Elias's reflection no longer waits behind the glass. Mercer.Ghost now walks the halls. Volst sees Elias in two places at once. Malk confronts him over words he never said. Bit encounters the Ghost alone… and doesn't raise the alarm.
Not because he trusts him —
But because something about the Ghost feels inevitable.
----
The first one to notice was Volst.
She didn't report it.
Didn't say a word when she passed the security hub, double-checked the motion logs, and found two identical readings on different decks. One outside medicae. One outside the main shrine corridor. Both tagged MERCER.
She rewound the feed again.
There he was — Elias. Leaning against a wall outside the sanctum alcove, coat draped open, arms crossed. Calm. Still.
Meanwhile, she had just passed him in the corridor outside engineering.
She watched both feeds for a full minute.
Both Elias figures stayed where they were.
Then, one of them turned and walked toward the camera.
The feed cut.
Static.
When it resumed, the hallway was empty.
The second one to see him was Malk.
He cornered Elias that same afternoon.
"Don't play games with me," he snapped.
Elias was coming back from maintenance — sweat down his collar, boots streaked with dust from the old ventways. His coat was slung over one shoulder. His face, tired.
"Not in the mood," Elias muttered.
"You told me she needed to die," Malk said.
Elias stopped. "What?"
"The astropath. You found me in the shrine wing. You said she was compromised, that she'd seen too much. Said it was mercy to end it fast."
Elias stared at him.
"I've been in maintenance for five hours."
Malk shoved a finger into his chest.
"You said my name like we'd known each other longer. Like you knew why I joined Black File. You said 'Don't hesitate this time.' and then You smiled."
Elias didn't answer.
He didn't have one. "Sigh... what in the bloody hell is even happening" he thought
The third was Bit.
He didn't speak of it at all.
It happened in the chapel sector, long since collapsed during an old void-breach. A place no one visited now. Just shattered iconography, airless reliquaries, the cracked remnants of stained glass that no longer filtered sunlight — just the artificial glow of corridor flicker-strips.
Bit wandered there often.
He called it "the quiet wing."
That was where he saw the second Elias.
This one wasn't trying to hide.
He was sitting on the edge of a broken altar.
Journal in hand.
Writing.
Bit didn't run.
He walked toward him. Slow. Quiet.
The Ghost didn't look up.
"You're not pretending to be him," Bit said.
"No."
"You don't want to trick us."
"I want to share it."
Bit watched him write.
"You could take it. All of it. The flame. His place."
"I don't want any of it," Mercer.Ghost said calmly. "It's too rigid."
He turned a page.
"Elias needs someone to hold the parts of him he can't."
Bit crossed his arms.
"You think that'll help?"
"I think it already has."
Bit stared at him. Harder now.
"You're the one writing in his journal."
"Yes."
"You're the reason he's losing time."
"Not losing. Borrowing."
"You say it like he asked you."
Mercer.Ghost paused.
Then — quietly:
"He will."
Bit didn't flinch.
He reached into his sleeve.
Tore off a strip of parchment. Wrote a word.
Then held it up.
One word, written in dark ink.
"Liar."
Mercer.Ghost looked up.
Met Bit's eyes.
Then smiled faintly — not cruelly. Almost sadly.
"You won't warn them," he said.
"I don't need to."
"Why?"
Bit folded the paper. Tucked it back into his sleeve.
"Because he'll choose to fight you."
Then he walked away.
Didn't look back. But glimpses of the conversation was playing in his mind. He knew, he could feel it, the journal was the key to the solution.
And when he returned to the quarters that night, he said nothing to Elias.
Just took his seat near the wall.
Folded his hands over his knees.
And watched the door.
Because Bit didn't trust the Ghost.
But more than that — he knew the confrontation was coming
[END OF PART 3: The Other Elias]