Jonas didn't make it far.
He barely cleared the hidden staircase when the world tilted under his feet. The weight of memory slammed into him like a freight train too much, too fast.
He stumbled into the living room, crashing into the coffee table. His palms scraped against glass. Blood welled up in shallow cuts.
Mara was already there.
Sitting calmly on the couch, legs crossed, still wearing the robe. The only thing that had changed was the look in her eyes.
She had stopped pretending.
"You went to the server," she said, without accusation.
Jonas dragged himself upright, leaning against the wall, breathing hard. "You lied about everything."
Mara tilted her head slightly. "Not everything. I never told you this was home."
"You said we were in love."
"No," she corrected gently. "You assumed that. I let you."
He stared at her. "You've been watching me lose myself. Over and over. Why?"
Her eyes didn't waver. "Because your condition is not memory loss. It's memory rejection."
That stopped him.
"What?"
"You're not broken, Jonas. Your brain is protecting you. From something you did. From something you are." She stood, slow and measured. "We just… guide the loops. Keep them from spiraling into violence."
Jonas's throat went dry. "How many times have I reset?"
Mara's silence was worse than an answer.
He clenched his fists. "What the hell am I?!"
"You don't want the answer to that."
"I DO!"
"Then why," she said, stepping closer, voice steady, "did the first thing you do after accessing your memories… was try to shut them off?"
Jonas had no response.
He remembered the terror, yes. But deeper than that he remembered guilt. Bone-deep.
She continued, "You built that filter. That illusion of this house. You coded the entire blue room as a symbol of trauma, so you'd stay away. We didn't put that in you, Jonas. You did. To keep yourself from what you saw."
He shook his head. "You're just trying to turn this around. You're making me the villain."
"Not the villain." Her voice softened. "The weapon."
Silence fell between them.
Then Jonas whispered, "What did I do?"
Mara looked at him, really looked, and for the first time there was something genuine in her expression. Not pity. Not superiority.
Fear.
"You opened the gate."
He blinked. "What gate?"
"The one between this world and something else. You thought you could control it. Use it. You made contact with a consciousness we still don't understand. It burned through your mind like wildfire. You were the only one who survived."
Jonas backed away, trembling. "No… I don't remember that."
"That's the point," she said quietly. "You can't. Because the moment you remember fully… it remembers you."
She pointed to the window.
Jonas turned.
And for the first time the loop had changed.
There, beyond the glass, in the frozen tableau of trees and still sky…
Something moved.
A tall shape. Black. Faceless. Watching.
Not Mara.
Not human.
But familiar.
Something from the server room.
From the fire.
From the screams.
And then it was gone.
Jonas clutched the wall. "What is that thing?"
Mara whispered, "The price."