Mira didn't start talking right away.
She sat on the cool grass, knees pulled to her chest, staring at the sky like she was memorizing it. The park was peacefultoo peaceful. Children laughed near a fountain. A couple walked their dog. A man sold balloons shaped like cartoon animals.
Normal.
Fake-normal.
Aarav felt like he was wearing someone else's world like a costume.
"You said you'd explain," he said softly.
Mira exhaled. "Yeah. I will. I just… need to figure out how to say it without breaking you."
"I've seen cities scream and gods glitch," he said. "I think I can handle it."
She gave him a weak smile. "That's what they all say."
She leaned back on her hands.
"Reality," she began, "is not a single timeline. It's not even a collection of timelines. It's a system."
"A system of what?"
"Experiments."
Aarav's stomach tightened.
"Who's running them?" he asked.
Mira looked at him.
"The Architects."
A child ran past them, chasing a blue balloon.
Aarav swallowed. "You said they decide which universes deserve to exist."
"They test them," Mira said. "They change variables. Introduce anomalies. Remove key individuals. Trigger disasters. Then they observe what happens."
"That's sick."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Mira hesitated.
Then: "To find the perfect reality."
Aarav laughed bitterly. "That doesn't exist."
"They don't believe that."
Aarav rubbed his face. "So Drift-City…"
"Was a failed reality," Mira said. "It drifted too far from their acceptable parameters."
"And they just erased it."
"Yes."
"People lived there."
Mira's voice cracked. "People live everywhere."
Aarav stared at the sky.
"How many realities have they destroyed?"
Mira didn't answer.
He took that as his answer.
His phone buzzed.
> WARNING: ARCHITECT TRACE DETECTED
STABILITY WINDOW: 9 MINUTES
He showed it to her.
She swore quietly. "They're scanning nearby nodes."
"Nodes?"
"Universes," she said. "They're narrowing in on us."
Aarav clenched his fists. "Then tell me faster."
Mira nodded.
"Witnesses," she said, "are anomalies they can't predict."
"Why?"
"Because you don't belong to any single timeline anymore."
Aarav frowned. "What does that mean?"
"When you saw the glitch," she said, "your existence fractured. You became… quantum."
"Please tell me that's not as bad as it sounds."
"It's worse."
She pulled up a holographic display from her wrist device. It showed countless threadssome bright, some fading.
"These are probability lines," she said. "Normal people exist on one. When that line ends, they die."
She pointed at Aarav's chest.
"You exist on many."
Aarav felt cold. "So I'm immortal?"
"No," Mira said. "You're unstable."
"Comforting."
She continued. "Witnesses can't be fully erased because parts of them exist in too many realities at once. The Architects hate that."
"Because I break their control."
"Yes."
Aarav was quiet.
Then: "You said I could become a weapon."
Mira nodded slowly.
"Witnesses can rewrite probability," she said. "You don't just observe fractures. You decide how they collapse."
Aarav shook his head. "I didn't decide anything. I just wanted that thing to stop."
"And it did," she said. "Because you willed it."
"That's not possible."
Mira met his eyes. "None of this should be."
A gust of wind passed through the park.
For a moment, the trees flickered.
Aarav noticed.
Mira noticed.
Their eyes locked.
"They're getting close," she whispered.
Aarav's heart sped up. "What happens when they catch me?"
Mira didn't sugarcoat it.
"They dissect your existence."
"Like… physically?"
"No," she said. "Conceptually."
He felt nauseous.
"They'll separate your probability threads," she continued. "Test what makes you anomalous. Then they'll either replicate it… or delete it."
"And me?"
"You're part of the 'it.'"
Aarav stared at the children playing.
"They'd kill me to understand me."
"Yes."
Aarav laughed softly. "Figures."
Mira leaned forward. "You don't have to let that happen."
"Do I get a choice?"
She nodded.
"Join us."
"Us?"
"The Drifters," she said. "People who live between realities. Hack probability. Rescue collapsing worlds. Steal data from the Archive. Hide anomalies like you."
Aarav blinked. "That sounds like a cosmic crime syndicate."
She smirked. "We prefer 'multiversal resistance.'"
Aarav exhaled slowly.
"So either I hide… or I fight gods."
"Basically."
He stared at the sky again.
"…Do you ever get used to this?"
Mira's expression softened.
"No."
The wind picked up.
The fountain flickered.
A man walking his dog froze mid-step.
The dog loopedwalking the same three steps again.
Aarav stood.
"They're here," he said.
Mira jumped to her feet. "We need to move."
"Where?"
She hesitated.
"There's a place," she said. "Hidden. Outside Architect scans."
"Where?"
She met his eyes.
"The Archive's blind spot."
Aarav's chest tightened.
"The Archive has a blind spot?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
Mira swallowed.
"Us."
The sky darkened.
Not with clouds.
With geometry.
Shapes formedvast, precise, impossible.
The Architects were recalculating.
Mira grabbed Aarav's hand.
"Run."
They sprinted as the park began to unravel.
People froze.
Sounds stretched.
The fountain turned into lines.
Reality screamed.
Aarav felt pressure in his skull.
His chest burned.
The symbol ignited.
"I don't know where to go!" he shouted.
Mira yelled back, "Then choose!"
"Choose what?!"
"Which reality survives!"
Aarav tripped.
Fell.
The world slowed.
He saw threadscountless possible paths.
Some led to death.
Some to capture.
Some to worlds he couldn't even imagine.
He closed his eyes.
"I don't want to be a god," he whispered.
But he reached anyway.
And pulled.
The world collapsed
And reformed.
They were no longer in the park.
They stood on a floating bridge made of light, stretching into infinity.
Below them
Nothing.
Mira stared.
"Aarav…"
He looked at her.
"What did I do?"
She whispered, "You just created a pocket reality."
Aarav's breath caught.
"I can do that?"
Mira nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Aarav felt a chill crawl down his spine.
Somewhere, far beyond sight
Something noticed.