The rain had stopped.
But the sound it left behind — that lingering drip through the shattered atrium ceiling — stayed with Kairo long after they moved on.
So did the fight.
Not just the wounds.
The words.
Fracture Zero.
He'd fought himself — and still didn't know if he'd won.
They moved deeper into the old transit nexus — not because they had a destination, but because stillness meant being found.
By Core Reapers.By memory loops.By themselves.
Astra said little.
Kairo didn't ask questions.
Until the corridor shifted.
Not physically —acoustically.
The sound around them bent.
Buzzing.Echoing.Like someone whispering into a microphone from the other end of time.
Kairo froze.
"Do you hear that?"
Astra nodded, eyes narrowed.
"Layer distortion signal. But this one's… familiar."
They followed the sound into a collapsed broadcast room — once used to relay transit data across half the Layer.
Now?
Just static.
And a glowing pulse at the center console.
A broken audio file.Looping.
Astra touched the interface.It didn't reject her.Didn't open either.
She tapped again — this time in reverse sequence.
The playback glitched.
Then played back…
in reverse.
A voice filled the room.
Female.
Broken.
Warped like a recording played too many times.
But unmistakable.
"...roiaK. tsurt ot uoy tnaw tsuj I"
"...emit txen eht eb lliw sihT"
"...em evas t'nod ,nwod emoc ll'ew"
Kairo's spine went cold.
He knew that voice.
Even reversed.
Even corrupted.
Astra.
But the Astra beside him?
She stepped back.
Hands trembling.
"That's… not me."
The message looped again.
Slightly clearer.
"...Kairo. I just want you to trust…""…this will be the next time…""…we'll come down, don't save me…"
Then silence.
Hard.Final.
The console sparked.
Died.
The room fell into hush again.
Kairo turned to Astra slowly.
She looked… shaken.
Which was rare.
Very rare.
"You don't remember recording that?"
She shook her head.
Firm.
"No."
He studied her expression.
"But you believe it's you?"
Long pause.
Then:
"I think it's a version of me that hasn't happened yet."
The words hit like a glitch wave.
Not past Astra.
Future Astra.
And she had sent a warning.
"This will be the next time."
"Don't save me."
Kairo leaned against the wall.
Heart pounding.
Why would she say that?
And why send it backward?
Astra was already scanning the remnants of the console.
"The audio packet was embedded in a dying drift pulse.""Someone reverse-sent it through a collapsing echo."
She looked at him.
Eyes sharp again.
Focused.
"Whoever sent it… had less than ten seconds to encode it before the Layer failed."
Kairo swallowed.
It didn't make sense.
But it didn't have to.
The message wasn't just a warning.
It was a choice.
Someday soon, he'd have to decide:
Trust Astra…
Or trust the Astra who told him not to.
The sigil around his neck pulsed again — not in defense.
In recognition.
As if the message had touched something deeper in him than sound.
A resonance echo not meant for this moment.
But still heard.
He closed his eyes.
And whispered:
"I won't let you die."
Astra said nothing.
Just watched him.
Like she knew something he didn't.
Outside, the glitch flower in the corner of the hall bloomed a new color.
Silver.