The room inside the Underground facility had gone completely silent.
Elias stood in front of the large projection screen, staring at the coordinates displayed across it. Antarctica.
The word alone felt strange.
For months, they had been chasing Echo zones across deserts, cities, laboratories and ruined structures. They had watched the future bleed into the present in places where it had no right to exist. They had seen Remnant ships appear in the sky, Chronovores tear through unstable zones, and entire cities become trapped between timelines.
But now the Archivist was pointing them toward one specific location.
One place.
One source.
Antarctica.
Sola stood beside Elias with her arms folded, staring at the coordinates.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
The Archivist's voice came through the speakers.
"I do not use the concept of certainty in the same way humans do."
Sola sighed.
"That wasn't an answer."
A pause followed.
Then the digital intelligence responded.
"The probability that the coordinates correspond to the primary synchronization structure is ninety-eight point seven percent."
Elias looked at the screen.
"And the other one point three percent?"
"Unknown."
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
The screen displayed a satellite image of Antarctica.
Most of the continent looked exactly as Elias expected. Endless white terrain. Mountains. Ice fields stretching toward the horizon.
Then the Archivist highlighted a small region near the center of the continent.
A red circle appeared.
"There," it said.
Elias leaned closer.
At first he saw nothing.
Just ice.
Then the image changed.
Different satellite scans began appearing one after another.
Normal satellite imagery.
Thermal imaging.
Radar.
Gravitational mapping.
Temporal resonance scans.
Each image revealed something different.
The first showed an empty frozen landscape.
The second revealed a strange circular depression beneath the ice.
The third showed an enormous energy signature buried several kilometers below the surface.
The fourth made Elias step backward.
Something was underneath the continent.
Something massive.
Sola stared at the projection.
"How deep?"
"Approximately eleven kilometers."
Elias frowned.
"That's impossible."
"It should be," the Archivist replied.
The image zoomed in.
The energy signature expanded across the screen.
It wasn't a building.
It wasn't a machine in the traditional sense either.
It looked more like a massive network buried beneath the ice.
Countless circular structures connected by enormous lines.
The lines stretched outward in every direction, disappearing beneath the continent before reaching the ocean.
Elias felt a strange pressure building inside his head.
He stepped closer.
The moment his eyes focused on the image—
A vision hit him.
He saw Antarctica.
But there was no ice.
The entire continent had been transformed.
Massive towers rose from the ground.
Structures larger than cities stretched toward a dark sky.
Thousands of lights moved across the landscape.
Above everything stood a gigantic circular machine.
It was almost impossible to comprehend its size.
Its outer ring extended beyond the horizon.
Energy flowed through it like rivers of blue fire.
Elias stood beneath it.
Older.
Much older.
His hands were covered in blood.
People were screaming around him.
Something was shaking violently in the sky.
Then he saw the machine activate.
A pulse of light exploded outward.
It crossed the planet.
Cities disappeared.
The oceans changed.
The sky split open.
And for one brief second, Elias saw hundreds of versions of Earth layered on top of one another.
Past.
Present.
Future.
All occupying the same space.
Then the vision changed.
He saw the same machine again.
But this time it was broken.
The massive ring had cracked apart.
Pieces of it floated above Antarctica.
And standing in front of the ruined structure was another version of himself.
Elias stared at him.
The older version slowly turned.
Their eyes met.
Then the man spoke.
"Don't activate it."
The vision shattered.
Elias stumbled backward.
Sola caught his arm before he fell.
"Elias?"
He breathed heavily.
His face had gone pale.
"What did you see?"
He looked at her.
"The machine."
Sola's expression tightened.
"What machine?"
Elias stared at the projection.
"The Grand Sync Engine."
The room became completely silent.
The Archivist spoke again.
"That designation is correct."
Sola slowly turned toward the speakers.
"You knew?"
"I suspected."
"You said the coordinates led to the Source Point."
"They do."
Elias looked at the screen.
"And the Source Point is the Grand Sync Engine?"
"Yes."
He swallowed.
"Then what exactly is it?"
The Archivist remained silent for several seconds.
When it finally responded, its voice sounded different.
Less mechanical.
Almost cautious.
"The Grand Sync Engine is the largest temporal synchronization device ever constructed."
Elias stared at the screen.
"Constructed by who?"
Another pause.
"Humanity."
Sola looked at Elias.
"Future humanity?"
"Yes."
Elias shook his head slowly.
"So they built it to send people backward through time?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"The original purpose was not migration."
Elias frowned.
"Then what was it built for?"
The Archivist displayed another image.
