Kael hit the wall with a sickening thud, bones rattling, lungs straining for air.
He'd been thrown—not pushed, not shoved—launched by something unseen, something powerful enough to rip gravity itself from its hinges. Dust and ash scattered through the twilight, his body skidding across the fractured stone floor like a ragdoll.
"You're not supposed to be here," came a voice.
Kael groaned and tried to rise. His muscles screamed, his ribs ached, but the voice... it wasn't one he recognized. Not Juro. Not Maya. Not the voice in his head.
This was something else.
The shadows shimmered like heat haze, and from them stepped a man in a dark three-piece suit, crisp as the stars. His eyes burned with an unsettling gold hue, and his smile—thin, cold—wasn't cruel, but calculated.
"You think this is about you, Kael?" the man said. "You're just the spark. I'm the one holding the matches."
Kael coughed and leaned on one elbow. "Who the hell are you?"
The man tilted his head, amused. "Outside. That's what you call it. A place beyond the loop. Beyond the cycle."
Kael's breath caught. He had spent cycles chasing that word like salvation. "You mean it's real?"
"Oh, it's real," the man nodded. "But not what you think. Not a paradise. Not a ticket out. It's... a correction."
Kael's brow furrowed.
The man stepped forward, crouched in front of Kael like a priest visiting a confessor. "The loop resets because your kind doesn't know how to stop destroying yourselves. This—" he gestured to the crumbling city "—this is the result of a thousand failed redemptions. The Outside? It's the firewall. The purge. It deletes errors like you."
Kael's heart stuttered.
"You're lying," he spat.
The man leaned in, his voice velvet and venom. "You think you're Lucifer—the rebel, the misunderstood son cast down. But you're not. You're a virus. A glitch."
Suddenly, Kael's vision flared red as something surged behind him—Juro.
He barreled into the man with a war cry, a flash of silver arcing from his blade. Sparks danced as the sword collided with the man's chest—but instead of blood, fractures of light split open like cracked glass.
The man didn't stumble.
He caught Juro by the throat mid-strike, lifted him with ease, and slammed him into the cracked marble wall so hard it splintered. "Cute," he murmured. "You brought friends."
Kael rolled, gritting his teeth. "Juro!"
A streak of violet light cut through the chaos—Maya, her palm glowing with crackling runes, hurled a bolt of energy that exploded against the man's side. It sent him staggering, but not breaking.
She didn't stop. Runes bloomed around her like constellations, one after the other, her eyes glowing with purpose and pain. "Touch him again, and I swear—"
"Swear what?" The man turned, amused. "You'll love me to death?"
Kael gritted his teeth. He didn't understand everything yet, but he didn't need to. This man was not a god. He was a jailer. A devil with pretty shoes.
"I've had enough of cryptic riddles," Kael growled. "You want to delete me? Come try."
The man smiled. "Finally."
He lifted his hand.
The world shattered.
Not the city—the sky. The stars rippled, bending like glass under a hammer, and a storm of darkness poured in through the cracks. The Outside wasn't light.
It was void.
Kael felt it in his veins—cold, ancient, merciless. A power that had been watching, waiting.
And still... he stood.
"I don't care what you are," Kael said, stepping between the man and Maya. "But I'm not dying for your reset."
The man's smile vanished.
And then they clashed.
Kael launched himself with a roar, fists glowing with golden heat, channeling every ounce of will into the punch. It connected with the man's jaw—a crack rippled through his illusion of perfection.
Behind him, Maya summoned a spiraling shield, runes spinning like clockwork gears. Juro, bruised but standing, stabbed upward toward the man's back.
But the man moved like a storm.
He knocked Kael aside with a palm that unleashed a sonic blast, parried Juro's sword with his wrist, and shattered Maya's shield with a glance. He moved like time itself bent for him, skipping frames in reality.
"Is that all?" he whispered.
Kael's vision blurred. Blood ran from his temple.
But he laughed.
A dry, wild, furious laugh.
"You know the funny thing about the Outside?" Kael said. "It doesn't scare me anymore."
The man cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Kael's body began to glow—not from power, but from memories. Faces. Feelings. Pain and joy, love and betrayal. Maya's touch. Juro's loyalty. Every loop, every reset, every mistake.
"I've lived a thousand lifetimes. You think that makes me broken," Kael said. "But it makes me the one thing you'll never be."
"What?"
"Human."
And then Kael charged.
The moment slowed.
Maya joined his side, her runes circling her like moons.
Juro followed, sword blazing with light.
Together, they hit the man, not with power—but with presence. The overwhelming truth of who they were. The man screamed—not in pain, but in revelation.
"You were never meant to wake up!" he shouted.
"But I did!" Kael roared. "And I'll burn your Outside to the ground!"
With a final blast of light, they drove the man back through the cracks in the sky—into the void he served.
The rift sealed with a blinding flash.
And silence returned.
Kael dropped to one knee, gasping.
Maya knelt beside him, sweat and tears mixing on her face. "You okay?"
He looked at her. "No. But I'm here."
Juro nodded. "That wasn't the end."
Kael looked up at the stars.
"No," he whispered. "That was just the beginning."
The sky rumbled.
Far above, beyond the fabric of the loop, something else was watching.
Something older than time.
And it had just woken up.
To be continued...