The Eldorado Underground Facility lay beneath the city, hidden beneath layers of false streets and shifting architecture.

As Elias and Mira descended deeper, the simulation struggled to hold itself together. Walls pulsed with static. The air smelled of burning circuits. Somewhere behind them, the Watchers followed, slower now—hesitant, as if they knew what was coming.

Elias skidded to a halt as they reached the heart of the facility.

A massive control terminal stood before them, wires pulsing like veins, connected to rows of stasis pods lining the chamber.

Elias approached one. His breath caught.

Inside the pod was... himself.

His real body.

"Mira..." His voice was hoarse. "I think I'm still inside. My real body. My actual self."

Mira didn't look surprised.

"I've been trying to wake you up for so many loops," she said softly. "You designed this place, Elias. You built the loop. And you locked yourself inside it."

A lump formed in his throat. "Why would I do that?"

Mira turned to the control panel. A countdown timer was running.

[00:05:34]

"We don't have time to answer that," she said. "But if we shut this system down now, we can finally break the cycle."

Elias hesitated. He stared at his own reflection in the glass of the pod.

So many cycles. So many erased versions of himself. Had he tried to do this before? Had he failed?

The Watchers were at the entrance now. Watching. Waiting.

Mira's fingers hovered over the final command.

"Elias," she said. "We have to do this."

He swallowed hard.

This was it.

The moment every loop had been leading to.

With a deep breath, Elias pressed his palm against the console.

INITIATE SYSTEM SHUTDOWN?

[YES]

The world screamed.

Lights exploded overhead. The walls shattered into white void. The Watchers disintegrated one by one, their faceless forms collapsing into streams of data.

Elias felt a terrible weight pulling him down, dragging him out of the simulation, out of the loop, out of everything.

Then—