Chapter 11: Ink That Lies

Truth is written by those who survive the ending.

But ink?

Ink can lie… and sometimes, it does.

Day Eleven.

The storm arrived without weather.

Lightning with no thunder.

Wind with no air.

Over Valkyrion, the sky fractured like glass—lines splitting through clouds, opening into scenes that did not exist.

False memories.

Fake futures.

Entire realities that shouldn't be.

And standing at the center of the plaza beneath it all…

Was someone who had died.

Professor Verin Elwain.

History instructor. Tactical theorist.

Confirmed dead during the Final Collapse of Version 1.1—erased when his entire class was consumed by an Echo Surge.

And yet here he stood.

Alive.

Breathing.

Speaking clearly.

"I told you the Unfinished weren't waiting. They were plotting."

Aren and Kairen approached cautiously.

Behind them, Mira read every system anomaly.