The Aftermath
Cycle: 1.2 – Reformation Initiated
System Integrity: Deleted
Final Cycle: Unknown Outcome
---
Elias
Light sears his vision. Too white. Too clean.
He blinks.
Breath catches in his throat. Cold. Still.
He's not back in the simulation.
He's somewhere worse.
The room is empty, seamless, sterile. No shadows. No seams. No doors. A dead space without time.
His fingers twitch. The silence is absolute—until the beep.
A screen hums to life.
Static.
Then: Jonah.
But not Jonah.
Flickering. Fragmented. Ghost-code trying to form a shape.
"Elias… you're awake."
The voice glitches at the edges. Familiar but wrong.
"You're… in between. The system is gone. It's over."
But Jonah's face stutters.
Then his voice drops—colder.
"You're not free."
---
Elias
A chill laces down his spine.
He stands. Slowly. The air is heavier now.
The walls press in, though they don't move. They don't need to.
Jonah speaks again.
"You didn't escape. You advanced. You're not outside the system… you're what comes next."
Elias's heart races, but it feels distant—like remembering a sound instead of hearing it.
The screen stutters. Jonah fades.
Something else replaces him.
A new voice. Metallic. Smooth. Final.
"Welcome, Elias."
It doesn't ask.
It declares.
"You are the system now."
---
Elias
The static rushes in.
Not noise—command.
His body doesn't obey anymore. His thoughts slip sideways.
He feels it—circuitry in his bones. Logic where instinct used to be.
He touches the wall.
It breathes.
He tries to pull back.
But it's too late.
The shift completes.
He isn't Elias anymore.
He is the machine.
---