The hallway detonated in violet light.
Lockers buckled. Windows shattered. Papers spiraled through the air like panicked birds. Students screamed and dove for cover as the shockwave rippled down the corridor.
Carter threw an arm over his face, stumbling backward as the world warped around him.
REI's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and terrified.
"Carter — brace!"
The violet surge slammed into him like a tidal wave.
For a heartbeat, everything went silent.
Then—
FLASH.
The world twisted.
The hallway dissolved into a storm of glitching pixels and distorted shadows. The floor beneath Carter flickered between tile, stone, and something like cracked glass. The air tasted metallic, electric, wrong.
Carter staggered, clutching his head. "REI—what's happening?!"
Her form flickered violently beside him, glitching in and out of existence.
"This is not a dungeon anomaly. This is a temporal echo."
"A what?!"
"A fragment of the force that reset your life," she said, voice trembling. "It's trying to pull you out of sync."
The violet storm swirled around them, forming a vortex of corrupted symbols and jagged runes.
A whisper echoed through the distortion.
"Return to your endpoint."
Carter's blood ran cold. "No. No—no, I'm not dying again."
The whisper sharpened.
"You were not meant to diverge."
Carter gritted his teeth. "Too bad."
The vortex tightened, pulling at him like gravity made of claws.
REI screamed.
"Carter — your anchor is slipping! If it pulls you in, you'll be erased!"
He dug his heels into the flickering floor, fighting the pull. "How do I stop it?!"
"Stabilize your mana signature!" REI shouted. "Focus on your core!"
"I don't know how!"
"You do," she insisted. "You did it in Windspire. Do it again!"
Carter closed his eyes, forcing himself to breathe.
In.
Out.
In—
He reached inward, toward the strange, pulsing warmth he'd felt during the fight.
The place where his mana lived.
A spark ignited in his chest.
The vortex recoiled.
The whisper hissed.
"Unacceptable."
The storm surged again, stronger, angrier.
Carter's feet slid across the glitching floor. "REI—this isn't working!"
"Then use your skills!" she cried. "Any of them!"
Carter raised his cracked dagger.
"Energy Slash!"
A burst of kinetic force tore through the vortex — but the violet storm swallowed it whole.
The whisper deepened.
"You cannot fight inevitability."
Carter's heart pounded. "Watch me."
He activated Twin Arc, slashing twice in a cross‑pattern.
The kinetic blades ripped through the distortion, tearing open a brief gap.
REI's voice sharpened. "There! That's your exit!"
Carter sprinted toward the opening—
—but the vortex slammed shut.
The whisper roared.
"RETURN."
The storm surged, swallowing him whole.
---
Carter hit the ground hard.
Tile.
Real tile.
The hallway snapped back into existence.
Students screamed. Lockers smoked. Lights flickered overhead.
Mara Voss — the Guild investigator — stood frozen mid‑stride, her coat scorched, her eyes wide with shock.
"What… what was that?" she whispered.
Carter staggered to his feet, chest heaving. "You tell me."
Her gaze locked onto him — not with suspicion now, but with something far more dangerous.
Fear.
"Carter Kane," she said slowly, "you are coming with me. Now."
REI flickered beside him, whispering urgently.
"Carter — do not go with her. Your System signature is unstable. If they scan you again—"
"I know," he muttered.
Mara stepped forward. "You are a threat to public safety until we understand what you are."
Carter's pulse spiked.
Students watched from behind lockers and doorways, whispering.
"Is he dangerous?"
"Is he possessed?"
"Is he a monster?"
Carter clenched his fists.
He wasn't going with the Guild.
Not like this.
Not when something out there was trying to erase him.
REI's voice steadied.
"I can open a temporary concealment field. It will hide your mana signature for thirty seconds."
"Enough to run?"
"Enough to choose."
Mara reached for him.
"Carter Kane—"
Carter stepped back.
"No."
The hallway fell silent.
Mara's eyes narrowed. "Then you leave me no choice."
She raised her hand — mana gathering around her fingers.
REI whispered, "Carter… decide."
Carter exhaled.
Then he ran.