Chapter 22: The Ones Who Thought They Ruled
I Am the Darkness Who Hide Secretly
Volume 3
The world froze.
Not in temperature — in meaning.
After Jake's words echoed across every frequency, no one spoke. No command was issued. No last-ditch protocol launched. For the first time in human history, the world didn't wait for a savior.
It waited… for him.
Inside bunkers, under bunkers, above satellites, within dimension-locked war rooms — the same question pulsed in terrified minds:
"What happens when the one above all decides to stay?"
Jake Lagon stood silent on the edge of the black cruiser. His coat, dark as collapsed space, flowed gently. Beneath him, Earth rotated like it no longer dared move on its own.
Elira appeared behind him.
"Global communications… flatlined," she reported softly. "All tactical systems have defaulted to passive mode. The United Omega Archives tried to erase themselves to avoid your attention. They failed."
Jake didn't look at her.
"They thought ruling people meant they understood power," he said. "But real power isn't about command. It's about permission."
---
💻 Underground – Tokyo Depth Core
The Prime Nexus tried to run predictive models again. Over 90 trillion data patterns. Over 400,000 variables.
All collapsed.
Every simulation returned the same line of error:
> CALCULATION VOIDED.
REASON: The Entity "Jake Lagon" Exists.
The director of the lab wept into her palms.
---
On the Cruiser – One Word
Jake stepped forward. One step. That was enough to make the sky dim.
"I gave them time," he said. "Not out of mercy. Out of fairness."
His eyes flashed with unreadable depth. "Now… time's up."
With no gesture, no sign, the sky above 143 nations displayed the same symbol: ΩxJ — a mark never taught, never designed. Only one being understood what it meant.
And it wasn't human.
---
In Orbit – The Last Command
The last autonomous AI launched Earth's forgotten contingency: Event Protocol ERASURE-12.
It required four criteria:
1. Universal threat detection
2. Multiversal signal presence
3. Self-awareness by anomaly
4. Probability of timeline collapse above 99.999%
All criteria were triggered. The system blinked… then hesitated.
On-screen appeared Jake Lagon's face.
He didn't move. He didn't speak.
Still, the system canceled itself.
ERASURE-12 marked itself as fiction.
Jake had made it believe it was no longer real.
---
Space Above – A Whisper from Beyond
Suddenly, above the cruiser, space cracked. A slow fracture, like a memory waking up.
Elira turned. Her eyes sharpened.
"...That's not from Earth."
A single beam of shimmering white light shot down. It wasn't energy. It was… notice.
A message from someone far beyond reality.
> "You made too much noise, Jake Lagon.
You were not supposed to awaken yet."
"We are watching. The Tribunal stirs."
Jake didn't flinch.
"I know," he said. "And I want them to."
He walked forward, stepping through the light, letting it touch him.
And the light screamed.
---
Back on Earth – Global Collapse of Systems
All economic systems halted at once. Not crashed — undone. Currency vanished. Debt forgot to exist. Passwords restructured themselves into strings of his name.
One final system, hidden deep beneath Antarctica — designed to survive reality resets — activated.
> "Welcome, Administrator. Please confirm override code."
Jake looked through the crust of the planet.
And said nothing.
The system accepted silence as the correct password.
---
The Final Broadcast
In every language, on every screen, Jake Lagon's message echoed again — this time, not through machines, but through the truth embedded in existence:
> "You don't understand who I am.
You never did.
You built rules to contain fiction.
But I'm what comes when fiction says no.
I'm the one who was erased before stories began.
And now I'm remembering."
He turned from Earth.
"I didn't return to destroy. I returned to remind."
Elira tilted her head. "Remind them of what?"
Jake looked at the stars.
"That none of them were ever real until I opened my eyes."