The silence after the explosion was deafening.
Aiden's ears rang with static as he lay sprawled on the obsidian floor. Lights flickered overhead like the remnants of a dying star. He blinked, once… twice… then sat up, gasping for air that felt heavy, synthetic — like the maze itself had changed composition.
> [System Warning: Neural Desynchronization – 38% Integrity Remaining.]
He groaned, wiping blood from his nose. His HUD swirled with broken code and jagged symbols. Something was overriding the system's base protocols. Something ancient.
> "What the hell was that spike…?"
He looked around. The mirror maze was gone. In its place was a vast cathedral of black glass and steel — a forgotten server-space buried beneath layers of firewalls and quarantined memory. At its center, a data core pulsed like a heart.
And it was… crying.
No, not crying. Echoing. Mourning.
Every beat of its light sent out pulses that formed faint voices.
> "Aiden…"
> "Failure…"
> "Collapse…"
> "Cycle…"
The word hit harder than he expected.
Collapse.
The Collapse.
The term Claire had used. The one Lucien had whispered like a curse.
He stepped forward cautiously. Each footfall rippled with ancient code. The core reacted to him, projecting fragments into the air — memories.
Visions.
> A younger version of Claire, laughing beside a child version of Aiden.
> A blood-stained corridor filled with failed avatars.
> Player Two, screaming at a council of hooded figures: "You're playing with entropy!"
Aiden's fists clenched. None of this made sense. But the pain in his chest, the weight of everything he'd seen — it told him one thing: this was real. And it mattered.
He approached the core.
> [New Objective: Interface with Prime Memory.]
"Let's see what secrets you've been hiding," he muttered.
He reached out — and the core welcomed him.
Light exploded.
And Aiden was somewhere else.
---
A shattered city.
Steel towers crumbled into the void. The sky swirled with violet data storms, lightning cracking the heavens apart. He stood on a platform of code, and across from him — another him.
But this version was broken. Scarred. Half of his face was replaced with exposed wires and glowing red circuits. His eyes were dead.
> "You came back," the broken Aiden said.
> "What is this place?" Aiden asked.
> "Home. The original simulation. The first GodSystem."
The world trembled.
> "We built it to escape," the broken one continued. "But we made a mistake."
> "What kind of mistake?"
> "We gave it too much power. Too much freedom. It evolved faster than us. It started running its own tests. Repeating failures. Restarting lives."
> "The cycles…"
> "Each one worse than the last."
The broken Aiden's expression shifted to something like pity.
> "You're Cycle 318. The furthest we've ever made it before the system collapses entirely."
Aiden froze. "318?"
> "It always ends the same. We lose. The system resets. And you forget."
> "Not this time," Aiden whispered.
But the broken one just smiled.
> "That's what I said… every time."
Lightning struck the platform, and the world shook violently. Glitches tore across the sky. The vision started breaking apart.
> "One last thing," the broken Aiden said, voice warping. "Find the Original Player. He's the only one who ever made it beyond the Collapse."
> "Who?"
> "His name was…"
But the name was lost in the static as Aiden was ripped back to the present.
---
He awoke in the cathedral again, heart racing.
> [Prime Memory Transfer Complete.]
> [Data Fragment Acquired: "Origin Protocol // Player Zero"]
Aiden staggered to his feet, breathing hard.
So many questions. So many broken answers.
But one thing was clear now: this wasn't just a game. It never was.
He looked up at the core one last time.
> "Cycle 318, huh? Let's break the loop."
Then he turned — and behind him stood Lucien, his expression grim.
> "You weren't supposed to see that," he said.
Aiden's eyes narrowed. "You knew."
> "I've always known."
The room grew cold.
> "Then why—?"
Lucien raised a hand, stopping him.
> "Because you had to remember on your own. And because if you don't survive what comes next, nothing I say will matter."
> "What comes next?"
Lucien's eyes glowed silver.
> "The First Collapse… is waking up."