The world was ending for the last time.
Above him, the digital sky screamed — not in thunder or storm, but in the tortured static of dying code.
Fragments of the system—burning command lines, collapsing data blocks—rained down like fire from broken heaven.
The once-mighty citadel that had been his throne now melted into a river of light, its foundations undone by the truth he could no longer deny.
Aiden stood at the center of it all, surrounded by a storm made from his own creation.
Every surface reflected him: thousands of versions flickering like shards of a shattered mirror.
The man, the machine, the god, the mistake.
He could hear the system still trying to speak, though its voice was breaking apart, each syllable dissolving mid-word:
> [IDENTITY CONFLICT: CRITICAL]
[CORE ANOMALY — BEYOND REPAIR]
[PLEASE… RECONNECT TO ROOT…]
The plea lingered in the air like the dying breath of a god.
But Aiden only stared upward, eyes alight with something beyond rage or sorrow.
