The sealed data vault cracked open like a long-forgotten tomb.
A white glow spilled across Orion's face, soft at first… then intensifying, swirling with patterns—spirals, numbers, coordinates. It reminded him of the fractal dragon's wings, the collapsing gate, and the whispering voices on Astra-9's systems.
Except this was different.
This was human-made.
His-made.
Lyra stepped closer, voice low."Orion… whatever's inside—that's your voice. Your code. Your encryption pattern. But you don't remember making it."
Orion nodded slowly."Which means I didn't make it in this timeline."
Rhea crossed her arms."Then open it. Let's see what you—whoever version of you—wanted us to find."
The vault display stabilized, shifting into readable structure. A single file emerged from the glow:
PRIORITY FILE: Ω-ARCHIVE-01CREATOR: ORION HALETIMESTAMP: UNKNOWNSTATUS: FINAL MESSAGE
Lyra swallowed."A final message… from you."
Seraxis, watching through the holoscreen, flickered with weak light."This is a whisper from a doomed universe. Tread carefully."
Orion tapped the file.
It opened.
A holographic projection filled the bridge—a man standing in a dark metallic room, barely lit by emergency lights.The man was older.Tired.Haunted.
His hair was longer.His eyes dimmer.His uniform torn.Behind him, the walls bent inward as if warped by immense pressure.
Lyra gasped."Orion… that's you."
The projection spoke with the weight of someone who had seen the death of stars.
"If you're watching this… then it means you still have time.""I didn't."
Rhea's lips parted, breath caught in her throat.
The older Orion continued, voice cracking between fatigue and urgency.
"The Unmaking devoured everything. Universes. People. Memories.""We thought we had nine days. We were wrong. It accelerates."
The bridge grew colder.
"By the time I understood the pattern—it was too late. I tried to warn you. I tried to send the signal back through the dimensional fracture."
Lyra took a shaky breath."The first signal… the one we never detected… that was you."
The projection nodded weakly.
"I couldn't send much. Just enough code to create the Archive. Enough to leave you this.""Enough to tell you the truth."
Rhea's voice trembled—something extremely rare."The truth about what?"
The older Orion stepped closer to the recorder.His face—Orion's face—looked hollow.
"The Unmaking didn't originate in another universe.""It started in ours."
Silence hit the bridge like a shockwave.
Lyra shook her head violently."No. No, that doesn't make sense. The refugees—"
"They ran from it after it spread into their realm," the older Orion snapped, as if hearing her across time."But it began here. In our timeline. In a lab project buried under Earth's crust."
Orion's eyes widened."A lab? What lab?"
The projection's voice dropped.
"Archive Zero."
Seraxis glowed faintly."We detected references to that in broken timelines…"
Rhea clenched her fists."Orion. What is Archive Zero?"
"Nothing," Orion said slowly."At least… nothing in our current history."
But a tight pressure in his mind whispered otherwise.
The older Orion continued:
"The scientists tried to manipulate time—not just observe it.""They succeeded.""And in doing so, they created the first crack."
A deep rumble echoed from the projection—as if something massive approached him from behind.
Older Orion glanced over his shoulder in panic.
"Listen carefully. There is only one way to stop it."
Lyra leaned forward, whispering,"What is it…?"
"Find the origin point.""Stop Archive Zero.""Stop us… before we create it."
Rhea's eyes sharpened like ice.
"You're telling us to prevent the experiment that leads to all of this?"
The projection nodded, expression pained.
"I know how impossible this sounds.""But you must do it.""You are the last timeline left."
A monstrous groaning sound shook the room behind him—like a universe collapsing inward.
Older Orion turned toward the noise, fear in his eyes.
"I'm out of time.""Run.""Hide.""Prepare.""And whatever you do…"
He leaned in so close that the hologram filled the bridge.
"Don't trust the Infinity Network."
The projection shattered—exploding into shards of light—and the vault collapsed into darkness.
The countdown ticked on.
09:23:55:02
Orion exhaled, shaking violently.
Rhea whispered, almost inaudibly:
"We just watched our last possible future die."
Seraxis dimmed, voice trembling.
"And now… your universe is next."
Lyra turned to Orion.
"What do we do?"
He answered with the only truth he had:
"We find Archive Zero."