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Chapter 4 - Forgotten Futures

The air smelled of death and fractured space. The bunker was in ruins. Temporal rifts flickered like open wounds in reality. And Kael Riven stood among the remains of a battle that should never have happened.

But he couldn't stop. Not now.

Mira was beside him, checking data on a portable tablet. Lira tried to contact headquarters. Vark watched the horizon, as if knowing something worse was coming.

— What was that? Lira asked, still trembling.

— That power… it wasn't normal.

Kael looked down at his hands. His eyes glowed faintly, as if still seeing another world.

— I'm not normal, he said softly.

— Never was.

Mira stepped forward.

— Tell us, Kael. How did it all begin?

There was a long silence. As if Kael doubted whether he wanted to remember.

Finally, he spoke:

— It started when I was a child. I have no parents. No memory of my life before a certain date.

Lira looked at him with compassion.

— What happened?

Kael closed his eyes. Each word felt like a wound reopening.

— I entered a forbidden place. A nameless Portal. No one knew what was inside. I didn't either. I only know I was absorbed. That I felt something inside me. Something… ancient.

— And what did it do to you?

— It changed me, Kael said, his voice breaking.

— From that day, I could no longer see the world the same. I heard voices. Saw things that shouldn't exist. And then… time began to fail. Wherever I went, cracks followed.

Vark stared at him seriously.

— Were you the first contact?

Kael nodded slowly.

— I was the first to touch it. The first to survive. The first to lose myself… without realizing it.

"Contact Chronometer: activated."

"Memory detected: 'The First Portal'"

"Warning: Existential fragmentation level: 16%"

Fragments of a Lost Past

Mira studied him carefully. Not as a soldier. Not as an experiment. But as someone who also carried scars from the past.

— Do you remember anything before entering that portal? she asked gently.

Kael shook his head.

— Fragments. A white room. Voices. Lights. And a woman named Aria.

Lira listened intently.

— Who was she?

Kael closed his eyes.

— I don't know. But I feel like she saved me. Helped me escape. And… lost me too.

— Don't you remember how you got out?

— No. I just know I woke up in a military hospital. No past. No family. No answers.

A chill ran through the team.

Kael hadn't just lost his memories.

He had lost his humanity.

— I'm not a hero, he murmured.

— I'm a mistake. One that keeps walking, even though it no longer has a reason to.

The Age Eclipse

Kael took a breath. His voice was almost a whisper, but heavy with meaning.

— Fifteen years ago, there was an event that marked the world. The Age Eclipse.

— That's when everything changed.

Mira listened closely. She clearly knew part of this story… but not all of it.

— The skies darkened. The sun vanished for three days. During that time, cracks appeared in space-time. Doors of the Void.

— Creatures came through them. Beings that didn't belong to this plane.

— Like the Chronophores? Lira asked.

Kael shook his head.

— The Chronophores came later. Some were guardians. Others, prisoners. But they weren't the first.

— Then who started it? Vark asked.

Kael lowered his gaze.

— I don't know. I only know that I was the first to open it.

Silence.

Everyone stared at him. No one spoke.

— It wasn't my fault, Kael continued.

— Or at least… not intentionally. I was just a child. I entered a forbidden place. I touched it. And from that moment, the world began to fall apart.

— What did you see in there? Mira asked.

Kael closed his eyes. He could almost see it again.

— Black light. A voice with no form. It said we didn't belong to any time. That our universe was just one of many… and it no longer served a purpose.

— And what did you do?

— I got out. Somehow, I managed to escape. But something came with me. Something that lives inside me. And it keeps growing.

"Contact Chronometer: alert. Possible temporal rupture imminent."

Kael shivered.

Something inside him stirred. As if it were listening.

— I don't know what I am… only that since that day, the world stopped making sense.

The Rift Opens

Suddenly, the sky changed.

The clouds froze. The wind stilled. The air grew heavy, as if the universe were holding its breath.

A crack split the sky open.

From within emerged a massive figure. A multidimensional beast made of black light and hollow eyes. Its body moved as if existing in thousands of realities at once. Each step made the ground tremble. Each breath distorted the air.

It was a Dimensional Void . One of the forbidden beings. What lived behind doors no one should ever open.

— Run! Vark shouted, drawing his sword.

But it was already too late.

