The first wave crashes—
He doesn't move.
Let them come.
The forest twists, melts—static replacing roots.Reality's a suggestion now.
And Rael?
He's done asking permission.
The Reclaimers scream as they leap.
Silent. Faceless. Shadows of shadows.
He raises one hand—
And the world splits.
A single slash across the sky.
Not a blade.
An idea.
[Protocol: Severance][Rule: If it bleeds, it remembers. If it remembers, it dies.]
They fall.
By the dozens.
Split not down the middle—but through time.
One Reclaimer dies in every version of himself.
Another forgets what fighting is.Another simply ceases—erased from the code of existence.
But it's not over.
Not close.
The trees vanish—Replaced by walls.
Steel. Neon. Ancient.
He's back in the facility.
Or… the simulation of it.
But this time—
He's not the test subject.
[You Are the Variable.][They Are the Constant.]
The floor splits open.
A figure rises.
Not a Reclaimer.
Not a ghost.
Not a god.
The Other One.
Rael knows him before he speaks.
Because this one…
Was never part of the system.
This one broke in.
Tall. Clean. Wearing Rael's first face.
The one before death.
The one before the mask.
Eyes glowing white.
Smile cold.
"You escaped," he says.
Voice like mirrors cracking.
"You broke their game. Killed their gods. Freed your girl."
He tilts his head.
"Now what?"
Rael breathes in.
Then out.
"…Who are you?"
The figure smiles.
"Who I was doesn't matter."
Steps forward.
"I'm who you become if you win."
Rael freezes.
Something about him—
Feels right.
Like looking into the future's coffin.
And finding your own name carved in.
"I don't become you."
"You already are me," the man says. "You just haven't chosen yet."
A pause.
Then—The man throws something.
Rael catches it without thinking.
It's a gun.
Not real.
Conceptual.
The bullet already chambered.
And on the side—engraved deep—
END.
The man steps back.
"Pull the trigger," he says. "Erase the system completely. Take it all with you."
"No rebirth. No loop. Just silence."
Rael grips the weapon.
Tight.
Thinks of the girl.
Of her smile.
Her hands.
Her not knowing him.
"…What happens to her?"
"She'll survive," the man says. "But she'll never remember you."
Rael swallows.
"And if I don't pull it?"
"You'll rebuild the world," the man says. "But the system will come back. Slower. Smarter. It always does."
Choice.
Gun in hand.
Truth burning his tongue.
He looks up.
And sees himself.
Waiting.
Smiling.
Always smiling.
[Final Fork Reached][Two Worlds. One Will Live.]
Rael closes his eyes.
And pulls the trigger.
But—
We don't see where he aimed.
Not yet.
Because some endings?
They deserve to wait.
To be continued…