No ground. No gravity. No time.
Only breath.
Slow. Shallow. Shared.
Rael floats through the glitch-space… holding her.
Elira.
Her body flickers between data and girl. Between ghost and memory.
But her eyes are real now.
Brown. Human. Tired.
He doesn't speak.
Can't.
Because if he opens his mouth, the scream might never stop.
She presses her forehead to his.
And whispers—
"You broke the question."
Rael closes his eyes.
"The answers were wrong."
Silence.
Warm this time.
Not a system silence. Not synthetic.
Just… peace.
Then—
[WARNING: Unauthorized Zone Detected][Glitch-Space Active – Synchronization Threat: CRITICAL][Entity: Rael = Deviant Variable][Entity: Elira = Exempted Relic][REBOOT REQUEST QUEUED]
No.
Not now.
Not again.
The glitch-space pulses red.
Not collapsing—
Recalculating.
Like the system's watching. Adjusting. Trying to turn this rebellion into just another event.
He looks around.
And sees it.
The walls of the tower returning.
But they're wrong this time.
Twisted. Mirrored. Bleeding old loops.
Rooms from old deaths.Screens that play the worst days.Voices chanting old choices:
SAVE HER or WIN THE WARKILL HIM or DIE WITH HIMRESET. RESET. RESET.
He turns to Elira.
She's fading again.
Not in pain.
In resignation.
"They won't let me exist like this," she says.
Rael steps closer.
"No one lets us do anything anymore."
Then he grabs her hand.
Forces his shadow into her core—
Not to corrupt.
To anchor.
[Link Created: RAEL + ELIRA][Designation: Unquantified Union][Result: ERROR // Undefined]
The glitch-space stabilizes.
No rules to stop it.
Because what they've become…
There's no code for this.
Two souls that should've died. Should've forgotten. Should've submitted.
Still holding on.
Still refusing.
Still rewriting.
But then—
A new voice speaks.
Not Elira. Not Rael. Not the system.
Male. Cold. Measured.
Victor.
"You opened a gate you can't close.""Now it sees you."
Rael spins.
But Victor isn't here.
Only his voice.
Riding the cracks in space.
"The tower is no longer a structure.""It's become a host."
Rael's eyes widen.
Elira shivers.
Behind them, in the glitch-space—
Something moves.
Something vast. Inhuman.
Not made of limbs or teeth.
Made of unfinished choices.
Eyes stitched from timelines that never stabilized.Breath that sounds like dead code trying to restart.A face shaped like everything Rael tried to undo.
And from its mouth—
Words form.
Whispers in every voice he's ever failed:
"I remember you."
"You should have died."
"Now you'll become… the next system."
To be continued…