The Cycle Unfolds

The darkness swallowed Ethan and Anna as they ran. The chamber behind them was collapsing, the void expanding outward, devouring stone, dust, and light alike. The faceless entity's words echoed in Ethan's skull—"You will return to this place. You always do."

The weight of that statement pressed against his mind like an iron vice, but there was no time to dwell on it. He pushed forward, gripping Anna's hand as they sprinted through the crumbling passageway.

The ground beneath them shifted.

Not like stone breaking, not like an earthquake—something beneath them was moving.

Anna cursed, tightening her grip. "Tell me you have a plan."

Ethan didn't. He didn't even know if plans mattered anymore.

A sudden force slammed into them from behind, an unseen pressure knocking them off their feet. The moment they hit the ground, Ethan felt it—a pull.

Like the world was dragging them back toward the door.

He twisted, his fingers digging into the dirt. The passage behind them was gone. There was only the void, stretching forward, reaching for them.

And from within it, the second figure stepped forward.

It wasn't running. It wasn't even in a hurry. It walked, deliberate and slow, its stolen face shifting slightly with every step, as if it had yet to fully settle on what it was supposed to be.

Ethan forced himself to his feet, dragging Anna with him. "We don't stop. No matter what happens—we keep running."

She nodded, but her gaze was locked on the thing behind them. "Ethan…"

He turned.

The passage ahead of them was gone.

No walls. No ceiling. No exit.

Only the void.

And they were trapped in between.

Luminex's command center was in a state of total collapse. The Veilwatchers' encrypted channels were silent, the satellite feeds showing nothing but static. Victoria stood at the center of the chaos, her gaze locked on the last transmission they had received from St. Augustine.

The void.

A figure staring back at them from inside the screen.

And its final words:

"You have always been watching. But you have never truly seen."

The emergency lights flickered overhead, casting long shadows along the walls. The analysts were panicked, scrambling to regain control, but Victoria knew the truth.

They were past the point of control.

Her earpiece crackled. A single voice came through, low and distorted.

"Director Lane."

Her blood ran cold. She knew this voice.

It had only ever spoken to her once before.

And that time, it had predicted the Luminex collapse before it even began.

She stepped away from the chaos, pressing a hand to her ear. "I'm listening."

A pause. Then—

"You need to stop them."

Victoria's grip tightened. "Stop who?"

"Your team. Your assets. The ones in the asylum."

Victoria's stomach turned. "Ethan Ward?"

The voice was silent for a long moment. Then—

"He's going to break the pattern. And if he does, you will not survive what comes next."

The line went dead.

Ethan stared at the void stretching before them. There was no direction left. No up or down, no forward or back.

The second figure took another step forward, its mismatched features solidifying into something more human. More familiar.

And then, Ethan realized—

It was his face.

Anna's sharp inhale cut through the silence. "No. Nope. I'm not doing this."

Ethan's own face smiled back at him, cold and empty.

"You always return," it said, using his own voice.

His pulse spiked. He felt something—a memory, a sensation, a flicker of something long forgotten.

He had been here before.

Not just once. Many times.

Every step he had taken, every decision he had made—it had all been leading him back here.

Anna fired.

The bullet slammed into the figure's chest. It didn't react.

Anna's grip on the gun tightened. "Oh, come on—"

The figure took another step.

"It doesn't matter what you do," it said. "You always end up here."

Ethan's breath was uneven. His thoughts fractured.

The journal. The visions. The faceless being that had spoken to him inside his mind.

Every civilization meets its threshold.

Every empire reaches its end.

This wasn't about opening a door. It wasn't even about what was behind it.

This was a test.

A loop.

A trap.

And he was just another piece moving through it.

Anna took a slow step closer to him. "Ethan. Talk to me. Right now."

His voice came out hollow.

"We've already lost."

Anna's hands curled into fists. "The hell we have."

She turned back to the void and charged.

Ethan shouted after her, but before he could stop her—the void swallowed her whole.

And Ethan was alone.

The figure—his figure—stood before him, waiting.

And then, from deep inside the endless black, Ethan heard it.

Anna's scream.

Then—nothing.

His entire body locked up. His mind fractured.

And the last thing he saw before the world tore apart around him was his own reflection, smiling back at him with a mouth that did not belong.