The creature extended a claw made of fractured space. With a brutal motion, it pierced Lira. Her body fragmented, as if erased from existence. She didn't even have time to scream.

— LIRA! Mira screamed, running toward her.

But there was nothing left. No blood. No body. Just emptiness where she'd been.

Vark roared in fury and charged the creature, striking with his energy blade. Each blow seemed to pierce it… only to reverse itself as if it had never happened.

— RIVEN! he shouted while fighting.

— You have to get out of here!

Kael tried to move. But the system warned him:

"Warning: Existential fragmentation level: 21%"

"Memory deleted: 'Final conversation with Vark'"

Kael felt a void in his mind. Something important… was gone.

Then, he saw the Void grab Vark by the chest. Lifted him off the ground. Held him close, as if studying him.

— I'm a soldier… Vark growled, blood spilling from his mouth.

— I've survived worse…

The creature looked at him.

And unmade him.

Literally.

Erased him from the present.

As if he had never existed.

Kael fell to his knees.

— NO!

Mira grabbed his arm.

— We have to go!

But there was nowhere left to run.

The monster turned toward them.

With a multidimensional scream, it unleashed a wave of pure chaos.

Mira jumped in front of Kael, shielding him with her body.

The wave hit them.

Kael was thrown against a wall. He hit his head. Blacked out for a second.

When he woke up, Mira was lying in front of him.

Her eyes were open. Lifeless.

— Mira… he whispered.

Nothing. Not even an echo.

Her body was fading. Like the others.

As if none of them had ever existed.

The Final Choice

Kael knelt beside Mira. He gently closed her eyes. Tears streamed down his face, mixing with blood.

— I'm sorry… so sorry…

The creature watched him from a distance. As if savoring his pain.

Kael stood. He trembled. Not from fear. From rage. From loss. From helplessness.

"Existential Fragmentation: 25%"

"System: Initiating Internal Judgment. Warning: Risk of self-annihilation."

He didn't care.

— You… he whispered.

— You are not time. Not fate. You are nothing.

The creature observed him. As if it could see into his soul.

Kael raised his hand. The Reality Dagger appeared in his palm, glowing violently. His eyes turned white. The energy of the Time Mirror surrounded him.

— I'll return what you stole from them.

He lunged forward.

Cut through reality.

Reflected the void.

Destroyed the being that should never have existed.

The creature screamed.

Screamed as if it were being forgotten.

Finally, it vanished.

But it no longer mattered.

He was alone.

Before disappearing, the creature left one final phrase echoing in his mind:

"You cannot kill me… because you were the first to open me."

Kael staggered backward. Horrified.

He had misunderstood everything all this time.

He hadn't been chosen to contain the Void.

He had been the one who set it free.

"Alert: Imminent temporal collapse. Probability of self-destruction: 89%"

Kael collapsed to his knees.

Everything he loved… had been erased.

Everything he was… was being lost.

— I have no reason to keep going, he murmured.

— If I am the cause… I can also be the end.

He raised the Reality Dagger .

Plunged it into his chest.

"CRITICAL WARNING! Existential Fragmentation: 97%"

"Internal Judgment: Activated. All timelines collapsing."

"System: Temporal Reset Detected. Starting cycle..."

The entire universe trembled.

Time twisted.

Space shattered.

Kael felt everything erase.

His friends.

His enemies.

His past.

His future.

Even his own existence.

"Alert: All timelines are being rewritten."

"Total Reset Initiated. Restarting from most stable point..."

The Light Returns

Light returned.

Not the light of the bunker. Not of battle.

It was the light of a new day.

A day without cracks.

Without blood.

Without monsters.

Kael awoke.

Not on the battlefield.

Not in the bunker.

He awoke on a quiet street.

Normal houses.

People laughing.

No cracks. No monsters. No powers.

"Memory deleted: 'Team'"

"Memory deleted: 'Temporal War'"

"Memory deleted: 'Kael Riven'"

He no longer remembered who he was.

What he had done.

Whom he had lost.

At the corner, a blonde woman in a lab coat walked toward him.

She smiled.

— Hi. Are you feeling okay?

Kael looked at her.

He didn't know who she was.

But something in his heart brought peace.

— I think so.

The woman extended her hand.

— Come. Don't run anymore.

Behind her, the sun shone.

The world was intact.

As if nothing had ever happened.

As if there had never been an Age Eclipse .

As if time had never broken.

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