.
She looked different now—her outfit futuristic, a seamless blend of fabric and metal that clung to her form like it was part of her. A holographic display flickered on her wrist, glowing faintly as she scanned the streets with sharp, calculating eyes. "Get in," she said, her voice brisk and unyielding.
Still disoriented, I climbed into the car. Inside, the dim lighting cast strange shadows across panels displaying streams of incomprehensible data. The seats shifted as I sat, molding to my body with unnerving precision, as if the car itself was alive.
"Where were you?" I asked, my voice rough, cracking from disuse or disbelief—maybe both.
Evelyn didn't look at me. Her gaze stayed fixed on the road ahead. "I woke up in her life," she said cryptically, referring to her alternate self. "Took me a while to figure it out. I had to... leave things abruptly."
"What kind of life?" I pressed, desperate for answers.
She finally glanced at me, her face unreadable. "Not one I'd choose to stay in."
The car surged forward, weaving effortlessly through the chaotic streets. My eyes flicked to the window, where the city stretched endlessly. Streets were lined with vendors selling glowing wares, alleyways lit by lanterns radiating soft pink hues, and buildings that seemed to scrape the edges of the sky. People streamed through the chaos in endless waves—some with mechanical limbs, others flanked by small, floating machines that seemed alive.
"Where are we going?" I asked, tearing my eyes away from the overwhelming city scarper.
"To someone who knows more," Evelyn said, her tone as sharp as ever. "Future you trusted him."
We stopped in a district shrouded in dim light and rising steam. The air here was heavier, oppressive, and filled with a metallic tang. Neon signs flickered weakly above cracked pavement, the glow casting fractured reflections onto puddles below. Evelyn parked the car in front of a building marked by a flickering holographic sign: Shruds' Apartment.
The moment I stepped inside, the room felt like a living organism, its maze of tangled wires and glowing screens pulsating with purpose. The low hum of servers working tirelessly filled the air, mingling with a faint metallic scent that clung to the back of my throat. Every surface seemed alive, buzzing with energy, and yet the atmosphere was suffocatingly still.
Behind the counter cluttered with tech scraps and tools, my eyes locked onto the man standing there. He had a piercing gaze that cut through me like a scalpel, his gray eyes darting over me with an intensity that made my skin crawl. His left arm gleamed under the flickering light, its cybernetic fingers humming faintly as they paused mid-movement. His sharp expression shifted—curiosity twisting into something deeper, something sharper. Disbelief.
"This… isn't possible," he muttered, his voice low but trembling with certainty. The faint glow of his amber cybernetic eye flickered like it was recalibrating, scanning me again. I shifted on my feet, uneasy under his scrutiny, and glanced at Evelyn. Her expression was unreadable, though her posture was tense.
"What do you mean?" I asked, keeping my tone steady despite the unease pooling in my chest.
The man moved closer, his intense gaze fixed on me. I felt his eyes dissecting every detail of my face, as if searching for something only he could see. "I know you," he said finally, his voice tinged with both recognition and incredulity. "Or rather, I know an Ryan. But not from here. You don't exist in this reality. You can't exist here."
His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I frowned, struggling to process their meaning. "Well, I'm standing right here. So, clearly, I do."
He shook his head sharply, raising his cybernetic hand in a cutting gesture. "That's not what I mean," he snapped. "In this universe, you were never part of the equation. You're an anomaly—something out of place. And yet, here you are, looking exactly like the Ryan I remember."
My throat tightened. "The Ryan you remember?" My voice felt distant, like it belonged to someone else.
Evelyn, standing beside me, stepped forward with her usual calm. "You remember him? From where?" Her question was direct, but there was a note of curiosity in her voice that mirrored my own unease.
The man's sharp expression softened slightly as he turned to her. "From her," he said, nodding at Evelyn. "The Evelyn from this universe. She spoke of someone named Ryan. Someone crucial to her research… and her life. But you—" he pointed a gleaming finger at me, "—you aren't supposed to be here."
The weight of his words pressed down on me, but I stepped forward, forcing the rising uncertainty to the back of my mind. "Why not?" My voice sounded firmer than I felt.
The man hesitated, his gaze shifting between Evelyn and me, as though he were deciding how much to tell us. Finally, he exhaled, crossing his cybernetic arm over his chest. The faint clicks of its precise movement were unsettling. "Because the multiversal threads that bind realities together—yours and hers—don't intersect naturally. Your presence here suggests interference. And interference is rarely a good sign."
Interference. The word echoed in my mind like a warning. I didn't know if he meant that my existence here was some accident or deliberate manipulation, but either way, it felt like a threat. I clenched my fists, willing myself to stay calm.
His appearance was striking in a way that unnerved me. The glowing amber of his cybernetic eye pulsed faintly, an unsettling contrast to the sharpness of his human one. Strands of dark hair streaked with glowing silver framed his face, giving him an almost otherworldly quality. His sleek cybernetic arm bristled with tools that looked ready to deploy in an instant.His name tag flickered weakly, displaying the name Rael.