The world unfolded like glass fracturing under pressure.
Adrian's boots sank into a floor made of mirrored light — each reflection flickering with a memory not his own.Neon veins pulsed beneath his feet, leading toward a single figure in the distance.
Marcus Vance.
Or rather, the ghost that wore his face.
"You really should've stayed dead," Marcus said, voice echoing from every direction at once. "You've already broken the rules once. There won't be a second time."
Adrian's pulse thundered. "You made me what I am."
Marcus smiled thinly. "No, Adrian. You made me what I am. Every time you rebuilt, every time you refused to die — the system had to adapt. You didn't resurrect… you infected."
The world shifted — the mirrored floor turned to water, rippling with images of the past:his father shaking hands with Charles Ward, Elena smiling through flickering static, the burning tower collapsing again and again.
Adrian gritted his teeth. "If you think you can bury the truth behind smoke and mirrors—"
Marcus cut him off. "Truth?"He gestured, and the sky shattered.Dozens of holographic projections fell like shards — memories of Project Nadir.
— Adrian's father standing before the Board.— Marcus Ward holding a neural sphere.— Elena, a child, being fitted with her first neural node.
"They didn't create you to rewrite fate," Marcus said, stepping closer. "They created you to test how much of a soul could be replaced."
The words hit harder than any weapon.
Adrian's voice was low. "You're lying."
Marcus laughed — hollow, bitter. "You are the lie. Nadir wasn't about resurrection. It was about replication."
The world twisted again — now they were in a simulation of Vance Tower, pristine and whole.The air smelled of ozone and rain. Elena stood by the window, alive, radiant, turning toward him.
"Adrian," she whispered. "You came back."
His breath caught. "Elena…"
Marcus circled behind her like a phantom conductor. "See? Even your mind wants the illusion. The human instinct to cling to ghosts."
Adrian reached toward her — and his hand passed through. The image flickered.Not Elena — a projection. A memory echo.
"You could live here," Marcus said softly. "No pain. No loss. Just her. Forever."
The offer was poison wrapped in longing.
Adrian's jaw clenched. "She wouldn't want that."
Marcus's smile faded. "Wouldn't she? Or do you just need her to be the reason you keep fighting?"
Silence stretched. The rain outside the illusion began to slow — droplets hanging midair, frozen by the code.
Adrian stepped closer. "You built this for yourself. To keep pretending you're still human."
Marcus's face twisted — for the first time, genuine anger.
"And you think you're any different? You're not the man you were. You're an echo built on stolen code!"
The world cracked — glass walls splintering, light bleeding out.
Adrian drew in a long breath. "Maybe. But at least I still remember why I was human."
He lunged.
The two collided — code versus consciousness. Sparks flew as their neural fields clashed, data fracturing like lightning.Adrian forced the system to overload, sending waves of static across the simulation.
Marcus's voice roared in his mind.
"You can't kill me. I am the architecture!"
Adrian gritted his teeth, pushing harder. "Then I'll rewrite the damn code."
He slammed his fist into the ground — and the world imploded.
[Reality – The Subnet Hub]
Ava shouted as alarms blared.
"His vitals are spiking! Neural overload at 87%—"
Lydia grabbed her arm. "Can you pull him out?"
"I can try! But if I sever the connection now, we could lose both him and the data!"
The console screens flickered violently — the hologram of Adrian's neural signature burning bright red.
Then, for a heartbeat — silence.
Ava froze. "He's… stabilizing."
Lydia leaned over her shoulder. "What's happening?"
The main display cleared, revealing two signatures instead of one.
Ava whispered, horrified:
"No… that's impossible. There are two active neural patterns. Marcus is still inside."
[Digital Plane]
Smoke. Silence.
Adrian stood amid the ruins of the shattered simulation, breathing hard.Across from him, Marcus's image flickered, damaged — a ghost with cracks in his face of light.
"You think you've won," Marcus said, voice glitching. "But you've only divided us."
Adrian looked at him, calm but grim. "Then let's see which part survives."
Marcus's image began to dissolve — but as he faded, he smiled.
"Every copy remembers the original."
And then he was gone.
Adrian looked around — the void slowly stabilizing into a dim, quiet digital field.And then — a whisper behind him.
"Elena?"
He turned — and saw her.
Not a memory this time, not a projection.Her form was faint, but her eyes… they recognized him.
"Adrian," she said softly. "You found me."