The Vanishing Thread

The air inside the lab was stale, thick with the scent of dust and old machinery. Cipher's footsteps echoed lightly against the tiled floor as he followed Nova deeper into the room. The faint hum of a generator rumbled in the background, barely masking the tension between them.

Nova stood by a console, her back to him, fingers flying over the keyboard. The glow from the screen cast sharp shadows across her face. She wasn't hesitating—she was calculating.

Cipher crossed his arms. "Alright. Start talking."

She tapped a final key, then stepped aside. "See for yourself."

Cipher leaned in, his eyes narrowing at the footage playing on the screen. At first glance, it seemed like random security footage—city streets, parks, train stations. But then he saw it.

In every clip, people were disappearing.

Not in the way someone walks out of frame. Not in a way that could be explained by a glitch or corrupted footage.

One second, they were there. The next, they weren't. No blur, no fade, no indication that they had ever existed at all.

Cipher's pulse quickened. "What the hell is this?"

Nova's voice was low, measured. "Proof."

She clicked again, bringing up a second set of clips. This time, there was something even more unsettling. The people who disappeared weren't just gone from the footage. They were gone from everything.

Cipher watched as pedestrians strolled past where someone had been standing just moments ago—without even a second glance. No confusion, no reaction. Like the missing person had never existed.

Cipher exhaled slowly. "This isn't just abductions. This is reality being rewritten."

Nova nodded. "And it's happening faster than we thought."

Cipher clenched his fists. He had seen the warnings. The messages. The flickering figures at the edges of his vision. Now, he was staring at undeniable evidence that something was erasing people from existence.

And the worst part? The world wasn't even noticing.

Cipher swallowed hard. "Do we know why?"

Nova hesitated, then pulled up another file—a list of names. He skimmed through them, a creeping dread settling into his bones. Then, at the bottom, he saw it.

Cipher Voss.

His breath hitched. "Me."

Nova's expression was unreadable. "And you're not alone."

Cipher scanned the list again. Dozens of names. Dozens of people who had disappeared without a trace. A cold realization crept over him.

"All these people," he murmured. "What do they have in common?"

Nova's voice was steady. "They all saw something they weren't supposed to."

Cipher's mind raced. The strange glitches, the out-of-place figures, the distorted reflections. It wasn't paranoia. It wasn't a trick of the light.

It was a pattern.

Cipher straightened. "And how are we still here?"

Nova's jaw tightened. "I don't know."

Cipher let that sink in. If everyone else on that list had already vanished, and he was next—why was he still standing?

"Maybe we're different," he said. "Maybe we triggered something before they could erase us."

Nova's gaze flickered with something unreadable. "Or maybe they're just taking their time."

Cipher didn't like that answer.

He stepped away from the screen, running a hand through his hair. The weight of the situation pressed against his chest, but fear wasn't going to do him any favors. He needed to act.

"What's our next move?" he asked.

Nova reached into a drawer and pulled out a small, metallic device. It was sleek, no bigger than a pocket watch, with faint, glowing lines etched into its surface.

"This," she said, holding it up, "is going to keep us alive."

Cipher raised an eyebrow. "And what is it?"

Nova smirked slightly. "Something I stole before the lab shut down."

She tossed it to him. Cipher caught it on reflex, but the moment his fingers touched the metal, a sharp jolt ran up his arm—like static electricity, but deeper. It wasn't pain. It was a sensation of something clicking into place.

He frowned. "What the hell was that?"

Nova watched him carefully. "That reaction means you're still real."

Cipher's fingers tightened around the device. "I'd like to think I'd know if I wasn't."

Nova's smirk faded. "Would you?"

Cipher had no response to that.

He turned the device over in his hands. It was warm now, pulsing faintly, like a heartbeat. "What does it do?"

Nova leaned against the desk. "It disrupts whatever's rewriting the world. If they try to erase you, this should—at least temporarily—glitch the process."

Cipher narrowed his eyes. "And when you say 'should'…"

Nova exhaled. "I haven't tested it."

Of course.

Cipher rolled his shoulders, shaking off the weight pressing down on him. "Guess I'll be the first, then."

Nova studied him for a long moment, something cautious in her expression. "You don't have to do this alone."

Cipher met her gaze. "I know."

For the first time in a long time, he actually meant it.

A faint buzz interrupted the moment. Cipher's phone. Another message.

Unknown Number: They're already watching.

Cipher's grip tightened around the device. His eyes flicked to Nova.

"We don't have time," he said.

Nova nodded. "Then we move. Now."

Cipher took one last glance at the flickering screen—the proof of people who had once existed and were now nothing.

Not him.

Not yet.

If the world was rewriting itself, he was going to carve his name into its fabric before it had the chance to erase him.

And whoever was behind this?

They were next.