[Lo■■ two hund■ed thi■rte■n]
We had searched the forest over and over again, looping through the same damp trails and fog-choked glades until the trees began to feel like faces. Every path bled into the next, every sound of dripping rain and shifting leaves blending into the rhythm of déjà vu. Too many times.
Each night ended the same — the world blinked, the clock rewound, and we were dragged back to 9:00 p.m., like a curse that refused to die.
For Theo, Mira, and Silva, the loops seemed to wipe the slate clean. Every reset restored them — fresh, alert, almost unaware of the slow corrosion eating at their minds. But not me. The resets no longer touched me. My exhaustion ran deeper than the body, beyond the mind — like my soul itself had been left out in the rain too long.
Every loop felt heavier. My thoughts came slower, words stuck in my throat, and ideas lost their shape before I could voice them. It wasn't just mental fatigue — it was erosion.
My teammates noticed. I could see it in the quiet way Theo avoided meeting my eyes, the way Mira's sarcasm softened into silence, and the way Silva started walking a half-step ahead of me — as if shielding me, or maybe keeping me from falling behind completely.
They didn't ask questions. Maybe they didn't want the answers.
---
It happened again after yet another fruitless search.
Theo's voice cut through the sound of rain like a snapped wire.
"Damn it!" He slammed his hand against a nearby trunk, sending a shower of wet bark down his sleeve. "We've searched everything, and not a single damn source! Nothing!"
The echo of his anger faded into the fog. Only the rain dared respond, whispering against the leaves.
"Not quite," Silva said finally, her tone calm — too calm. She stood with her arms crossed, her coat dripping, her gaze scanning the trees like a hawk. "The tower we thought was a trap… it's actually the last source. Or more accurately, the underground passage beneath it. The anomaly expected to lure us there because the other two sources were protecting it."
Theo blinked, wiping his wet bangs away. "You're saying the trap was baiting us toward the real source?"
"Exactly." Silva's eyes narrowed slightly. "The anomaly's confident when we get close to its center. That tells us something — it believes we're predictable. We need to stop proving it right."
Mira snorted softly, frustration bubbling beneath her breath. "We scoured the entire forest. Knowing where the last core is doesn't help if we can't even access it because of the second one."
Her tone was sharp, but there was a tremor there — the kind that comes from endless nights of failure.
I swallowed, feeling the familiar dryness in my throat. When I spoke, my voice came out quieter than I intended.
"The second core… is inside the village."
They all turned toward me.
Theo frowned. "What? The village? What makes you think that?"
"The anomaly," I said, the words dragging out slowly, "has been aggressive everywhere — except there. It's taken lives, twisted reality, rewound us hundreds of times… but it's never touched the villagers. Never harmed them. It's using them. Hiding behind them."
Silva's gaze sharpened. "You think the anomaly's using the village as cover?"
"Not just cover," I murmured. "Camouflage. Like a parasite attaching itself to something living. The forest, the towers, the shack — all extensions of it. But the village is different. It's still alive. That's why we never found anything here. The second core is hiding in plain sight."
Mira's voice dropped to a whisper. "…Like it's pretending to be part of the world."
I nodded. "Exactly. The buildings, the streets, the lights — they're its shell. Its disguise."
Theo exhaled a shaky laugh. "Great. We've been sleeping twenty meters from a cosmic parasite and didn't even know it."
Silva didn't flinch. "This is what we trained for. We adapt. Identify patterns. Follow residual traces. The anomaly may shift, but it cannot hide forever. It will respond to us — as long as we recognize it."
Despite the exhaustion dragging me down, I couldn't help but notice how determined they looked — the glint of resolve in Mira's tired eyes, Theo's half-forced grin, Silva's steely calm.
They were all breaking in their own ways, but somehow still standing.
I forced my voice to steady. "Alright. We split into two groups. Theo and Mira — north and east sectors. Silva and I will take south and west. Look for distortions: static, faint hums, reflections that don't match, sudden temperature drops — anything abnormal. The anomaly leaves traces when it breathes."
Theo groaned. "Because splitting up always ends well in horror stories."
Mira smirked, flicking water from her gloves. "Try not to die before you finish complaining."
A faint smile tugged at my lips — brief, hollow, but real. Then I turned toward the fog-thick village ahead. The forest thinned around us, the path bleeding into cobblestone streets half-swallowed by weeds and rainwater.
The lamps ahead flickered, their light trembling like candle flames in a draft. Every shadow seemed to move a little when you weren't looking. Every window reflected something that wasn't entirely us.
Silva's hand brushed my shoulder — light, steadying.
"Don't push yourself, Yuwon. We can rest if you need to."
