[Warning: Inter-Timeline Narrative Collision Detected]
Classification: Cross-Route Encounter
Status: UNSTABLE
Risk Factor: Red-Level Divergence
The book at Noah's feet was battered, its spine cracked from overuse. The cover, faded and torn, read:
Endgame Protocol – Director's Print, Alt. Timeline B
He didn't pick it up immediately.
Instead, he stared at the woman across from him—the rogue Reader who had just stepped through the collapsed northern railway like it was a doorway through fiction itself.
"You said I died in Chapter 22," he repeated.
"I watched it happen," she replied flatly. "Your Sector failed. The Dominion Core shattered. You were erased."
Noah bent slowly, picking up the book.
[Object Obtained: Timeline B Copy of Endgame Protocol]
Trait Synch Unstable – System will not integrate duplicate story sources
Side Effect: Cross-Route Memory Interference Possible
He flipped through the pages quickly. Handwriting. Margin notes. Names he didn't recognize. Events that had never occurred in his run. Entire arcs that had diverged from the version he knew.
"What… is this?" he muttered.
"It's a failed route," the woman answered. "One of many. Dozens of Readers like us entered the narrative. Most didn't last to Chapter 10. Fewer made it to Chapter 20."
She stepped forward, not aggressively—just calmly, like a surgeon approaching a dying patient.
"And in every route where a Usurper emerged… the system tried to rewrite him."
Noah's eyes flicked up. "Rewrite?"
"Your very existence destabilizes the narrative. You were supposed to be an observer. Not a participant. The moment you touched the Dominion Core and chose free will—you became a virus."
Noah closed the book.
"I've heard that before," he said. "But you're still here. So what's your excuse?"
She smiled thinly.
"I didn't try to change the ending. I tried to end it faster."
That made him freeze.
Before he could respond, the system chimed again.
[Synchronization Delay: Memory Drift Detected]
Risk: Cross-Route Conflict
Outcome: Unknown
"I didn't come to fight," she said. "But I needed you to see the book. And understand what's coming."
Noah folded his arms. "Then tell me plainly. What's coming?"
She hesitated.
Then:
"A world with no Readers left."
Flashback: Route B – The Burning Dome
A city swallowed by sandstorms. Fire cascading from above. Broken Dominion Cores flashing system errors.
Readers impaled. Some corrupted. Others erased mid-sentence.
The last sector fell with a scream.
And above it all, a throne made of dead plotlines.
On it sat a figure no one had seen before. Not a character. Not a Reader.
Something worse.
Not a being within the story.
But a Reader who stopped playing by the rules.
Back to Present – Danton Sector
"That's what's coming," she said. "In every timeline, one Reader figures out how to override the system. To become… more than a protagonist. He doesn't want to escape the book. He wants to become the one writing it."
Noah narrowed his eyes.
"Let me guess. His name starts with an 'R'."
"Rex Monroe."
[System Alert: Entity Classification Updated]
Rex Monroe → Variable-Type Anomaly: "Ghost Author"
Priority Level: EX
"I don't know how he does it," she said. "But when he takes a Core, the rules change. Chapters collapse. Reality folds. Readers go mad."
She stepped back.
"That's why I'm warning you. I've already seen you die once. I came here to stop it from happening again."
Noah stared.
Then: "What do you want from me?"
"I want to join your Sector."
System prompt flashed.
[Foreign Reader has requested allegiance under Danton Sector]
Register as: Co-Faction Operative
Warning: Rule of One will trigger enforcement unless granted Exception by Sector Lord.
Noah exhaled.
"You do realize I just passed a rule saying no one else can lead in my territory?"
"I don't want to lead," she said. "I want to survive."
He didn't answer immediately.
[Do you wish to make an Exception to Rule of One for Reader X?]
Y/N
He hovered over Yes.
Then paused.
"Before I do this," he said, "I need your name."
She blinked.
"…Talia."
"Talia what?"
She smiled faintly.
"In Route B, I was called Talia Vynn. In your route—who knows?"
He pressed Yes.
[Reader Talia Vynn has joined Danton Sector as a Designated Agent]
Rule of One Exception Granted
Buff: Dual Reader Synchronization Enabled
New Trait Unlocked: [Narrative Harmony – Minor]
That night, Noah sat alone in the upper rail tower.
Talia slept in one of the barricade rooms below. Seraphine was still training the survivors.
He opened both books—his version of Endgame Protocol, and the one she had given him.
Two stories.
Same beginning.
Different paths.
Different deaths.
And slowly, with dread forming in his gut, he realized something:
In Talia's book, Rex Monroe wasn't the only Reader who broke the system.
Another name had been scribbled at the bottom of Chapter 23.
One that shouldn't exist.
"Noah Graves – Exile Candidate"
His name.
As if, somewhere in some other version… he was the one who destroyed everything.