Jian stood abruptly.
His chair scraped against the floor, jarring in the quiet room. His breath hitched in his throat, eyes darting toward the window as if Voox might be there, cloaked in shadow and silence.
"No," he muttered. "She's not gone. If you felt her… even for a second, then she was here."
Eva stood too now, all cold calculation burned away by something more primal...real fear. She didn't even pretend to play it off.
"She shouldn't be able to enter the Fold-anchor," she whispered. "It's locked. It's mine."
Jian's hands clenched. "She doesn't enter," he said. "She seeps."
Eva frowned, but she knew he was right. Voox was not like the others. She didn't breach like a sword through armor, she soaked in like ink through paper, warping everything without warning.
"You think she's trying to get Elara back?, " Eva asked." Or get us ?"
Jian shook his head. "I don't think she ever let go."
They both paused as a chime echoed faintly through the room. Not from the house.
From deep within the Fold.
Eva's head snapped toward the corner wall, where the shimmer of anchored reality pulsed once. Faint. Then again.
"Someone's trying to open a gate," she said. "But it's not Voox."
Jian's voice dropped to a growl. "Then it's worse."
Eva didn't ask. she knew what he meant.
-------------------
Elsewhere — Outer Fold Range
The air shimmered like heat waves against cold glass. In the center of a sprawl of inert tech and broken time-stream anchors, a figure stood alone.
It was neither tall nor short. Neither man nor woman. Its skin was dull metal, shifting faintly with the colors of its surroundings. No face. Only a void-mask—mirror-smooth and rippling softly.
This was Mirror.
An entity long erased from the Core Records. Untraceable. The only being ever folded out intentionally, exiled beyond the End-Ring. Until now.
Mirror raised a hand.
Around it, the fractured echo of Elara 2001 flickered in ghost-light. Her memories. Her commands. Her last overwrite strings.
"She was mine," Mirror said softly.
"And she forgot."
It turned toward the East.
"To reclaim her, I will rewrite the path."
Then the sky above tore open in a hairline crack, leaking Fold-light. Mirror stepped forward. Folded into it. Gone.
-------------------
Back at Elara's Home
Elara stirred again.
This time not gently. Her body tensed. Then shuddered.
Eva ran down the hallway, Jian close behind. By the time they reached her, Elara had sat up, eyes wide, breath heaving, pupils flickering like caught static.
"Elara?" Jian asked softly, stepping closer. "Can you hear me?"
She blinked. Then clutched her chest.
"I heard her," Elara whispered. "Voox. She was… screaming. Not at me. Through me."
Eva knelt beside her, brushing sweat-matted hair from her forehead. "She's trying to reclaim you."
"No," Elara said. Her voice had changed. Low. Measured. Familiar.
Eva's blood ran cold.
Jian stiffened. "That's not her voice," he said.
Elara looked up at them both. Her face calm. Composed.
"Of course not," she said with a strange smile. "Elara is resting. I'm the fragment she buried."
Eva whispered, "You're the backup layer."
"I was," the woman replied. "Now, I'm more."
Jian turned to Eva. "The memory core is bleeding. Not just between versions. Between constructs."
"But that's impossible," Eva hissed. "She was only supposed to have three shells. The base. The 2001 overwrite. And the adaptive mimic layer for Lucas."
The woman turned fully toward them, her voice cold now.
"You forgot the original."
Silence.
Eva stared. "No. That one was..."
"Purged," the woman finished. "Yes. You tried. But Elara's first self… the real one… never left. She just hid. And now?" She smiled again.
"She's waking up."
Jian backed away a step. "If the original Elara breaks through, the whole Fold structure around her collapses."
Eva's voice shook. "Then everything unravels."
The woman...Elara, or whoever she now was...closed her eyes. And when she opened them, they weren't glowing.
They were human. Raw. Real.
She looked at Eva.
"Tell me the truth," she said softly. "What am I?"
Eva opened her mouth to lie. To fold reality again. To create safety in illusion.
But she couldn't.
So she said the truth.
"You're the reason the Fold exists."
Outside, the wind picked up. The light dimmed.
And the sky cracked.
Elara's eyes fluttered..
Just like that, the depth, the awareness, the edge of something ancient behind her gaze..
Gone.
She blinked, and her whole posture softened. Her voice, when she spoke next, was warm, gentle, hollow in the way it always was when the "wife" version slipped back into place.
"Sweetie?" she said, turning to Eva with a soft smile. "You look pale. Did you have another bad dream?"
