Elias barely had time to react before the ground beneath him fractured. The reflections of countless realities shattered like fragile glass, and he felt himself being dragged downward—not by gravity, but by something far deeper, something that clawed at his very soul.
A distorted voice echoed through the abyss.
"You cannot escape yourself, Elias."
The Fractured Elias lunged forward, his movements unnatural, jerky, as if he were struggling against unseen chains. Elias barely dodged the attack, rolling to the side as the ground beneath him collapsed into swirling nothingness.
His mind raced.
This wasn't just another illusion. The Dreamscape was reacting—fighting back. The closer he came to understanding the truth, the more violently the world resisted.
"You are not ready," the Fractured Elias said, his voice overlapping with a dozen different tones, as if multiple versions of himself spoke at once. "Turn back, or you will become me."
Elias gritted his teeth. "I don't believe in inevitability."
The fractured version of himself merely smiled.
"Then fight."
The space between them collapsed.
Elias barely had time to block as his other self struck—blindingly fast. Their hands met in a clash of force, and a shockwave burst outward, distorting the world around them. Visions flickered—alternate lives, alternate choices. In one, he saw himself walking away. In another, he saw himself surrendering to the cycle.
And in the farthest, darkest one—he saw himself standing alone, his eyes hollow, his body nothing but cracks and ruin.
No.
He refused to become that.
Summoning every ounce of strength, Elias pushed forward, breaking free from his mirror's grip. The Dreamscape trembled as he summoned the memories that anchored him—Lyra's voice, the promise he had made, the truth he had sworn to uncover.
Power surged through him.
The Fractured Elias let out a low, distorted laugh. "So, you've chosen defiance."
The mist around them twisted into monstrous shapes, the Dreamscape reacting violently.
"Then let us see if you can withstand the cost."
The storm was coming.
And Elias was running out of time.