The man—the other me—studied me like a weapon he once forged and discarded.
He was taller. Hardened by grief and time. His armor bore symbols I had not written yet. A system like mine flickered across his exposed forearm, but it was fractured. Red-glitched. Twisted.
"You look disappointed," I said evenly.
"I'm not.""I'm terrified."
Behind him, soldiers—mirrors of my own future legion—stood at attention. Their energy signatures were off. Faintly broken, like ghosts held together by sheer will. Some had missing limbs, replaced by shadow-ether. One knelt with a burned-out mana core embedded in his chest.
This world… wasn't just an alternate version of mine.
It was after mine.
"This place," I whispered, "is my world if I fail."
"No," he corrected, stepping closer. "It's your world if you stop caring. There is a difference."
He extended his arm.
"Come with me. You need to see it. All of it."
We walked through Echo Terra's ruins.
Burned skyships hung half-buried in dust. Aether-cores still pulsed, long abandoned. Statues of me—of him—toppled, shattered by resistance or worship gone mad.
At the center of the ruined city was a black monolith.
On its surface: my name.
JALEN, GOD-KING OF THE LAST ORDER
BORN FROM SYSTEM
DIED FROM PURPOSE
"You fought them, didn't you?" I asked.
He nodded. "I fought them all. The Thrones. The Watchers. The Fractured. Even the System."
"And you won?"
He turned, eyes dim.
"I survived."
I stood in silence.
He let me digest it, then said:
"You still have what I lost. People. Hope. Wonder. And that makes you dangerous to them. They'll come faster now."
"Because I looked into the Gate?"
"Because you opened more than that. You are an echo now, too—and echoes are louder than gods."
Back through the mirror rift, I returned home.
Nova Terra's stars had shifted.
The Piercer vibrated.
My generals, startled by my sudden return, knelt. I could see it in their eyes—they knew something had changed. And it had.
Because I had seen what I could become if I turned my back on everything.
If I sacrificed love for power.
If I lost her.
I found Alis in the royal garden, cradling our sister in her arms.
The child was barely walking. Her hair shimmered like starlight. She reached for me and giggled, her tiny mana flickering in joy.
I knelt beside them and smiled.
And I whispered to myself:
"This is what they'll never understand. This is why I won't lose."
[SYSTEM ALERT – MULTIGATE RESONANCE AT 41%]
New Gate Stabilizing: Destination Unknown
Temporal Layer Detected: PAST