The city didn't sleep that night. Neon veins pulsed across Velridge as if it were alive, breathing through the smog and static. Every streetlight flickered in rhythm with the sphere in my pocket. Each pulse whispered a fragment of a memory I couldn't fully hear.
The cat stayed close, quiet for once. Its eyes reflected the light from the holographic signs, making it look like a ghost moving beside me.
The Bureau's old headquarters stood in the east quarter, long abandoned, sealed after the "incident." But I knew they never truly left. A place like that doesn't stay dead. Not when it's built on stolen memories.
When I reached the building, the main door opened before I even touched it. The air inside was colder than outside, smelling faintly of ozone and old metal.
The corridor was lined with broken screens. My name flickered faintly on one of them, along with a date that didn't exist.
"Elior," the cat murmured. "I don't like this."
"Neither do I," I said, stepping deeper into the dark.
The elevator at the end of the hallway hummed to life on its own. The doors opened, revealing a single button marked "Sublevel 9." I pressed it. The elevator descended in silence, the hum growing louder until it felt like a heartbeat.
When the doors opened again, I was greeted by rows of glass pods. Each one contained a person sleeping in blue light, their faces serene and still.
Copies.
Hundreds of them.
Some looked like me. Others didn't. But they all carried the same symbol — the Bureau's crest, etched into their skin.
I approached one of the pods and placed my hand on the glass. The sphere in my pocket vibrated violently. The person inside opened their eyes.
They looked exactly like me.
"Elior?" he whispered.
I stepped back. "Who are you?"
"The first one," he said. His voice cracked, dry like it hadn't been used in years. "You're the copy they made after me. They needed someone to finish the investigation when I failed."
The cat hissed softly. "Failed how?"
He looked up. "By falling in love with her. The Architect. The Bureau saw it as corruption in the data. They erased me, but she tried to save what was left. That's how the loop began."
He pressed his hand against the glass. "They trapped her in the code, Elior. She became part of the city's core memory. Every time we die, the city resets, and she forgets a little more of who she was."
I clenched my fists. "How do I stop it?"
"You can't. Not alone. You need both halves — me and you — to merge the core. But if we merge, one of us won't survive."
The lights flickered. Alarms began to wail. The pods around us hissed as power surged through the system.
The cat jumped onto a control panel. "Security's coming. We have to move."
The first Elior smiled faintly. "You'll find the Architect at the top of the clocktower. Eleven forty-seven. Don't be late."
The pod's glass shattered suddenly as a surge of electricity tore through the room. I grabbed the sphere and ran, the cat darting beside me as the entire sublevel erupted in sparks.
As I reached the elevator, I looked back one last time. The first Elior was gone. Only the sound of the alarms and the blue glow of the pods remained.
When I reached the surface, the rain had turned crimson again.
The cat spoke between breaths. "So the first one loved her enough to break the system. And now it's your turn to finish what he started."
I looked at the skyline where the clocktower stood, half-shrouded in clouds. "Then tomorrow night, Ill end the loop one way or another."
The sphere pulsed again, this time in rhythm with my heartbeat.
Only twenty four hours remained.