"I'll be fine," I lied, forcing a nod. "Let's just cover as much ground as we can."
---
We stepped into the village.
And the world changed.
The air grew still — unnaturally so. Even the rain softened to a mist, as if afraid to make noise. The silence pressed against my ears until I could hear my own pulse.
Every step echoed.
Every building loomed too tall, the wrong shape, too symmetrical.
Somewhere beneath it all, beneath the cracked stone and the narrow streets, something throbbed faintly — like a heartbeat buried under the earth.
The second core was here. Watching us.
---
Mira and Theo – East Sector
Mira lit a cigarette as they trudged through the narrow streets, smoke curling pale against the fog.
"Want one?" she offered lazily.
Theo shot her a look. "You're seriously smoking in the middle of a dimensional distortion?"
"God forbid a woman has hobbies." She smirked. "Besides, it helps me think—"
[■■ave ■his vil■■ge at o■■e]
The voice tore through the air — half digital, half human — a corrupted echo that slithered through the static. Mira froze mid-sentence.
The cigarette fell from her fingers and hissed out in a puddle.
"…Never mind," she muttered, tension rippling through her tone. "Guess we're close to the second core."
Theo glanced around, unease creeping into his posture. "Should we wait and regroup with Yuwon and Silva?"
Mira shook her head, lips tight. "No. We can handle this. The sooner we find it, the sooner this ends."
Theo frowned. "You sure that's a good idea? He's not doing well. You've seen him."
Mira hesitated — just long enough to betray worry. Then: "Exactly. The longer this goes on, the worse he gets. Let's finish it before it eats the rest of him."
---
Yuwon and Silva – South Sector
An hour passed. Maybe more. My sense of time was useless now — the loops made every minute stretch and repeat in uneven rhythm.
Silva's voice cut through the fog. "We've covered this section twice. There's nothing left."
"Then let's reg—"
She stopped mid-sentence.
I blinked and realized she wasn't looking at the village anymore. Her gaze was fixed on me.
"Yuwon?"
I tried to answer, but the world shifted before I could speak.
The trees were back.
Mud beneath my feet. Rain falling harder now, pelting my skin like needles.
'Why am I back in the forest?'
The world bled around the edges — colors running together like wet paint. The ground split open, and I was somewhere else. The old radio shack. The first core. The faint hum of static rising like a memory.
"Yuwon?" Silva's voice came faint and far away, distorted like it was underwater.
My head throbbed violently. A hot, metallic taste filled my mouth. I wiped it with my sleeve — blood.
'Consciousness displacement again. I'm… switching timelines.'
A pressure built in my skull. My knees buckled.
Then — black.
---
When I came to, I was lying on my back, the rain falling gently now. Silva was kneeling beside me, my head resting in her lap.
Her face hovered above me — the calm mask gone, replaced with genuine worry.
"You kept looking around, then your nose started bleeding. You didn't respond. Then you collapsed," she said quietly.
I sat up slowly, head pounding. "I… saw the shack again. The first core. My consciousness must've crossed timelines."
Her eyes hardened slightly. "That shouldn't be possible."
"It means," I said, my voice trembling, "the anomaly is changing."
The words hung heavy in the mist. Silva didn't respond immediately.
I pushed myself unsteadily to my feet, my limbs moving as if underwater. Every breath scraped like sandpaper.
"I think Mira and Theo found it," I said. "The second core. We should regroup."
"We should take a break," Silva countered softly.
"A break?" I managed a weak chuckle. "When we're this close?"
"You're pushing yourself too far." Her tone sharpened — not angry, but pleading. "Even the sun rests during the night. You should too."
I met her eyes.
'Rest won't bring back the parts I've lost.'
"I apologize for going against orders," I said quietly, "but I won't stop until the anomaly's gone. Please, Chief — let's regroup."
A sigh escaped her. "Fine." Her expression softened — only slightly. "Let's move."
'So she can make facial expressions after all,' I thought absently, a fleeting bit of humor against the fatigue gnawing at me.
---
It didn't take long to find Mira and Theo. The moment we saw them, I knew.
The air around them shimmered faintly — the same low-frequency distortion that always came before contact with a core.
"The second source," Silva said. "You found it."
Mira nodded grimly, gesturing toward a half-collapsed building at the edge of the square. Its windows were shattered, and faint static flickered across the glass like frost.
"It was right there," Theo said, his voice hushed. "In the basement. The whole place was humming. Like human breath. It got a bit feisty when we cut the power, but we managed anyways."
The rain had stopped completely now. Even the wind held its breath.
I stared at the building, the ache behind my eyes pulsing in sync with the faint vibration beneath the ground.
"So all thats left is the last core."