The Self That Knows Everything
The Fractured Reflection
Kalen opened his eyes.
Or had they always been open?
He wasn't sure anymore.
The world around him shifted—
Not like a dream,
Not like reality,
But something in between.
He stood in front of himself.
Not a mirror.
Not a reflection.
Not an illusion.
It was him.
An exact copy.
Except…
> Why does he look at me like that?
Like he already knew everything.
Like he had been waiting for this moment.
Like he had already lived through it.
Kalen took a step forward.
So did the other Kalen.
Or…
Did they?
It was impossible to tell who moved first.
Who was reacting to whom.
Or if they were reacting at all.
A Conversation That Never Happens
"You understand now, don't you?" the other Kalen said.
His voice sounded the same.
But also different.
Not an echo.
Not a distortion.
But like it came from somewhere else.
Somewhen else.
Kalen opened his mouth to respond—
But the other Kalen had already spoken his answer.
As if time had skipped.
As if the conversation had already happened before he could speak.
He felt the words form in his throat.
But before he could say them—
The other him had already said them.
Like a playback of a memory he hadn't lived yet.
Or a script he was unknowingly following.
> Am I even speaking?
> Or am I just remembering what I already said?
His mind spun.
What was happening?
A Place That Never Exists
The space around them glitched.
Not shattered.
Not warped.
Glitched.
As if reality itself was just a badly coded simulation—
Trying to correct an impossible error.
One moment, they were in a white void.
The next—a ruined battlefield.
Then, a childhood home Kalen barely remembered.
Then, the throne room of a kingdom that never existed.
Flashes of moments he never lived.
Or maybe he did.
Or maybe he will.
Time wasn't moving.
Time wasn't stopping.
Time was collapsing.
The Answer That Cannot Be Understood
The other Kalen smiled.
A knowing smile.
A terrifying smile.
Because it wasn't a smile of comfort.
It was a smile of acceptance.
As if he had already gone through the horror Kalen was only now realizing.
As if he had already broken through the confusion,
The fear,
The despair—
And come out on the other side.
> The other side of what?
"I'll give you a choice," the other Kalen said.
His voice doubled.
As if two versions of him were speaking at once.
One in the present.
One in the future.
> No—
> One in the past.
The choice was simple.
> "Step forward."
Or—
> "Wake up."
Kalen's heart pounded.
Step forward into what?
Wake up where?
Was this a trick?
Or had he already made the choice before this moment?
Had he already lived through the answer?
Had he already chosen?
The world around him flickered—
Reality struggling to hold itself together.
The other Kalen extended his hand.
And Kalen—
End of Chapter 23