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{ system notification }
[ connection lost ]
RETRYING...
[ fate has been reconnected ]
>>>
[ higher authority has—— ]
>>>
ERRRROR: USER SYNC FAILURE.
[ system has received encrypted message ]
[ decrypting message ]
[ mission retained: F̓̆̚͠R̷̛͛̒̎̓̀͐̎͐̅̍̽͠E̶̡̛̹̩͎̯̟̩͓̼̻̦̫̬͓͇̹̿͂̓̈́̓̆͛̆͆͒̽͛͗͘̕͝Ę̶̶̢̛̛̞̘̹̰͕͓͕͚͇̥̫̰̯̮͈̼̗̏͐̿̈́̇̿̇̌̋̌͆̉̇͊̔̐͛̿̋̈́͘̕͘͘͘͘͝ V̷̜͎̞̳̓͂̍̌̈́̿̅͆͒̒̕̚͠͝͝E̶͆̅̉͋̃̍̆̅̓̚͘͠͝R̷̒̆̿̍̈́̍̎̕͘͝͝Ư̶̢̛͎̱̘͇͓͇̱̦̳̺̗̖͉̳̪͙͆͊̅̈́̇̀̈́͊̇̐̚͘͠͝S̷̐͂̈́̏͊̏̾́̿̓̚͝ ]
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Raze fell.
Air tore past him, limbs rotating too fast to control.
The sky tilted—ground, then sky, then blur.
His flame didn't respond.
Mana scattered before it could stabilize.
He flickered.
Hand. Shoulder. Leg—gone, then back. Gone again.
"KAVIAR!!"
Above him, Alteria moved.
Water surged from her arms. Twin arcs.
Spiraling down like leashes trying to find his body.
One wrapped around his wrist.
The other missed entirely.
She gritted her teeth, pulling with all she had.
The tether stretched. Then snapped.
Mana scattered in droplets
Flashing once before fading. "NO—"
She reached again. Cast harder.
A rope of liquid mana shaped itself midair.
Sharp-edged, laced with strain.
Her other hand shot forward to stabilize.
—and she coughed.
Hard.
Close.
Her body curled with it.
Red hit her palm.
She doubled forward, chest heaving once.
Then again. The spell collapsed mid-cast.
Below… Raze saw it.
The blood. The magic. The moment.
The one where she couldn't reach him.
Couldn't stop what was happening. He flickered again. Full body this time. Phased. Reformed.
He felt as if he was disappearing from the dream and reappeared into the nightmare that called.
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[ core fragment: ICE MELTS ]
[ LOCATION: THREAD REALM – NONLINEAR TIME ]
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The surface pulsed beneath him.
Not pain. Not warmth.
Just pressure. Constant and wrong.
Like a heartbeat that didn't belong to him.
Forcing rhythm through his legs.
He staggered upright.
The light above flickered.
Not sun. Not mana. Just flickered.
Then a voice.
Not a whisper. Not a scream. Just there.
"Raze?"
No.
Not Raze.
Kaviar.
The name dragged the air sideways. He turned. A mirror stood where the horizon should've been.
But it wasn't a mirror. Not really. The glass didn't reflect. It remembered. And it remembered him.
Kaviar Ka'eli—eleven years old. Black kit.
White print. Hands on hips.
Brow furrowed. Mouth half open like he'd just said something worth laughing at.
He blinked.
And the mirror moved.
Not shattered. Peeled. Like film pulled back to reveal a memory he hadn't consented to.
The gym.
Indoor court. Rubber floor.
Lights above, too bright, too sterile.
Kaviar stood at the far end, ball at his feet. Alone.
Then—
Another version. Twelve now. Same court. Different posture. Less joy. More calculation.
Then thirteen. Then fifteen. Then eighteen.
Until the last one—nineteen, walking out of the tunnel in Brazil.
And stopping.
The moment froze midstep.
Raze stood before it. Breath caught in his throat.
The still-image version of himself didn't look back. Didn't need to.
He already knew what was coming.
The roar of the crowd. The pressure.
The expectation.
The cost.
Raze reached out. Not to touch. Just to feel.
And the surface shattered.
Cold flooded through him.
Real cold now. Not metaphor. Not symbol. Cold.
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[ anchor: accepted ]
[ synchronization: stable ]
[ personality integration: partial (KAVIAR) ]
[ system state: pending reentry ]
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He opened his mouth to speak but the water rose too fast. Sound died in his throat.
And all that was left was the pressure of becoming.
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[ memory recall halted ]
[ RAZE → KAVIAR → ??? ]
[ KAVIAR → RAZE—— ]
[ NEVER ENDING LOOP OCCURING. ]
[ RECALLING. RECALLING. ]
"Death is eminent."
[ preparing for fourth life. ]
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"Hey! Mister Raze!"
What?
Who is that?
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[ system breach detected ]
[ UNKNOWN SIGNATURE: MATCHING
SYKA, ONI CLASS (GEN-1) ]
[ override sequence executing… ]
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