Sector-9 Perimeter – Just Moments After Jian and Eva Vanished
Voox stormed into the alley, breath sharp, eyes gleaming like knives drawn under moonlight. Her footsteps pounded with purpose, energy flaring with every stride.
But they were gone.
The alley was empty. No trace. Not even residual heat.
She froze.
Her fingers twitched once. Then curled into fists.
"No..."
The word fell from her lips like a warning. Her breath caught, and something deep inside snapped.
"NO!"
A scream ripped from her throat, laced with raw distortion. Lights on the surrounding buildings flickered and died. The ground trembled under her boots. Windows exploded in every direction as shockwaves burst from her core.
"You disappeared again?!" she shrieked. "You COWARD!"
She whipped out her sidearm, and fired wildly. Blindly.
BOOM.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Searing plasma tore through the street. Buildings erupted. Walls collapsed into flaming rubble. The sky turned a faint sickly green with every shot.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN ESCAPE ME?! YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE HER AGAIN?!"
Her voice cracked, rage burning away what little restraint she had.
Then—suddenly, the air changed.
A vibration.
No a resonance. Something off.
She turned her head just in time to see it:
A ripple above the city skyline, like glass warping in heat… and then—
KRAKKKBOOOOM!
The horizon exploded.
A sphere of white-blue light expanded outward, folding the skyline in on itself. Energy sucked upward in a terrifying vortex, silent for a second, then violently loud.
Voox was blasted backward, skidding across the cracked pavement and slamming into a tilted, burning vehicle. Metal screamed. Her body convulsed as time flickered for half a heartbeat.
She pulled herself up, blood streaking her jaw, eyes burning with madness.
Her voice dropped to a whisper:
"That wasn't her..."
She staggered forward.
"That wasn't Elara."
Her gaze narrowed toward the source of the explosion, then shifted back toward the alley where Jian and Eva had stood seconds before.
"Eva... you pulled him through a Fold layer."
Her fists clenched again.
"You remembered how."
She laughed, a low, broken sound.
Then her eyes glowed not with fury anymore, but obsession.
"Run, Jian."
"Run until you break the sky — I will find you.
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Folded Layer — Minutes After the Blast
The wind carried heat and silence as the two figures reappeared, not in the same alley, but somewhere fractured between layers of space. Grey light shimmered faintly, and the air felt stretched, like a breath held too long.
Eva dropped to one knee, clutching her side, her breathing ragged.
Jian turned quickly, his voice tight with concern.
"What is it? Are you, Did you feel her again?"
Eva didn't answer right away. Her gaze drifted toward the place they'd just left. Her fingers trembled.
"No," she finally whispered. "I didn't feel her. Not really. That wasn't... her presence."
Jian frowned.
"You mean....she could be dead because of the explosion?"
Eva slowly shook her head, jaw clenched.
"No... she won't die from that. She created it."
Her eyes flicked toward Jian, intense and weary.
"She wanted that explosion. It was meant to catch us. Or... test me."
Jian exhaled, running a hand through his hair.
"Then... let's rest. You look like you're about to..."
Before he could finish, Eva's legs buckled.
He caught her just in time.
"You're so weak!"
Her head slumped against his shoulder, breath shallow.
"Yeah... I spent more energy than I should have."
She tried to smile. It didn't hold.
"I didn't know you had that kind of power," Jian said quietly, steadying her.
"Transfer like that... even Smile never managed it without losing something."
Her voice was soft, nearly fading.
"It wasn't just a transfer..."
Jian's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
She looked at him, calm but distant.
"We're still alive after Voox's explosion, right?"
He nodded, uncertain. "Yeah... barely."
"Do you really think we'd still be alive if I hadn't done something?"
"You said it was a Fold layer, just to move us.."
"No,"she cut in gently. "I created a Fold around the entire space... like a lens. When she exploded, it didn't spread. It folded inward."
Jian stared at her, trying to grasp the weight of it.
"You created a barrier that absorbed it?"
"Redirected it... locked it inside."
Her eyes dimmed further.
"She's still inside it. She doesn't even know."
The silence stretched.
Then Jian whispered:
"You... saved us."
