The figure didn't move. It stayed by the ruined statue.
For a moment, I couldn't even be sure it was real. The light around it seemed wrong, like the world itself was rejecting it.
Then the shadow came apart, folding into mist that scattered across the floor without a sound.
I stayed frozen in place, my muscles tight, waiting for it to return. Thankfully It didn't.
That's when I noticed a ring. It was on my right hand, my ring finger, specifically.
I hadn't put it there. I didn't remember seeing it before.
It hadn't been there when I'd stared into the mirror shard. But now, it gleamed against my skin like it had been waiting for me to notice.
Obsidian black. Smooth at first glance, but the surface was covered in shifting lines. The runes crawled along the band in sharp angles and curves, some of them moved when I looked too closely.
They weren't just symbols. They were alive, coded with meaning I didn't understand.
As soon as I focused on them, a voice entered my mind.
[Vital signs stable. Neural sync at seventy-six percent. Identity confirmed… Welcome back, Lucian.]
The voice was clean, synthetic, and calm. But it wasn't cold, there was something behind it.
Not warmth exactly, but a trace of human. Like it had been built to sound reassuring, even if it didn't know how to feel.
There was a pause, short before it spoke again.
[My name Echo. I am the embedded soul construct assigned to the Regressors.
Storage medium: artifact-class ring. Regressor's Diary.
Function: tactical guidance, memory management, decision optimization.]
I kept staring at the ring, but my focus shifted inward. 'Echo…. The Regressor's Diary…. A Regressor!?'
The voice continued.
[All nine hundred and ninety-nine regression cycles have been logged and indexed.
Pattern consistency maintained.
Priority objective: ensure successful correction of the timeline.]
It wasn't emotionless. If anything, the way it spoke reminded me of someone tired of repeating themselves, polite, but resigned. Like it had said these words far too many times.
[This is the one-thousandth instance. All prior attempts have failed.]
My hand closed into a fist before I even realized it. I didn't know what to say, or even what to think.
'A thousand tries!? A fucking thousand failures!?'
That kind of number felt impossible to hold in one mind. But it hadn't been mine. Not until now.
I tried to speak, but Echo cut in,
[Neural pattern shows deviation from the previous instance. Soulprint mismatch detected.]
There was a pause again. This time it felt heavier.
[You're not the same. Who are you really?]
I tried to answer, but nothing came out right away. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to say to a question like that.
"I don't know," I finally muttered.
It was the truth. I remembered dying. I remembered waking here. But the rest was still foggy. It felt like a mix of dreams and someone else's pain.
Echo didn't respond for a few seconds. When it did, the tone shifted.
[Unauthorized variance confirmed. Regression stability compromised.]
The runes on the ring brightened for a moment, casting thin lines of light across my fingers. They faded just as quickly.
[This is the final loop.]
My chest tightened. I didn't know what that meant, but I didn't like how it sounded.
[The regression cycle has been forcibly sealed. Divine intervention confirmed. Additional resets will not be granted.]
I took a slow breath. "Final... loop?" I asked, though I already understood. I just needed to hear it again.
[The Regressor System was originally authorized by Tempus, god of time.
Built to repeat temporal cycles until key anomalies were corrected. But divine authority has been withdrawn. This loop will not reset.]
There was a pressure in the room now. Not physical, not from anything I could see, but I could feel it settle around me, like the walls had drawn closer.
My thoughts raced. "And if I fail again?"
[Your soul will be erased. No continuity. No more regression.]
I looked down at the ring. My eyes narrowed… many question come into my mind. But Echo continued.
[Any further deviation will trigger divine backlash.
You must choose your path immediately.]
I exhaled slowly, pushing the tension out of my lungs. My thoughts settled.
Panic was useless now. If I only had one life left, I wasn't going to waste it.
"Then let's start with something simple," I said. "You're calling yourself the Regressor Diary. An artifact. If that's true, you must know more than you're telling me."
I kept my gaze on the ring, but my voice stayed calm. "Tell me about the last owner of this body. Why was I sent here? And what the hell is this mark on my chest?"
I pulled at my torn robe, revealing the symbol just over my heart. A snake eating its own tail. They flowed, glowing faintly, as if drawn in moving ink.
Echo responded after a delay.
[The ouroboros pattern is not part of the original divine branding. It is... foreign.]
There was a pause. Then a faint crackle, like static interference. The glow from the ring crackled once, then flickered.
[System log: Last cycle terminated prematurely.
Outcome: unrecoverable failure.
Reason: Subject concluded victory was structurally impossible. Divine manipulation confirmed across all known pathways.]
I stared at the ring. "He gave up."
"He was not wrong," Echo replied, voice different than before. "System evaluation determined. All outcomes under divine influence lead to collapse."
I felt a chill climb the back of my neck. "So I was never meant to live?"
[Correct…. Your predecessor reached this conclusion. Never trust the gods.]
The moment the words left the ring, the symbol on my chest shook again. The snake shifted, tightening its loop.
The ring sparked.. I felt the shift immediately. Something inside the artifact cracked and opened.
Echo's voice glitched mid-sentence.
[System routing error. Lost connection with…]
It cut off.
Then, a new voice slid into my thoughts. Same origin, but the tone had changed.
"Alright, well... that felt like getting punched in the gut, doesn't feel good…
Anyway Connection with the divine server has been permanently severed. Which means congratulations, Lucian, you've officially been marked as an Heretic."
"What?"
"Your little glowing snake mark isn't just for decoration," Echo said. "It's created by your predecessor using everything he gathered across all 999 regressions. And now, all of that has passed to you."
I didn't move. I could still feel the mark on my chest, warm and moving like something alive beneath the skin.
"Also," Echo added, with a dry hum, "you've already deviated just by existing. They know."
That humming sound returned, soft and dissonant, like a distant choir trying to harmonize without rhythm. I hadn't heard it since the moment I woke.
I looked to the walls. The sanctum itself seemed to vibrate along with it, like it had been listening the whole time.
"They'll come for you," Echo said. The humor was gone, replaced by a quiet certainty. "And they won't wait long."