Jumping between timelines always feels like having your soul yanked out, shaken, and stuffed back into your body at a slightly wrong angle.
But this jump…
This one was worse.
I hit cold pavement, gasping as a shock ran through my limbs. My vision smeared,colors bleeding into one another before finally snapping into place.
A street.
Dim. Quiet.
Rain drizzled from a sky choked with thick gray clouds.
Timeline 14-B.
I pushed myself upright, silently thanking whatever luck existed that Riven hadn't jumped with me. The air here felt heavy, colder than home, tinged with the smell of rust and electricity.
A neon sign flickered above a closed storefront:
VALE TECH — RESEARCH & CONSULTATION
(In Memoriam: Dr. Aren Vale, 25)
My knees nearly buckled.
They had a memorial sign.
For me.
I stumbled closer, wiping the rain from the metal plaque below the sign.
"A brilliant mind taken too soon.
Dr. Aren Vale died in the lab explosion on Cycle 42-7."
My breath hitched.
In this world…
I was dead.
A quiet sound escaped me – half shock, half grief. It was surreal, staring at my own obituary. Seeing my name carved in cold metal. Feeling the universe whisper that I didn't belong here.
But that whisper didn't last long.
A door behind me clicked open.
I turned sharply.
A woman stepped out, holding a scanning device pointed directly at my chest.
She was familiar, achingly so – same sharp eyes, same determined posture, same streak of stubbornness in her expression.
Lyra.
Not my Lyra.
But close enough to punch the air from my lungs.
"What are you?" she demanded, voice low, guarded.
Not "who are you."
"What are you."
Great. Fantastic start.
"I...I'm not here to cause trouble," I said, raising both hands.
"You look exactly like him." Her tone wavered—just for a second. "Exactly like Aren Vale."
"I know." My voice cracked. "Because I am Aren Vale. Just… not your Aren."
Her eyes hardened immediately. "Multiversal displacement. Illegal. And incredibly stupid."
"Yeah," I muttered. "I've gathered that."
She stepped closer, scanning me again. "You shouldn't be alive. Our Aren died three years ago."
"Three years?" My voice faltered. "That can't be right."
But her scanner beeped affirmatively.
Rain fell harder.
Lyra-14 studied me with a strange mix of anger, grief, and disbelief like seeing a ghost wearing her friend's face.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I need answers," I said. "About my death here. About the lab explosion. And… about someone who looks like me but isn't me."
Her expression tightened. "You mean the intruder."
My pulse quickened. "Intruder?"
She hesitated before nodding slowly. "Yes. Someone who resembled Aren appeared months after his death. Broke into his files. Triggered anomalies we couldn't track. He wasn't our Aren… but he wasn't you either."
Ice crawled down my spine.
"V-0," I whispered.
She frowned. "What?"
"Nothing." I swallowed. "Please. I just need to see the lab."
Lyra stared at me for a long moment, weighing risk, memory, fear. Something in her expression softened—barely.
"You reallytalklikehim," she murmured.
"I'mnothim," I said quietly. "But I'm trying to stop someone who wants to destroy more than just one timeline."
She exhaled shakily. Then, with reluctant resolve:
"Fine. Follow me. But if you do anything suspicious, I won't hesitate to put you down. Understand?"
"Crystalclear," I said.
She turned and opened the door fully. Warm light spilled out, illuminating racks of tools and research tablets. A modified scanning station sat in the corner, humming with quiet energy.
I stepped inside.
It smelled like the old lab.
Felt like it too.
Familiar and wrong at the same time.
Lyra-14 locked the door behind us. "If you're from another timeline, the shockwaves from your arrival will attract authorities soon. So talk fast."
"Your Arendiedinanexplosion?" I asked.
She nodded. "We never found the cause. Or his body."
"But he died in the blast?"
"Wethinkso," she said. "But then… the intruder appeared. Same face. Same voice. Different eyes."
Cold dread pooled in my stomach.
"Did he say anything? Leave anything behind?"
Lyra hesitated… then retrieved a sealed data chip from her desk.
"He left this," she said. "Said someone 'like him but not him' would come eventually."
My breath caught.
"He left it forme," I whispered.
Lyra passed me the chip. "He said when the right Aren arrived, this would 'move the path forward.' Whatever that means."
Before I could respond, alarms shrieked outside – sharp, familiar, unmistakable.
Lyra's face drained of color. "Multiverse breach signature. They found you."
MSD.
Here.
Already.
I shoved the chip into my pocket and scrambled backward as search lights streaked across the windows.
Lyra grabbed my arm. "You need to move. Now."
"I know."
"And Aren?"
I met her eyes.
"Don't die again," she said softly.
I nodded because what else could I do? and leaped out the back exit as drones descended on the shop front.
Rain hammered my face. Sirens wailed.
The chase had begun again.
And in my pocket…
The first true clue.
Left by the man who framed me.