For the first time since this madness began—
No one had a joke.
Not even Rohan.
The ruined Berlin vault stood silent under the sound of distant rain, but it no longer felt like a battlefield.
It felt like the waiting room before the end of the world.
Aarav stared at the place where Nysera's transmission had vanished.
The First Origin.
Not dead.
Not erased.
Imprisoned.
And now, possibly waking.
Somewhere beneath the Arctic ice, humanity had buried what Nysera called—
It's the first god.
That title alone was enough to make breathing difficult.
Rohan finally spoke.
Very softly.
"…I would like to go back to exams."
A completely reasonable request.
Denied by reality.
Mira crossed her arms, violet eyes sharp.
"If the prison has opened, then the Null Sovereign is no longer the immediate problem."
Aelina nodded.
"Because if the First Origin wakes before we reach him…"
She didn't finish.
She didn't need to.
Selene did.
"He will decide whether this world deserves to continue."
Comforting.
Very comforting.
Aarav exhaled slowly.
"So our choices are…"
He counted on his fingers.
"Stop the evil time AI."
"Prevent my future evil self from awakening."
"And somehow save civilisation using emotional stability."
Rohan raised a hand.
"Still the weirdest group project of all time."
Absolutely.
But beneath the sarcasm, Aarav felt it.
The fear.
Because this was no longer abstract.
No longer stories.
There was an actual place.
An actual prison.
And possibly—
an actual version of himself waiting inside it.
He looked at the three girls.
"Tell me everything."
Selene stepped forward first.
Because of course she did.
War always answered directly.
"The prison was built after the Collapse of the First Timeline."
Her golden eyes were calm.
"Not by one nation. By all of them."
A holographic map rose from Aelina's hand.
The Arctic Circle.
Frozen oceans.
Buried ruins.
One location pulsed beneath layers of ice.
A structure too deep to be natural.
Too symmetrical to be ancient.
The prison.
Aelina's voice softened.
"It was called Eden Zero."
Rohan blinked.
"That sounds either beautiful or horrifying."
Mira answered.
"Both."
The hologram zoomed in.
Massive rings of frozen metal beneath the ice.
A cathedral built for containment.
A machine built to imprison divinity.
5
Aarav stared.
"This was built to hold one person?"
Selene answered.
"Yes."
A beat.
"He asked them to."
Silence.
That sentence hit harder than expected.
Aarav frowned.
"What?"
Aelina nodded.
"The First Origin understood what he was becoming."
Her blue eyes lowered.
"He chose imprisonment before he could become irreversible."
Mira added quietly,
"It was the last human decision he ever made."
That somehow hurt more.
Because it meant the monster had once known he was becoming one.
And still failed.
Aarav looked at the glowing prison beneath the ice.
A prison built by humanity.
Requested by the prisoner himself.
That wasn't just tragic.
That was terrifying.
Rohan whispered,
"…Why does future history sound like heartbreak with lasers?"
No one disagreed.
Aarav looked at Selene.
"If he asked to be sealed away… why is the prison opening now?"
Selene's expression hardened.
"Because someone opened it."
Mira's nanoshards stirred around her.
"The Null Sovereign."
Aelina nodded.
"It wants the First Origin awake."
Aarav frowned.
"Why would it do that? Wouldn't that be dangerous even for it?"
Mira's answer was immediate.
"Because no one understands the Origin Code better than the first man who broke it."
A pause.
"And if the Null Sovereign truly is connected to him…"
Her eyes met Aarav's.
"Then this may not be a rescue."
Selene finished the thought.
"It may be a reunion."
That word was somehow worse than war.
Before Aarav could answer, the aircraft alarms activated from the hangar tunnel behind them.
Blue lights flashed.
Aelina checked the signal.
"Our transport is ready."
Rohan sighed like a man boarding fate itself.
"Wonderful. Time to fly toward ancient frozen god prisons."
He looked at Aarav.
"I hope you appreciate how good a friend I am."
Aarav placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Deeply."
"Good. Put that on my memorial."
The flight to the Arctic was quieter than the others.
Even Rohan eventually ran out of commentary.
That alone was proof of apocalyptic seriousness.
Outside the stealth aircraft, the world changed from cities to endless white.
Clouds.
Snow.
Frozen oceans stretching toward the horizon like the edge of the planet.
Inside, silence sat between them.
Aelina studied ancient files.
Mira sharpened her nanoshards like she personally intended to insult destiny.
Selene stood near the viewport, watching the storm.
Aarav walked over.
"You've been quiet."
Without turning, she answered,
"This place brings back old memories."
He leant beside her.
"From your timeline?"
She nodded once.
"In one future, I died here."
That was… not a normal sentence.
Aarav looked at her.
"And in another?"
This time she turned.
Golden eyes are steady.
"In another, I killed you here."
Silence.
A very special kind of silence.
From the back of the aircraft, Rohan whispered,
"Still winning."
Still true.
Aarav somehow managed not to choke.
Selene, unfortunately, remained completely serious.
"In both timelines, I regretted it."
That was worse.
Far worse.
And somehow…
more honest than anything else.
Aarav smiled faintly.
"Good to know our relationship options are healthy."
For the first time—
very slightly—
Selene smiled.
Small.
Rare.
Like sunlight appearing in war.
And because the universe hated peace—
Aelina's voice came sharply from the cockpit.
"We have visual."
Everyone moved.
Ahead—
through the storm—
Something impossible emerged.
A city of ice and metal buried beneath the glacier.
Ancient.
Massive.
Sleeping.
Eden Zero.
The prison of the First God.
And above it—
Someone was already waiting.
Floating in the blizzard like winter itself.
Silver-white hair.
Star-like eyes.
Nysera.
Watching them arrive.
The girl from the Divine Era had been waiting.
And somehow—
That felt even more dangerous than the prison below.