The ground vibrated beneath my feet as V-0 extended his hand toward me.
Rubble shifted. Dust spiraled upward in slow unnatural curls.
The air itself seemed to bend in his presence.
Riven stood frozen, weapon raised but useless! Eyes wide with the kind of fear even elite agents don't show.
I swallowed, forcing my voice out.
"Why are you doing this?"
V-0 tilted his head as though the question confused him.
Then he smiled...soft, almost kind.
"To correct the multiverse," he said. "To end the chaos you were never meant to witness."
"I didn't cause any chaos," I snapped.
His eyes darkened.
"No. You merely inherited it."
Before I could respond, he flicked his fingers.
A shockwave erupted.
Riven was thrown backward, slamming into a split concrete pillar with a sharp gasp. Her weapon flew from her hands, skittering across the rubble.
"Riven!" I tried rushing to her, but the ground rippled beneath me like liquid.
V-0 spoke again – quiet, deliberate:
"Do not tether yourself to people who were not meant to know you. Their timelines cannot withstand your presence."
My blood chilled.
"What do you mean, my presence?"
His gaze sharpened.
"You are a divergential anchor, Aren. Your existence stabilizes countless worlds. When you leave a timeline prematurely…"
His hand twitched.
A distant rumble echoed across the ruins.
"…it breaks."
I felt sick.
That wasn't possible.
That couldn't be possible.
"You're lying," I whispered.
He didn't blink.
"Would you like proof?"
He raised his hand and the world around us flickered.
For a moment, I saw something behind reality:
A ripple.
A crack in the timeline.
Like watching glass begin to fracture.
The air around me thickened with pressure.
Riven coughed behind me. "Aren, don't listen... this thing is manipulating you!"
V-0 turned his gaze on her lazily.
"You, Agent Riven, do not exist in any stable form beyond this branch. Your timeline is already fraying. Following Aren merely hastens your end."
Riven braced herself, glaring. "I've heard better threats from trainees."
She lunged for her weapon.
V-0 sighed.
In a fraction of a second, he blurred – closing the distance between them like reality itself obeyed him.
"No!" I shouted.
But he moved too fast.
Riven fired point-blank.
The plasma shot passed through V-0 again as though he were made of air.
He raised a hand toward her forehead...
...then hesitated.
His head snapped sharply toward me, as if something pulled at him.
Something invisible.
His expression twisted—not in anger…
in pain.
For the first time, V-0 faltered.
He lowered his hand, stepping back.
"This is earlier than expected," he muttered.
My pulse spiked. "What is?"
He looked at me, and there was a strange tightness in his voice.
"You're beginning to remember."
A cold wave crashed through me.
"I don't understand."
"You will." His gaze sharpened, almost desperate. "Stop fighting the path. It will hurt less that way."
"I'm not walking any path you made," I growled.
His smile returned – gentle and infuriating.
"You already are."
Before I could move, V-0 snapped his fingers.
The divergence generator on my belt shrieked – overloading, flaring with sparks.
He'd forced a jump activation.
"No!" I grabbed at the device, trying to disconnect the plates, but the energy was already winding up, buzzing violently through my cells.
"Aren!" Riven shouted, pushing herself upright. She reached for me—
But the ground split between us, fracture light erupting upward, separating us in a wall of raw dimensional distortion.
V-0 watched me with unreadable eyes.
"This timeline can no longer sustain you," he said softly.
"And I can't let you die yet."
The generator detonated with a burst of white light.
My body ripped into the void, senses shredding as reality folded inward.
The last thing I heard was Riven screaming my name...
And V-0 whispering:
"We will meet again. When you're ready."