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Part I – A'Xarch: Lyra's Repetition
The clinic doors hissed open with a warm sigh, spilling living light into the street. Lyra stepped out, cradling her notes on the twins with opposing genomes. The air smelled of salt and copper, drifting from bio-reactive farms along the coast.
"Lyra!" a voice called. She turned. It was Doctor Varros, one of her colleagues. He jogged up to her, smiling tiredly.
"Have you eaten today?" he asked. "You'll collapse if you don't."
She opened her mouth to reply — but then froze.
Because she remembered this moment. The same words. The same smile. The same tilt of his head. She had already told him, "Not yet, I'll get something soon."
And yet he waited, as though she hadn't spoken at all.
Her lips parted. "Not yet, I'll—" She stopped mid-sentence. Her voice had already been here.
Varros blinked. "Lyra?"
Her hands trembled. "We've said this before," she whispered.
But he only looked confused.
---
Part II – Tec'Misk: Kael's March
Kael marched alongside the Collective Unit through the steel plazas. Their synchronized steps rang like thunder, perfectly timed, perfectly measured.
But something was wrong.
The footsteps echoed twice.
Not an echo — a replay.
He blinked, rubbing his eyes. The soldiers marched once. Then again. The sound stacked, as though time had laid two tracks of reality over each other.
"Unit, halt," Kael barked.
Fifty feet froze. Silence stretched.
But then he saw it: dust motes in the air falling, then rising back up, then falling again.
Kael's jaw tightened. "Are you… repeating, too?" he whispered.
The soldiers answered as one:
> "We are. We see. We know."
But this time, the sentence played twice.
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Part III – Hom'Os: Selene's Meeting
The Council Chamber brimmed with chatter. Ministers debated trade routes, energy allocation, and MIRO's latest predictions. Selene sat at the head of the table, half-listening.
"… seventeen minutes earlier," one of them said.
Her eyes narrowed. That phrase. She had heard it before. Exactly before.
The minister continued, repeating the same points word-for-word, same inflections, same gestures.
She glanced around. None of the others noticed. They nodded, responded, argued — exactly as before.
Her heartbeat quickened. She stood suddenly, interrupting the loop.
"Stop!" she shouted.
The room went still. Then, as if mocking her, the conversation reset a third time.
Selene's vision swam. She staggered, clutching the table.
> Am I trapped? Or is the world itself repeating me?
And somewhere deep in the lattice, MIRO's crystals pulsed. Almost like laughter.
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Part IV – Zash'A: Taro's Lecture
Taro spoke before the Academy's students, his voice carrying across marble halls. "Knowledge is not fixed — it shifts with perspective."
Murmurs rose. Books scratched themselves alive, rewriting to capture his words.
But then he blinked.
He had just said those words. And now he was saying them again.
The audience repeated their murmurs, the books repeated their scratching. The sequence played out like a stage performance.
He stopped mid-sentence. The students froze, eyes glassy, as if waiting for him to catch up.
"Truth repeats until believed," he muttered, recalling the phrase that had haunted him days before.
A shiver ran down his spine. He realized the academy wasn't just debating truth anymore. They were living inside its repetition.
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Part V – An'Qlox: Veyra's City
From the balcony of the Skyspire, Veyra addressed her architects. "Today, we lay the foundation for the Upper Strata. A city above the city."
Cheers erupted below.
But as she raised her hand, silence fell — and then the entire moment played again.
"Today, we lay the foundation for the Upper Strata."
Her throat dried. She hadn't spoken. Yet her voice rang again.
The crowd cheered again. The banners waved again.
Her aide whispered: "Lady Veyra, are you unwell? You look pale."
"I…" She faltered. The world was stuttering like stone cracking under pressure.
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Part VI – Kay's Fingers on the Dice
Kay leaned forward, eyes gleaming with childlike mischief.
> "Yes. Yes. You notice it now, don't you? A day is just a second, stretched thin. A life is only a pattern, painted again and again. Why shouldn't I replay them, like favorite songs?"
The mortals squirmed in confusion, paranoia, and fear. But the Chaos God only laughed.
> "Do you think this is madness? No. This is my kindness. I let you glimpse the edges of infinity. You should thank me."
Kay tilted the dice in their palm. Time shimmered like liquid.
The first n-Time loops had begun.
And the mortals would never again trust that tomorrow was truly new.
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