The elevator doors opened with a soft metallic sound.
Helia stepped out first, inspecting the corridor ahead. The upper facility levels were always silent at night, but tonight the silence felt deliberate.
Nero followed, rubbing the leftover numbness from his fingertips. Veyra still lingered beneath his skin, feeling like a quiet electric itch. He hated how familiar it was beginning to feel—how natural.
Helia kept glancing back at him, her eyes kept at the glow that pulsed faintly beneath his collar.
"Your chest plate is still resonating," she whispered.
"I noticed."
"Can you stop it?"
Nero in an obvious way "If I could, I would have."
She didn't seem surprised by the answer.
They walked quickly through the hallway. A thin line of emergency lights ran along the floor, guiding them toward the Analysis Wing. The overhead lamps were glowing brighter as they passed, one after another, almost in greeting.
Or warning.
"So where are we going?" Nero asked.
"Somewhere they won't check first," Helia replied. "Security is already looking for the source of the last resonance spike. They'll first start with your room."
Nero winced. "Great."
"They haven't issued a seizure order yet," she added. "But they might be close."
He stared at her. "A seizure order? I didn't commit a crime."
"You generated a wave strong enough to rewrite local memory logs," Helia said. "To them, that's worse than sabotage."
He fell silent. He didn't have an answer for that.
They turned another corner, passing a long glass wall overlooking the server ducts. Rows of glowing conduits pulsed with faint blue light, like veins beneath skin. Nero slowed, watching the sparkling patterns flow upward into the darkness.
For a moment—just a moment—his reflection in the glass lagged behind.
A beat late.
"Nero," Helia whispered sharply. "Don't look at the reflections. Keep moving."
He tore his gaze away and forced himself forward.
They weren't alone.
Up ahead, two uniformed officers stood outside a secure glass room, rifles slung at their sides. The Archive rarely used security personnel - only during system breaches or classified transfers.
Both guards turned toward Nero and Helia as they approached.
Helia murmured under her breath, "Stay calm."
Nero whispered."I am calm."
"No, you're terrified. Stop that."
One of the guards stepped forward. "Analyst Krusate, Junior Archivist Vale—please stay in your position."
Helia froze. Nero tried to mimic her composed posture, but his shoulders stiffened instinctively.
"What's going on?" Helia asked.
"We received a containment notice," the guard replied. "All personnel coming from Dorm Wing C are subject to immediate clearance verification."
Nero's stomach tightened. His dorm was in Wing C.
The guard took a scanning device. "Please remove all electronic interfaces. Hands at your sides."
Helia slowly shifted slightly in front of Nero, blocking the scanner's direct angle to his chest.
"We're needed in Analysis Room Three," she said. "Urgent waveform evaluation."
"I'm aware," the guard said quietly. "But protocols override personnel requests."
Helia's jaw clenched. Nero felt the tension in the air.
The second guard raised his rifle slightly—not aimed, but ready. "This will only take a moment."
The scanner beeped as it passed over Helia. It blinked green.
Then the guard moved to Nero.
Nero's heartbeat spiked. "I—I don't think—"
"Stay still," the guard ordered.
Helia's hand tightened into a fist.
The scanner passed over Nero's torso—
—then crackled violently.
Sparks burst from the device. The guard yelped and dropped it, shaking his hand as if shocked. The machine clattered across the floor, flickering with a glitched blue screen.
Nero swallowed hard.
The symbol flashing on the broken scanner was one word:
UNLIVED.
Both guards stared.
Helia grabbed Nero's wrist and shouted "Run."
There was no hesitation.
No questions.
No plan.
Just instinct.
They sprinted down the corridor as the guards shouted behind them. Alarms blared overhead—red lights flashing, sirens wailing.
"Unauthorized signature detected!" a mechanical voice boomed through the speakers. "Containment protocol initiated. All personnel secure your stations."
As they ran Nero's lungs burned. His chest plate glowed brighter with every step, pulsing in sync with the rising alarm frequency.
Helia led him through a side passage, down a narrow maintenance hall. Her breaths were sharp but controlled—perfectly measured. Nero admired how calm she remained even now.
A heavy door opened before them as Helia slammed her access key into the panel.
They stumbled inside a dark; cluttered storage room filled with old consoles and unused databanks.
Helia slammed the door shut and locked it manually.
The alarms were muffled now, but still there—echoing through the pipes overhead.
Nero leaned against a metal crate, catching his breath. "Helia… I didn't mean to—"
"I know." She pushed her hair back, breathing hard. Sweat dropping from her forehead. "This wasn't your fault."
He laughed bitterly. "Everything is my fault lately."
"No," she said firmly. "Something's forcing resonances out of you. It's not voluntary."
He stared at his hands. They trembled faintly, glowing with a soft teal light.
Helia crouched in front of him. "Nero. Look at me."
He forced himself to meet her eyes.
"You're not dangerous," she said quietly. "Unstable? Yes. But dangerous? No. Not unless something else is pushing you."
Nero swallowed. "The other me."
Helia didn't speak—but her quietness was confirmation.
The storage room lights flickered. A cold breeze brushed the back of Nero's neck.
Then the shattered glass behind Helia—old, cracked screens thrown on the shelves—began to vibrate.
A faint reflection formed.
Tall.
Shadowed.
Broad-shouldered.
Eyes glowing like twin cuts of cold fire.
The Unknown Time Master.
His voice was soft, but clear echoing through the room like a whisper inside their bones.
"You can't run from what remembers you."
Helia spun around, eyes widening. "Nero—!"
The glass shattered outward, fragments floating mid-air as if caught in a silent explosion.
Nero felt Veyra, reacting to the presence.
The air warped.
Time stuttered.
Everything froze for half a heartbeat.
Nero gasped, clutching his chest. "I—I can't stop it—"
The Time Master leaned forward in the broken reflections.
"Then don't."
Helia grabbed Nero's arm, pulling him back—
The lights exploded.
The world twisted into a blur of cold teal light.
And the Archive screamed.