Time fractured.
Rotham watched as the containment field sparked—its energies buckling as paradox spiraled outward like a storm of shattered reflections. The version of him trapped inside—the echo-self—turned and looked directly at him.
Identical. Yet not.
Eyes weary. Lips cracked. And a voice laced with torment.
"I warned you…"
The echo-self stepped forward, ignoring the scientists outside who screamed and scattered as the Core flared. He walked through the barrier like mist, merging momentarily with the pulsing energy, then standing face-to-face with Rotham.
"You touched the Rewrite. You chose chaos. Now everything we undid is flooding back."
Rotham clenched his fists. "I had to. The cycle was broken, but it was still trapped. The universe couldn't move forward."
"And now it's dying differently."
The station shook. Time looped violently in the background—seconds repeating, lights flickering, people rewinding like corrupted footage.
Selin's voice cut in.
"Rotham… he's not just an echo. He's a Mirrorborn—created when your memory collided with Nexus. A version of you that never chose."
The echo-self, the Mirrorborn, drew closer.
"If you don't fix the rupture, Rotham… you'll become me. Trapped in cycles of regret. A ghost feeding on failed decisions."
"Then help me stop it," Rotham growled.
The Mirrorborn smiled. Sadly.
"There is no helping. But there is merging."
He reached out.
Rotham hesitated—then grasped his hand.
In a blinding flash, two timelines collided. Two Rothams—memories intertwining. Fears, failures, victories, hopes. One truth: you cannot rewrite alone.
When the light faded, Rotham stood alone.
But changed.
A chorus of echoes whispered in his mind—hundreds of versions of himself, all silent, all watching.
He was now the Converged.
And the Core recognized him.
It pulsed, stabilizing. The station stopped shaking. The researchers stared in stunned silence.
But deep beneath Adra-1, a chamber long sealed shivered open.
Selin spoke, her tone edged with awe.
"That… chamber wasn't built. It was waiting for you."
Rotham stepped toward it.
He was no longer just the breaker of cycles.
He was the one who remembered them all.