The shadows stepped forward. They looked like Evan, Maya, Trey, Signal, and the rest—but wrong. Their eyes dim. Faces etched with decisions none of them had made yet.
They weren't echoes. They were failed outcomes.
Signal froze.
One version of her limped, jaw torn open and stitched with copper wire. She dragged the Origin Core behind her like a chained heart.
Trey raised his rifle. "Don't."
The observer strapped to the chair nodded. "You can't kill them. They're not fully real. They're what's left when your timelines fracture. Memory ghosts."
One of the ghost-Mayas stopped inches from the real one. Her face was scorched. One eye gone. Her voice was low.
"You left me."
Real Maya whispered, "I never—"
"You will."
Juno took a step back. "What is this place really?"
The man in the chair whispered, "The recursion engine. Every version of this world that failed ended here."
Lyra gritted her teeth. "Then where's the one that worked?"
He laughed. "It hasn't come yet."
The ghost versions began to dissolve—ashes peeling from their skin. The core in Signal's pack began pulsing rapidly.
"You brought it here," the man said, eyes wide. "It's reacting. The recursion loop—it's syncing."
Signal turned to Ellian. "What happens if it completes?"
"We might overwrite everything—including ourselves."
Frost moved forward. "Then we abort."
"No," said the man.
"If you abort now, you lock in this loop forever. This is the first time you've made it this far. Don't stop now."
The floor shook. The ghost-Evan dropped to his knees and began to scream—his voice sounding like a shattered server.
Lights went out.
When they came back, all the ghosts were gone.
Except one.
A second Signal, but older.
No wires. No injuries.
She stepped forward and stared into Signal's eyes.
"I lived," she said. "But everyone else didn't."
Maya stepped between them. "Back off."
The older Signal looked at her, sad.
"You were the first to turn."
"I wouldn't."
"You did. And so will she."
She looked back at her younger self.
"If you go to Dendura's Heart, you'll find the Genesis Node. That's where the final choice is made."
Trey whispered, "There's more?"
"There's always more. Every choice you've made has been inside Cain's parameters. You never broke the pattern."
Lyra's hands tightened. "So how do we break it?"
The older Signal touched the core.
"Make a choice she never did."
A rumble split the chamber.
The recursion grid began to unravel.
The man in the chair screamed—his body breaking apart like static.
The last thing he said: "Get to the Heart before it reforms—go—GO!"
The team sprinted.
Behind them, the recursion collapsed.
They didn't look back.