Eva recoiled slightly. Her breath caught. Jian stood frozen beside her, muscles taut. It had happened again that eerie, seamless shift. The return of the docile, curated personality. The mask.
Eva tried to respond but the words caught in her throat.
"Sweetheart?" Elara reached forward now, concern blossoming across her face like a programmed reaction. "Is everything alright?"
Jian stepped forward. "She needs rest."
Elara turned to him, smile unwavering. "Of course. She always worries too much. Just like her father." She chuckled softly.
Eva stared, unblinking. There was no trace. No flicker. No static in the eyes. The wife layer had sealed itself completely.
She spoke carefully. "Mom… do you remember what you just said to me?"
Elara tilted her head, smile still fixed in place. "That you looked pale? I suppose I did say that. Are you feeling sick?"
"Before that," Eva pressed. "Just now. About being the reason the Fold exists."
Elara laughed gently, genuinely. "That doesn't sound like something I'd say, does it?" She shook her head, brushing invisible dust from her sleeve. "You kids and your science fiction."
Eva backed away slowly. "It's not sticking," she whispered under her breath. "She's learning to bury the core flickers on her own."
Jian swore softly under his breath.
"We need to do a shadow trace," he said. "Now."
Elara rose from the couch, smoothing her dress.
"Are you two going somewhere? I can make breakfast!" she offered brightly. "Lucas always said my eggs were perfect. He used to say I—"
"Lucas didn't say anything," Eva snapped suddenly, voice sharp. "Lucas is gone."
The smile on Elara's face faltered Just slightly. Like a ripple on glass.
Then it returned.
"Oh," she said. "I must be remembering it wrong."
Eva turned to Jian, eyes hard. "She's trying to overwrite reality now. Not just remember it differently. She's
Jian's voice was tight. "Then it's not a personality fracture anymore."
Eva nodded grimly.
"It's a takeover."
-----------------
Outside — The Edge of the Fold
Far above the house, unseen by human eyes, the crack in the Fold widened.
A thread of light unfurled from the tear glowing with violet fire and braided data-code. And from within it, something stirred. Not Voox. Not Mirror.
Something older.
Something watching.
And Elara… even in her "wife" layer—tilted her head ever so slightly.
As though… she felt it.
She smiled.
Eva noticed.
She watched her mother's expression stretch, subtly, but unnaturally toward the window. Eva turned instinctively to follow her gaze.
And there, just for a blink—
A shadow of a teenage boy.
Smiling back.
He stood half-formed, light curling around the silhouette like static—
Then he was gone.
Eva's eyes widened in fear. "Jian?" she whispered.
He turned immediately. "What?"
She kept staring at the window. "Did you see that?"
Jian followed her gaze, scanning the spot where the figure had stood. But there was only sunlight and glass.
"I don't see anything. What did you see?"
"I… I don't know," Eva said, her voice barely audible. "It looked like—"
Elara interrupted, her tone sugary and firm.
"Let's go, kids! I'll prepare a nice meal for you both. Oh..." she glanced toward the kitchen. "I forgot we don't have eggs. I'll go and buy some!"
Jian stepped forward quickly. "No, I'll go. Stay here with your child.she may need you."
Elara beamed. "Oh, thank you. You're sweet."
Jian gave Eva a quick glance...be careful, then left.
Eva turned slowly back toward Elara.
"…Who was he?"
Elara paused, her brow creasing. "Who? Who?"
Eva didn't blink. "Stop acting. I saw you smile to someone. Who is he?"
There was a long silence.
Then—
Elara's face twisted, the edges of her mouth tightening. A flare of real, raw anger broke through.
"You're being disrespectfull, Eva," she said coldly. "Don't talk to mummy like this."
Eva stared at her, stunned.
"If you do this again," Elara continued, voice low and sharp, "I won't be so easy on you. You've been around Jian too much. Is he teaching you this behavior?"
Eva didn't answer. Her breath slowed.
She was no longer frightened.
She was analyzing.
This wasn't just the wife layer.
Something else was bleeding through . And it knew exactly what it was doing .
As Jian stepped out the door, Elara turned sweetly to Eva, offering the house key with a gentle smile.
"Be a dear and lock the door, will you?" she said. "We wouldn't want anything… unwanted slipping in."
Eva took the key silently, nodded, and closed the door behind Jian. But instead of locking it immediately, she turned the bolt slowly… then paused.
