The horizon burned a dim orange, but no sun existed.
Only the Tower — a massive black spire piercing through clouds of static. Its surface shimmered with shifting data, absorbing light instead of reflecting it.
Rex stood at its base, staring upward. The tower stretched endlessly, each layer flickering like a heartbeat.
It didn't belong to the world — it was the world's center.
[System Log: Access Point — Core Memory Archive Detected]
[Warning: Memory synchronization may cause instability]
Rex exhaled slowly. "Guess I'm not supposed to remember this, huh?"
The tower's gates opened on their own, sliding apart with a sound like whispering steel.
He stepped inside.
The interior was silent.
Walls were smooth and dark, reflecting ghostlike images — scenes from a life he couldn't remember.
Him, sitting in a lab.
A girl laughing beside him — Lira.
Then… a fire.
Screaming.
The images distorted, replaced by lines of corrupted code.
Rex reached out. The moment his fingers touched the wall, pain shot through his head.
[Memory Sync Initiated — Accessing Locked File "Project Nexus."]
Fragments rushed into his mind — flashes of data, faces, betrayal.
He saw himself signing a contract.
A voice saying, "You'll create the perfect self-sustaining system, one that never dies."
Then… Lira standing behind glass, trapped inside a simulation pod.
Her hand pressed against the glass — lips moving silently: "Don't continue this."
Rex gasped, stumbling back. The walls around him pulsed.
The Tower wasn't just storing data.
It was built from his memories.
Suddenly, alarms blared.
The floor beneath him shifted, splitting into moving platforms. From above, mechanical drones descended — spinning, armed with glowing red cores.
[Security Unit: Echo Drones Activated. Objective: Erase Unauthorized Memory Traces.]
Rex gritted his teeth. "You're not erasing anything."
[Phase Shift: Active.]
Time froze midair.
He moved between the drones, their movements suspended like statues.
With a twist of his wrist, he sliced through them one by one — digital light bursting silently in the still world.
As he deactivated the Phase Shift, time snapped back — and every drone exploded at once.
The explosion echoed through the chamber, shaking the walls.
Then a deep voice spoke from above:
"Phase manipulation confirmed. He's adapting faster than predicted."
"Send Guardian 04. The Watcher."
Rex looked up, breathing heavily. "Guess they're still watching, huh?"
He walked deeper into the Tower, where glowing stairs spiraled upward like a path to the truth.
On the lowest wall, faint text appeared — written in his own handwriting:
"If you're reading this, you failed to stop it once. Don't fail again."
Rex's hand trembled.
His past self had left this message.
He whispered to himself, "Then I'll finish what I started."
And began climbing.