Eva's lips curled into the faintest, fading smile. "For now "
Her body trembled.
Jian looked around, scanning the shimmering grey haze around them.
"How are we going to get back?" he asked, voice low, uncertain, as if saying it too loud might shatter everything.
Before he could even glance back at Eva, the world shifted.
The haze peeled away. Color returned. Gravity corrected.
They were standing at the edge of a small, quiet hill outside Elara's family home, peaceful, untouched, the wind brushing through tall grass.
Jian blinked, stunned. He turned in every direction, confused, until his gaze found Eva.
At that moment, her eyes rolled back. She collapsed in his arms.
He caught her gently, lowering them both to the soft earth.
He held her close and whispered,
"You did enough… thank you."
---------------------------
The wind rolled softly across the hillside, brushing against Jian's face as he stood in silence, holding Eva in his arms. Her breathing was light, too light, but steady. He glanced toward the small, quiet house nestled just ahead.
It looked untouched by everything that had happened. Like a place sealed away from time.
He shifted Eva gently in his arms and began walking toward it, each step slow and careful, the weight of everything pressing into his spine—not just her body, but the weight of what they'd escaped.
He reached the worn wooden door. Hesitated. Raised a hand to knock?
The door opened.
No sound. No warning.
And there she stood.
Elara.
Still. Silent. Eyes sharp as glass but unreadable.
Her gaze moved from Jian… down to Eva in his arms… then back to Jian.
Her expression didn't change. No fear. No warmth. Just silence. A mask carved in stone.
Jian didn't look away. Couldn't.
The space between them was charged with something unspoken.
After a moment, his voice broke the stillness, quiet, hesitant, as if each word cost him something.
"I found her outside," he said, barely above a whisper.
"Here she is."
He held Eva out, gently, offering her into Elara's arms.
Elara didn't move at first. Just stared at him. Something flickered behind her eyes, but it was too fast to catch.
Then—finally, she stepped forward, reaching out slowly and taking Eva from him, cradling her without a word.
Jian's hands lingered for a heartbeat longer than necessary… then dropped to his sides.
Still, Elara said nothing.
-----------------------
Elara's Home — Moments Later
The air inside the house was still and thick with quiet tension. Jian stepped through the doorway, the weight of Eva's sacrifice still fresh in his mind, the scent of old wood and earth grounding him. The door creaked softly shut behind him, sealing him into a space that felt both safe and unfamiliar.
Down the hall, Elara moved silently, Eva cradled in her arms.
He followed her without speaking, each footstep sounding louder than it should. She entered a simple room and laid Eva gently on a low bed. The light from the single window spilled across her face, pale, calm, unconscious.
Jian stayed by the doorway, unsure.
Elara didn't look at him at first. She stood by the bed with an eerie stillness, eyes locked on Eva. Then, without warning, she turned toward Jian and said:
"Do you still hide your left hand when you sleep?"
The question hit him like a pulse through the spine.
His breath caught.
That was something he hadn't done in years, something no one should remember. Except...
"Only one person ever saw that,"he said slowly, voice tightening.
"Elara... you.."
Her expression didn't soften. Instead, it shifted.
The mask cracked.
The warmth, the faint sorrow that had shimmered in her earlier silence was gone. Now her gaze sharpened, cold, clinical, studying.
"That Elara," she said, her voice lower now, subtly different, like a chord played out of tune, "was from a version you left behind."
Jian took a step back, heart pounding.
"What... are you?"
She tilted her head , the movement too smooth, too precise.
"I'm still Elara," she said.
"Just not the one you're hoping for."
Jian stared at her. The light from the window caught her eyes, and for the briefest second, they shimmered , not with light, but with layers.
Fold echoes.
She was Elara… and not.
A construct? A remnant? A version of her pulled from another Fold?
"You're not 2001."
She almost smiled. "No. But she's still in here."
Her hand hovered near her temple. "I remember everything she did. Everything she felt."
She stepped closer to him, just one pace.
"So I'll ask you now , not as her, but as me: Why did you really come back, Jian? Was it for Eva… or for the version of me you abandoned in the Fold?"
Jian couldn't speak.
Couldn't breathe.
The room felt smaller. Tighter.
To be continue ....