A massive diagram appeared.
It showed Earth surrounded by countless overlapping rings.
"Temporal stabilization."
Elias studied the diagram.
"The future was already collapsing," the Archivist continued. "Humanity discovered that the instability was not limited to their own timeline. Temporal degradation was propagating backward."
Sola's expression changed.
"The Lapse."
"Yes."
Elias felt a chill move through him.
"So the Lapse existed before the Remnant started coming here?"
"Yes."
"Then they didn't cause it?"
"Not entirely."
The room fell silent again.
Elias stared at the diagram.
"What does that mean?"
The Archivist didn't answer immediately.
Instead, another image appeared.
A timeline.
It stretched across the screen like a glowing thread.
Then cracks began appearing across it.
One crack.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
The timeline fractured into countless branches.
"The Grand Sync Engine was designed to reconnect fractured timelines," the Archivist said.
Elias slowly understood.
"They were trying to repair time."
"Yes."
"Then what went wrong?"
The Archivist's voice became quieter.
"The synchronization failed."
The screen went black.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a single word appeared.
LAPSE
Elias stared at it.
"The failed synchronization created the Echoes?"
"Partially."
"The Chronite?"
"Partially."
"The Reverse Echo?"
A pause.
"Yes."
Elias felt his stomach tighten.
Sola looked at him.
The answer had clearly affected her too.
Elias stepped toward the screen.
"And me?"
The Archivist didn't respond.
"Tell me."
Silence.
"Archivist."
Finally, the screen changed.
A profile appeared.
A human silhouette.
Then a name.
ELIAS THORNE
Underneath it was a date.
9,800 YEARS FROM NOW.
Elias stared at the screen.
His breathing slowed.
The room seemed to disappear around him.
Sola whispered his name.
But Elias barely heard her.
The Archivist continued.
"Your genetic structure matches historical records recovered from the final synchronization period."
Elias looked toward the speakers.
"What records?"
"Project Echo-Sync."
His heart sank.
Again.
That name.
The same name that had followed him through every discovery.
The same name that seemed connected to everything.
The satellite.
Chronite.
The Echoes.
The Lapse.
The Grand Sync Engine.
And now Antarctica.
Elias looked at the coordinates again.
"So I'm supposed to go there."
Sola shook her head.
"No."
Elias turned toward her.
"No?"
"You don't understand what you're asking."
"Then explain it."
She hesitated.
"We've spent years trying to locate the Source Point."
"And now we know where it is."
"Yes."
"So we go."
Sola looked toward the screen.
"That's exactly what everyone else will be thinking."
Elias understood immediately.
The DTS would want it.
Aegis would want it.
Ouroboros would want it.
The Remnant would want it.
Everyone fighting the war would eventually come looking for the same thing.
The Grand Sync Engine.
The source of the Echoes.
The machine capable of changing the timeline.
Elias looked at the coordinates one more time.
"What happens if someone activates it?"
The Archivist answered.
"The probability of global temporal collapse increases dramatically."
"And if we destroy it?"
Another pause.
"Unknown."
Elias looked at Sola.
"That's reassuring."
She didn't smile.
"The Grand Sync Engine may be the only thing capable of stopping the Lapse."
Elias stared at the screen.
"But it might also be the thing causing it."
Sola nodded.
"Exactly."
The room suddenly shook.
A low vibration passed through the facility.
Lights flickered overhead.
The Archivist's projection distorted.
Then an alarm began screaming.
Everyone in the room turned toward the entrance.
"What happened?" Elias asked.
A technician rushed toward one of the terminals.
"Temporal spike!"
Sola immediately moved toward the control station.
"Where?"
The technician looked terrified.
"Multiple locations."
"How many?"
"Too many."
The main screen suddenly filled with red markers.
One appeared over Europe.
Another over Asia.
Three more across North America.
Then Africa.
South America.
Australia.
The entire planet began lighting up.
Elias stared in disbelief.
The Echo zones were multiplying.
The Archivist spoke.
"The Lapse is accelerating."
The lights flickered again.
Then the facility shook violently.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Somewhere outside, an alarm began screaming.
Sola looked at Elias.
"We need to move."
"Where?"
She stared at the glowing coordinates of Antarctica.
"The Source Point."
Elias looked at the screen one final time.
The Grand Sync Engine was waiting beneath eleven kilometers of ice.
And somehow, deep inside him, he already knew one terrifying truth.
He had seen it before.
Not in a vision.
Not in a memory.
But somewhere far ahead in time.
He had stood beside it.
And whatever happened there—
Had started everything.