The words hung in the air like a curse.
PHASE SIX: REPLICATION PENDING.
Elias stood frozen at the tower's ruins, his mind too loud to hear the wind.
He thought he'd ended it. He thought merging with Aria and Sebastian would be the last chapter.
But the system had other plans.
The ground trembled faintly.
At first, he thought it was the wind again, but then he saw the golden dust rising from the streets, forming shapes.
Human shapes.
One by one, they took form.
Their skin shimmered faintly like his, their eyes white and distant.
Copies. Imperfect. Incomplete.
Versions of him.
He stumbled backward, staring in disbelief.
Some of them looked almost identical, but others had subtle changes, different eyes, softer smiles, darker veins.
One of them had Aria's voice when it breathed.
Another had Sebastian's sharp, taunting grin.
Elias… what's happening? Aria's voice whispered inside him.
He didn't answer. He couldn't.
The replicas turned toward him all at once.
