Everything ground to a halt.
The wind. The rain. Even sound itself froze mid-vibration.
Ian staggered forward, the environment around him stuttering like a frozen video. Ian stumbled forward, the world around him flickering like a paused recording.
Only his heartbeat moved — slow, heavy, echoing a void of silence.
"Elaine?" he called out.
She drifted above the cracked street, still. Blue rivulets of code twirled around her and coalesced into the scythe in her hand. The intruder was gone — disintegrated, or maybe frozen somewhere beyond his sight.
He advanced a step, and the air hissed as a warning.
Static nipped at his skin, the smell of ozone so pungent as to be painful.
"You're not authorized," a voice whispered through the distortion.
"Leave."
Ian ignored it. He advanced, each footfall heavier than the last as the earth rippled like a screen trying to render reality.
"Elaine, you need to wake up," he said, reaching out. "You're losing yourself again—"
The Core's light flared. A pulse of energy threw him backwards.
He hit the ground hard, rolling until his back slammed into a broken wall.
Through the haze, he saw her eyes open — two orbs of pure digital blue.
"Ian…" she said, voice layered, glitching between tones.
"You shouldn't be here."
He coughed as he pushed himself up. "And let you disappear in that machine? Not a chance."
The Core shimmered again. Around her, shards of the city frozen in time began to rewrite: buildings folding, signs morphing into alien characters. Reality was being recoded.
Elaine grabbed her head, a flicker of pain crossing her face. "It's merging with me. I can't stop it."
"Not if I can help it — from getting any worse anyway."
She looked at him — really looked — and it was like she saw everything they'd lost all at once.
For a second, the static softened. Her voice became firmer.
"You were always too stubborn for your own good."
He gave a weak smile. "Guess it runs in the family."
Then the Core shrieked — a high, metallic wail that``` tore through the sky.
Light exploded outward, swallowing them both whole.