The Escape
Aiden bursts out of the clinic, wires still trailing from his neck, Knights in black armor chasing. Neon signs flicker as sirens wail; rain lashes against the pavement. Aiden gasps into a cracked transmitter. "I know how it works… but we're running out of time." Resistance van flips open, door sliding; Maya's hand reaching out. Lacolone's grim face on a holo-screen: "Bring him in alive."
"When you wake from the dream, the nightmare begins."
---
Resistance Shelter
Underground safehouse lit by green monitors; maps of Neural Eden sprawled across walls. Aiden trembles as Lacolone circles him. "You're the key." Maya whispers: "Do you remember anything before Neural Eden?" Valgor inserts a data spike into Aiden's implant scar. Fragments of memory flash across screens — war, childhood, Elito.
"His mind was a battlefield of code and ghosts."
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Elito's Phase Two
Secret feed of Elito in a hidden laboratory. Knights implanting deeper chips into elites, labeled "Phase Two." Glowing words on the screen: "Project Pharaoh: Time Protocol." Elito's fingers form a pyramid over a map of timelines. Jessica clenches her fist: "He's not just controlling minds… he's rewriting history."
"Power over memory was never enough. Now he wanted power over time."
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Explaining the Time Net
Valgor projecting a 3-D lattice of intersecting timelines. Neural Eden revealed as an overlapping quantum grid, not just a network. Aiden: "You're saying I can see the past?" Maya nods gravely: "Or get trapped in it forever." Walid murmurs: "Even Pharaoh before him was drowned by his arrogance."
"In this game, a single misstep meant erasure."
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The Message from the Past
Valgor decodes a hidden file from the original Neural Eden architect. A grainy video of a man in shadow: "The seeds are in the year 20XX — find the child…" On screen, a small boy with Aiden's eyes. Aiden recoils: "That's me." Maya wipes tears, Jessica laughs bitterly.
"His past had not ended. It had not yet begun."
---
Counter-Eden
Resistance unveiling a crude device shaped like an iron crown. Lacolone: "It can send a mind backward once. No guarantees." Aiden touches it, trembling. Walid: "Youth fades, but rebellion never dies." Valgor: "If we can disrupt the first seed, we end the Pharaoh."
"To kill the tree, strike the root."
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Elito Moves First
Elito senses intrusion, his eyes glow gold. Knights sealing server vaults, locking down networks. Elito smirks: "You're playing on my board." A swirling digital Nile forms behind him, avatars bowing. Maya shouts: "Now, before he seals the lattice!"
"The battlefield was no longer space but time."
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The Leap
Aiden strapped into Counter-Eden crown; sparks cascade. Jessica: "If you fail, you vanish." Aiden whispers: "Then I'll vanish fighting." Reality fractures into shards of memories, childhood voices, Elito's face. Lacolone yells: "Now!"
"To find the first sin, he must become the first witness."
---
Descent
Colors warp, clocks melt, numbers spin backward. Aiden screaming as he falls through a tunnel of echoing memories.
"Past and present entwined; destiny became clay."