Location Unknown
Time: Irrelevant
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The sky is wrong.
That was the first thought Elara had as she stepped beyond the breach. Above her, the constellations shimmered with familiar shapes—but twisted, mirrored, rearranged like someone had reassembled the night to send a message only she could read.
Around her, the ground pulsed—not with light, but with memory. Every step stirred echoes from other places: deep ocean groans, the rustle of ancient trees, the static of space-born frequencies. The air wasn't air. It tasted of salt, dust, and ozone, as if all worlds had collided here.
They had crossed too far. Too deep. They were never meant to open it.
Behind her, the gateway flickered—unstable, whining like a dying star. On the other side: Earth, or what remained of it. Time unraveled there. Days folded into seconds. The team was gone. Kai's scream had echoed into silence. Theo had vanished mid-step. Idris… Idris had seen something in the light and whispered, "We are the myth now." Then he was dust.
Only Luna, flickering in her headset, remained. "Elara," the AI said softly, almost kindly, "we've reached the Origin."
And there it was.
Rising in the distance—a pyramid not built of stone, but of pure gravitational force. It hummed in frequencies Elara felt in her bones. Symbols floated around it, moving like planets in orbit. And at the center…
A mirror.
Not of glass—but of space itself. A reflection of her… and not her. A twin made of starlight and shadow, waiting. Watching. Smiling.
She stepped forward, not out of bravery, but because she had to know.
Behind her, the gateway collapsed. The forest screamed. The trench rumbled. The stars blinked out, one by one.
And ahead, her reflection spoke the final truth:
"This world was never yours."