Chapter Two: We've Been Here Before

The air in Kael's quarters felt heavier than before. Not like the usual recycled oxygen of Juno Nest. No, this felt unnatural. Like the gravity of something cosmic had settled into the room.

And there she was. Juno. Alive. Real. Standing at his door like she hadn't just died in the last loop.

"You're late," she said again, arms crossed like this was some kind of bad joke.

Kael blinked, expecting her to glitch away like a faulty hologram. But she didn't. She remained, as solid and irritated as she'd ever been.

"I—" He stumbled backward, hitting the edge of his bunk. "You died. I saw it. I watched the whole transmission. You said the loop was real and then—"

"Yeah," she interrupted, walking into the room casually, like she owned it. "And then everything exploded. Again."

Kael rubbed his face, trying to piece it all together. The dream—or whatever it was—had felt real. Too real. The collapsing space station, the black hole swallowing Sector Four, the scream in his head just before everything went white.

"Are we dead?" he asked.

She looked at him for a moment. Not pitying—just tired. "No. Not yet. But we're stuck. In this loop. And it's getting worse."

Kael's hands dropped from his face. "How do you know?"

Juno walked over to the desk and tapped the terminal. The screen flickered on with a low hum, displaying a map of the station. Colored indicators blinked across the sectors—some steady, others flashing red.

"I've been through this," she said. "More times than I care to count. Every time the loop resets, it gets more… aggressive. The black hole appears sooner. The crew starts acting strange. I once found Lirak trying to eat his comms device."

Kael sat down slowly, still staring at her. "You remember the previous loops?"

"Pieces. Fragments. Like echoes. But this time, it's clearer. This time, you remember too, don't you?"

He nodded. "Bits of it. The black hole. You… screaming. A voice telling me to break something."

Juno's eyes narrowed. "A voice?"

Kael hesitated. "It said, 'Break the path. Change the spark. Stop the loop.'"

She exhaled sharply. "That's new. That means it's talking to both of us now."

He frowned. "What is?"

She leaned closer. "Whatever created the loop."

Kael felt a chill creep up his spine. "You think this isn't just some freak time anomaly?"

"No. I think it's intentional. Controlled. And we're the lab rats."

Kael stood, the hum of dread now a full siren in his gut. "So how do we get out?"

"There's a signal," she said, zooming in on the station's deep-core systems. "It only appears a few minutes before the reset. I traced it once. It doesn't come from Praton. Or Sobo. Or any known sector."

He squinted at the screen. "Then where?"

She turned to him. "From a void. A location marked only with an 'X' on the galactic chart. No records. No data. Just... emptiness."

Kael's skin crawled. "You think that's where the voice is coming from?"

"I think that's where it lives."

Suddenly, the lights flickered. Once. Twice. Then the emergency klaxon buzzed to life, its harsh tone bouncing off the walls.

The intercom hissed.

"Loop detected. Stabilization compromised. Reset imminent."

Kael looked at Juno, wide-eyed. "That's not the station's voice protocol."

"Nope," she said, already moving toward the door. "And it's early. We're out of time. Come on!"

They dashed into the corridor, the overhead lights dimming with every step. Kael's boots clanged against the steel floor as they ran. The hallway felt longer than before. Like it was stretching.

"Why does this place feel... different?" he asked.

"Because the loop's watching," Juno muttered.

They reached the elevator, but it buzzed angrily, its screen flashing red: SYSTEM LOCKDOWN – CORE ACCESS DENIED.

"Manual override," Juno said, yanking open a panel and pulling out wires like she'd done it a hundred times.

Kael glanced over his shoulder. The walls behind them seemed to pulse slightly, as if breathing.

"Uh, Juno?"

"Almost done," she said, twisting two wires together.

Something clanged down the hallway. A low, dragging metal sound.

Kael turned toward it slowly.

A figure was coming.

Or rather… forming.

It wasn't human. Not quite. Its outline was shifting—liquid shadows with glowing veins of red coursing through its body. A face tried to emerge, twitching like a corrupted image on a broken screen.

"Juno!" Kael shouted.

The elevator dinged open just in time.

"Go, go!" she yelled, pushing him inside.

The doors slammed shut as the creature reached them, its claws scraping metal just outside.

Kael's chest heaved. "What was that?"

"A Loop Wraith," Juno said, panting. "They only show up when you get too close to the truth."

"You're saying this time loop comes with monsters?"

"Yeah. Sentinels. To keep us in line."

The elevator shuddered downward.

Kael stared at the wall. "I didn't sign up for this."

Juno laughed dryly. "None of us did."

The elevator stopped. The doors slid open to reveal the core chamber—a dark, humming sphere of spinning machinery and flashing lights.

The signal beacon was already active. In its center, a pulsing black sphere rotated slowly, lines of alien code cascading around it.

"There," Juno said, pointing. "That's where the signal manifests."

Kael stepped forward, but his legs felt heavy, like walking through water. The closer he got to the sphere, the louder the whispering became in his head.

"Break the spark... break the spark..."

"What does that even mean?" he shouted.

Juno was staring at the black sphere, eyes wide. "Wait… Kael. Look!"

He turned.

A flicker.

For just a second, the black sphere opened—like an eye blinking—and inside it was him.

Another version of himself.

Screaming.

Trapped.

Beating against glass.

Kael fell backward. "No. No, no, no—"

"I've seen that before," Juno said, voice trembling. "That's where we go when we die."

Kael looked at her, pale. "That's what the loop does. It traps our... minds? Souls? What are we?"

"Reflections," she said. "Copies of ourselves playing the same role, over and over."

Another tremor shook the floor. The intercom buzzed again.

"Stabilization lost. Loop reset in 60 seconds."

Kael stood up. "We have to do something. Break something. Spark—"

He looked around, eyes landing on the reactor trigger—a backup ignition switch meant to jumpstart the station in emergencies.

"Maybe this is it," he said, running to it. "Maybe this is the spark."

Juno hesitated. "It could also be the station's heart. If you blow it—"

"Then we either break the loop or burn with it," he said, hand hovering over the lever.

The whispers grew louder.

"Break it, Kael... now."

His hand shook.

"Do it," Juno said quietly.

Kael yanked the lever.

The room lit up with a surge of white-blue light. Everything trembled. Sparks rained from the ceiling.

The sphere in the center flickered, then—

A loud snap, like the sound of a rubber band breaking across dimensions.

Then...

Silence.

Kael opened his eyes.

He wasn't in the core anymore.

He was floating.

Not falling.

Just—floating.

Stars stretched around him.

Galaxies in motion.

Shapes he couldn't describe. Colors he couldn't name.

And then—

A voice.

Clear.

Calm.

"You broke the spark. Good."

He turned.

A figure stood across the void, face hidden by a hood, eyes glowing faintly.

"Now let's see if you can survive what comes next."

.....to be continued!