She opened it just a crack eyes scanning the outside.
The boy. That shadow. Was he still there?
Nothing.
But as she looked up...
Her breath caught.
The sky had split.
Not fully, but a faint, jagged fracture shimmered against the pale clouds above. Like a broken mirror sealed behind thin gauze. A crack in the layer.
It pulsed once. Violet. Then dimmed.
Eva slammed the door shut, locked it, and spun back toward the kitchen, her heartbeat in her throat.
Elara was still there, humming softly, arranging flour and spices like everything was fine. Like she hadn't just smiled at an invisible ghost.
Eva moved fast, grabbed a bright, childish picture book from the side shelf and slipped into one of the kitchen's dining chairs. She placed the book in front of her, flipping to a random page. Bright cartoon dinosaurs grinned up at her.
She didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Didn't even try to fake reading.
She just stared...frozen.
Elara glanced over her shoulder.
"Sweetheart? Whatcha reading?"
Eva forced her voice. "Just… something silly. Old."
"Alright," Elara said warmly, returning to her task. Her hands moved quickly eggs cracking (where had she gotten them?), butter melting, something sizzling. She didn't ask more. But Eva knew she was watching.
------------------
Meanwhile, across town—
Jian moved quickly through the market street, his list already forming in his mind. But halfway to the corner, he stopped. Froze.
He looked up, frowning.
A sudden chill. An echo. Something pulling at his chest.
"…Eva," he muttered. "She's doing something."
His instincts screamed.
He turned toward the shop, but instead of slowing, he quickened his pace. "I need to be fast."
--------------------
Back at the house—
Eva's eyes were fluttering. Her body felt drained...like whatever she had seen in that sky had pulled something from her.
She tried to push the chair back slowly. But her legs buckled.
She fell hard, her knees slamming the tile.
But she pushed up quickly, biting back a cry. She couldn't let Elara see.
Elara, lost in her cooking, didn't seem to notice.
Eva took her chance. She darted toward the hallway, then quietly slipped out the back porch door.
The moment she stepped into the yard,
She looked up.
The crack was gone.
Smooth sky. Blue. Whole.
She exhaled, chest trembling.
"If this keeps happening," she whispered to herself, "it'll kill me."
Her hands shook. "It took… 85% of my energy just to stand there. What is this?"
<
She turned back inside...barely able to move. She slipped into the living room, collapsed on the sofa, and let herself sink. The cushions enveloped her like water.
Her eyes closed.
A long, slow breath.
Sleep claimed her in seconds.
In the kitchen—
Elara noticed the silence.
"Eva?" she called gently.
No answer.
She moved through the hall, barefoot, quiet.
Then—there.
She spotted her.
Eva, curled on the sofa. Breathing shallow. Asleep.
Elara stared for a moment. Her expression unreadable.
Then… she smiled faintly.
No sound. No movement.
She simply turned and walked back to the kitchen, where the burner flame danced and the scent of breakfast hung in the air like a memory someone else had placed in her mind.
A few minutes later…
Knock knock.
The sound echoed through the house, soft, polite, but out of place.
Elara looked up from the stove. She had just finished slicing a pear...its flesh white and too perfect, like wax. She set the knife down without a word, wiped her hands calmly on a dish towel, and turned toward the front hall.
Each step she took was slow, steady.
The knock didn't come again.
She reached the door.
Unlatched the lock.
Opened it.
Then—froze.
She didn't speak.
Didn't blink.
She just stood there , staring.
And then… that smile.
The same one.
The one Eva had seen only minutes before soft and syrupy and far too wide, like her skin had learned it but her soul had not.
Her voice, when it came, was air-light.
"…Hello."
She stepped aside wordlessly, as though expecting the guest. As though they'd been expected all along.
There was no sound of footsteps entering. No shape that Eva could hear from the living room.
But something was there.
A presence.
Watching.
Back in the living room—
Eva stirred.
Her eyes opened slowly. Her body still weak. Her mouth dry.
Something was wrong.
Not just the quiet.
Not just the heavy air pressing down around her.
She felt it.
Not Jian.
Not Elara.
Something… new.
The house creaked.
Eva sat up slowly, trying not to make a sound. She turned toward the front hall.
The door was open.
And at the far edge of her vision...just past the corner.she thought she saw movement.
And from the kitchen, a voice...Elara's cheerful, familiar, too bright.
"Eva? Sweetheart! We have a guest!"
To be continue ....