The instant Kieran touched the wooden door, everything inverted.
The corridor dissolved into swirling fragments of memory—faces, places, voices—all blurring together before snapping into focus.
He was somewhere new.
No, somewhere old.
A room.
Dimly lit, cluttered with obsolete tech—rusted server racks, scattered holo-screens flickering with corrupted code. The air smelled stale, electric.
In the center of the room, facing away from him, a figure sat in a chair.
Kieran's pulse spiked.
He knew what he was about to see.
He had heard his own warning, followed the buried clues. And now, standing in front of him, was the ultimate answer.
The chair creaked as the figure turned.
Kieran froze.
He was looking at himself.
Not a hologram. Not a recording.
A real, breathing version of himself.
But this Kieran looked… worn. His face was lined, his eyes shadowed with exhaustion, his cybernetic implants sparking from damage. His expression was unreadable—somewhere between relief and resignation.
"You finally made it," the other Kieran said. His voice was hoarse, as if he had been waiting too long.
Kieran took a slow step forward. "Who are you?"
The other Kieran let out a dry chuckle. "You know who I am."
A cold weight settled in Kieran's gut. "You're… another version of me."
"No," the older Kieran corrected. "I'm the first."
Kieran's breath caught.
His mind reeled, scrambling for explanations. The first?
Then—the realization hit.
All seventy-two versions before him, all the cycles, all the resets—they weren't the beginning.
They were echoes.
This man, this original Kieran, was the one who had started it all. The one who had fought first, lost first, and left behind the clues that had led Kieran here.
And now, he was dying.
His cybernetic arm twitched, a visible malfunction running through his neural implants. His body was breaking down—too many years trapped in the system, too much strain on his artificial enhancements.
"You don't have much time," the First Kieran said. His voice was urgent now, his tired eyes locking onto Kieran's. "Listen carefully. Because this is your last chance."
Kieran swallowed hard. He was ready.
"Tell me everything."
The First Kieran exhaled slowly.
And then, he began.