Wind rushed into Aether's lungs as he gasped awake—again.
Rain.
Cold pavement.
The crooked lamppost.
The overturned cart.
And the golden words materializing like a cruel joke carved into fate:
[Editorial Note: The protagonist awakens.]
But something was different.
The rain no longer felt like water.
It felt… heavy.
Thick.
Almost like ink sliding across his skin.
Aether wiped his face, and his fingers came away stained with faint black streaks.
The loop is degrading.
He rose slowly this time, pushing against the numbness in his legs, trying not to panic. Because panic attracted them—the shadows. He sensed it now, intuitively, like an instinct wired into bone.
The ground trembled lightly.
But the tall shadow was not here.
Not yet.
Instead, another line of text shimmered beside him:
[Loop 3 Initiated]
[Cognitive Resistance: Increasing]
[Fragment Stability: 7%]
Aether exhaled.
"…Good. I'm adjusting."
The world still warped around the edges, but his mind wasn't drowning in it anymore. He remembered everything—the chase, the child-shadow, the collapsing reality.
And the words that stabbed him deeper than any blade:
"You erased yourself… Aether Caelum Noctis."
He needed answers.
For the first time, he decided not to walk the street or flee the shadows.
He stepped into a small side alley he hadn't noticed before.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, the world shivered—as if acknowledging a new branch.
Golden letters chimed:
[Deviation Successful]
[Abyssal Convergence Reduced]
Aether allowed himself one shaky breath.
The alley was silent except for the drip of rain falling from rusted pipes. A single door stood at the far end—a wooden one, warped, old, out of place among the metal and concrete structures of the street.
Aether approached.
Something tugged inside his mind.
Familiar…
He touched the handle.
The sigil on his arm pulsed.
Dark sand swirled beneath his skin.
And then—
a whisper seeped from the door's cracks:
"Knock once for truth.
Twice for memory.
Thrice… for regression."
Aether's blood chilled.
Before he could react, new text appeared:
[Warning: Unstable Memory Anchor Detected Behind Door]
[Recommended Action: Knock Twice]
"Memory… anchor?" Aether murmured.
He raised his fist and knocked twice.
The sound was swallowed immediately—no echo, no resonance. Just silence.
Then—
CLICK.
The door opened by itself.
Aether stepped inside.
And the world changed.
---
Instead of a room, he stood within a vast, dim expanse—like stepping into the interior of a forgotten cathedral. Tall pillars loomed in the fog. The floor was made of black water reflecting faint constellations.
Floating above the water were hundreds of papers, each glowing faintly, each containing words written in different scripts and languages.
Some were torn.
Some burned at the edges.
Some rewritten dozens of times.
Aether reached for the nearest one.
It dissolved into swirling symbols, then reformed into a sentence:
"Aether Caelum Noctis — erased from the Astral Manuscript."
His breath caught.
The next page read:
"Cause of Erasure: Self-Nullification."
"No…" Aether whispered. "That's impossible. Why would I erase myself?"
As if hearing him, the papers rustled.
A new one floated down, landing in his hand gently.
He unfolded it with trembling fingers.
This one wasn't a record.
It was… a letter.
The handwriting was delicate, elegant, familiar.
Aether,
If you are reading this, then the loop is already consuming you.
Know this: you chose oblivion to protect something greater.
And you must not remember what it is.
Not yet.
— C.
His vision blurred.
C.
The initial sparked something inside him—a flash of warmth, pain, longing.
But before he could grasp it, the black water rippled violently.
A small shape emerged from the fog.
Aether froze.
The child-shadow.
Except now, it had… a face.
Not clear, not human—more like a mask of shifting ink, with two hollow white circles for eyes. It tilted its head, mimicking curiosity.
"Y-you…" Aether stepped back. "You followed me."
The small shadow raised a hand.
Words formed above it in shimmering ink:
[Paradox Spawn — "Echo-Child"]
[Purpose: Correct Narrative Anomalies]
"Correct…?" Aether whispered. "Correct what?"
The child pointed directly at the letters in his hand—the letter from "C."
Then it spoke, its voice quiet, childlike, but dripping with cosmic authority:
"You weren't supposed to remember that."
The papers around them began to scream—literally—each page emitting a thin, tearing wail as they dissolved into black vapor.
Aether stumbled, feeling reality unravel under his feet.
Golden warnings exploded around him:
[Memory Anchor Overloaded]
[Forced Reset Imminent]
[Danger: Loop 3 Collapse May Spawn Higher Shadows]
The child-shadow reached toward him, hand pale and ink-stained.
"Come back to the script, Aether."
Aether clenched his teeth.
"NO!"
He ripped the letter from its grasping reach.
The shadow twitched violently—its form splitting with cracks of white light.
Aether shouted into the collapsing cathedral of pages:
"C—who are you to me?!"
The pages answered in unison, their voices echoing like a dying constellation:
"Your promise."
The world shattered before he could breathe.
White.
Then—nothing.