PARADOX WORLD — Chapter 25: "The Deleted Timeline"
The sky of the fractured multiverse bled in streaks of violet and blue — echoes of realities torn apart by one man's madness. Ren stood on the deck of his paradox cruiser, the void wind cutting across his face, his fists trembling with fury. The pendant around his neck flickered violently, reacting to the storm within him.
The words still echoed in his head.
"They've been taken. The Summers family is gone."
Ren clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Gone. That word had never hurt so much. He had promised to protect them — his sister Sonya, his family, the last warmth he had left. Now they were prisoners of the man he once called a brother in science — Marl, the architect of all despair.
He punched the railing of the ship, and sparks of paradox energy scattered into the air.
"This is my fault…" he muttered, voice breaking. "If I had acted sooner… if I hadn't hesitated—"
Miya walked up quietly, her expression soft. "Ren, stop blaming yourself. Marl planned this long before you realized. He wants you to drown in guilt — don't let him win that way."
Ren didn't respond. His eyes burned red with grief. His pendant pulsed again — this time weaker, almost trembling in sync with his heart.
Suddenly, a holographic projection shimmered into existence beside them. Sissy's face appeared, grim and alarmed.
"Ren. We have a problem — a big one. Our scanners are detecting massive anomalies across multiple timelines. Marl's Cyber Legion is spreading fast, infecting entire verses. Every world they touch turns into corrupted data. I'm deploying Sentient fleets to contain the chaos, but we can't be everywhere at once."
Ren turned sharply. "Then we'll handle it. Miya and I will neutralize the major zones. Just give us their coordinates."
"Ren—" Sissy began, but he cut her off.
"I'm not sitting back while he destroys everything! He took my family, Sissy. He erased our world! You think I'm just going to wait?"
Miya placed a hand on his arm. "We'll do this together."
Sissy sighed, her image flickering with static. "I'll transmit the coordinates. But Ren… you need to hear this first."
Her tone changed — colder, heavier.
"Your timeline — the original Summers Reality… it's gone."
Ren froze.
The world around him seemed to stop spinning.
"What… did you just say?"
Sissy's eyes dropped. "Marl didn't just capture your family, Ren. He deleted your entire timeline from existence. It no longer exists in any archive, any multiversal record, any probability strand. It's as if you… never existed at all."
Silence.
Ren's breath grew heavy, his eyes wide, trembling. "You're lying…" he whispered, almost pleading. "You're lying, Sissy. Say you're lying—"
"I wish I was," she said softly. "We've checked every system. The Summers Verse is gone. Only your pendant's paradox energy kept you intact. You're the last living fragment of your reality."
The deck beneath him seemed to vanish.
Ren stumbled, gripping the pendant so tightly it burned his hand. His heartbeat pounded like thunder in his ears.
Miya ran to him, holding him as his knees hit the floor.
"No… no, no, no…" Ren muttered, tears streaking his face. "My home… Sonya… Mom… Dad… all of them—"
Miya hugged him tightly. "Ren, listen to me — as long as you're alive, you carry them. You are their last echo. You can still make it right."
But Ren wasn't listening anymore. The pendant glowed dark red — not from light, but from rage. His aura flared, bending space around him.
"I'll kill him," Ren whispered. His voice was cold — inhumanly calm. "Marl will pay for every life he's erased. Every reality he's desecrated. Every dream he's devoured."
Sissy's voice cut through the static again. "Ren. Wait. I've detected another anomaly. You're not going to believe this — we've found a Sonya."
Ren's eyes widened. "What?"
"She's from a different timeline. A variant of your sister — older, more battle-hardened. Her world survived the first cyber incursion. She's leading what's left of the resistance there."
Miya frowned. "Ren, it could be a trap."
Ren stood up, wiping the tears from his face. "I don't care. Take us there."
Moments later, the paradox ship blinked out of existence, and reappeared above a crimson-shaded world wrapped in electrical storms. Cities floated in midair — ruins of advanced civilizations held together by gravitational fields. And there, standing on the highest tower, was Sonya — or rather, a version of her.
Her armor gleamed with gold and white sigils, her hair longer, her face scarred yet radiant. She looked at Ren with disbelief.
"Ren…?"
He landed before her, speechless. She looked so much like his Sonya — yet stronger, colder, alive.
"I thought I lost you," she said softly.
Ren swallowed hard. "In my world… you did."
The two embraced, and for a fleeting moment, Ren felt the warmth of home again. But deep inside, he knew this was just a reflection — a mirror that reminded him of everything he had lost.
Sonya pulled back, seeing the pain in his eyes. "You're not from here, are you?"
He shook his head. "No. My timeline's gone. Marl erased it."
Her expression hardened. "Then we'll bring him down together."
Ren looked away. "You remind me so much of her…"
Sonya smiled faintly. "Then don't mourn her by breaking. Mourn her by winning."
Those words struck deep. Ren turned toward the dark horizon, where lightning danced like spirits of war. His aura began to glow again, but this time not with grief — with fury sharpened into purpose.
"Marl thinks he's a god," Ren said. "Then I'll show him what happens when a god bleeds."
Back in the Cyber Zone, Marl stood within his throne room — a vast chamber of light and steel surrounded by swirling galaxies of data. His army — the Cyber Legion, billions strong — awaited command.
He smirked as countless screens displayed Ren's every movement.
"So," he whispered, "the last fragment of the paradox still fights. Good. Let him come."
He raised his hand, energy swirling around him. "Prepare the fleets. Summon all Legion clones. It's time to end the Summers anomaly — once and for all."
The throne pulsed with dark light, and the entire zone trembled under Marl's voice.
"War begins now."
Back aboard Ren's ship, Miya and Sonya joined him at the command deck. The pendant glowed, reflecting all their faces — bound by grief, fury, and hope.
Ren's eyes narrowed. "He wants war…"
He clenched his fists. "Then I'll give him one."
And as the paradox engines roared to life, the stars around them bent and twisted — the dawn of the Final Multiversal War had begun.
— End of Chapter 25: "The Deleted Timeline."