Echoes of the Unknown

Cipher's hands trembled as he wiped the blood from his lip. The words echoed in his mind—They're coming. The duplicate had vanished, but its warning remained, crawling under his skin like an itch he couldn't scratch.

Nova crouched beside him, gripping his shoulder. "We need to move. Now."

Cipher pushed himself up, his muscles aching from the shockwave. The alley was quiet again, too quiet. The distorted space had settled, reality stitching itself back together as if nothing had happened. But he knew better.

"They were here," Cipher muttered, eyes scanning the shadows. "Or they still are."

Nova pulled up her scanner, fingers moving rapidly across the device. "There's residual energy all over this place. It's like—" She hesitated. "Like it was never stable to begin with."

Cipher narrowed his eyes. "Meaning?"

She adjusted the settings, bringing up a fragmented visual representation of the alley. The readings flickered in and out, erratic and inconsistent. "This space isn't just here, Cipher. It's layered. Like overlapping realities that aren't fully synced."

Cipher's pulse quickened. "So the city isn't just shifting. It's splitting."

Nova nodded grimly. "And we're stuck in the middle."

They made their way back to Nova's hideout, their pace brisk. Cipher felt a weight pressing against his chest, an invisible force growing heavier with every step. His duplicate, the shifting city, the anomalies—he was missing something, some key piece of the puzzle that refused to fit.

Inside, Nova sealed the door behind them, engaging the security protocols. The room buzzed with static energy, monitors flickering as they ran diagnostics on the anomaly's movements.

Cipher ran a hand through his hair. "There has to be a pattern. Something we're not seeing."

Nova sighed. "I don't know, Cipher. Whatever this is, it's bigger than anything I've seen before." She gestured toward the screen. "I ran a trace on the energy signature. It's not just localized. It's everywhere."

Cipher's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"

She pulled up a map, red markers appearing across different locations. "Every major disturbance in the past seventy-two hours—all connected. Whatever is happening to you, to this city, it's spreading."

Cipher stared at the screen, a cold realization settling in his gut. "This isn't just about me."

"No." Nova's expression darkened. "It's about everything."

Hours passed in silence as they pored over data, trying to make sense of the unraveling reality. But nothing lined up. The rules they thought they understood no longer applied. The city was breaking apart, and the pieces refused to fit back together.

Cipher rubbed his eyes, exhaustion creeping in. "Maybe we're looking at this wrong. What if instead of stopping the anomalies, we follow them?"

Nova glanced up. "Follow them?"

Cipher nodded. "They aren't random. They're appearing in specific locations, at specific intervals. If we track them in real-time—"

"We might find out where it all leads." Nova finished his thought, already pulling up a new data stream. "It's risky."

Cipher smirked. "When has that ever stopped us?"

Nova sighed. "Fine. But we do this carefully."

Cipher grinned. "Carefully is my middle name."

She gave him a flat look. "That is the biggest lie I've ever heard."

Cipher chuckled, but the humor faded quickly. They both knew the truth—whatever was coming, they were running out of time to stop it.

The first anomaly appeared just after midnight.

Cipher and Nova stood on the rooftop of an abandoned building, their eyes locked on the distorted space forming below. The air around it shimmered, bending like a mirage in the heat. But there was no warmth—only a cold emptiness that sent a chill through Cipher's bones.

Nova adjusted her scanner. "It's different this time. Stronger."

Cipher tensed as the anomaly pulsed, a flicker of movement appearing within the distortion. He reached for his weapon, heart pounding.

The figure stepped out, its form stabilizing.

It wasn't a duplicate this time.

It was something else.

Cipher swallowed hard. "Nova…"

"I see it." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The figure stood motionless, watching them with unsettling stillness. It was human in shape but wrong—its features blurred, shifting between forms as if it couldn't decide what it was supposed to be.

Then, it spoke.

"You are not supposed to be here."

Cipher's breath hitched. The voice was layered, multiple tones overlapping, echoing through the empty streets.

Nova tightened her grip on her device. "Who are you?"

The entity tilted its head, as if considering the question. Then, in a voice that sent ice through Cipher's veins, it answered.

"We are the correction."

Cipher barely had time to react before the world around them shattered.

Everything went white. The city, the rooftop, Nova—all of it vanished in an instant. Cipher felt weightless, adrift in an endless void. His thoughts scattered, his body frozen in place.

Then, just as suddenly, it was over.

He gasped, stumbling forward, the ground solid beneath his feet once more. His head spun as his vision cleared.

They were no longer on the rooftop.

They were somewhere else.

The air was thick, electric, filled with an energy he couldn't begin to describe. The sky above them was fractured, shifting like a broken mirror reflecting a world that no longer existed.

Nova was beside him, her face pale. "Cipher…where are we?"

Cipher exhaled slowly, his eyes locked on the horizon, where towering structures stretched impossibly high, their forms twisting in and out of existence.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I think we just stepped into the heart of it."

And as the wind howled around them, carrying whispers of voices not their own, Cipher knew one thing for certain.

There was no turning back now.