Loop #89,109 – 6:00 a.m. – Eron's Apartment
The alarm buzzed, but Eron was already awake. After nearly 90,000 lifetimes, even time had grown tired of surprising him.
He lay still for a moment, not because he was lost—but because every second of stillness helped him measure the rhythm of the world again. He'd memorized every creak in the ceiling, every honk in the morning traffic, and every name on today's death list.
But today, there was one difference. One thread he hadn't seen before.
A stranger.
---
6:35 a.m. – Metro Station
She stood alone at Platform 6, wearing a charcoal-gray suit and a calm, unreadable expression. Eron had never seen her before—not in 100,000 tries. He knew every face by now, every motion, every accident.
But this one was new.
Eron adjusted his bag, took a deep breath, and boarded the train two cars behind hers.
Observation first. Contact later.
---
7:10 a.m. – Helix Communications Hub
Jakob nervously typed a message under a secure proxy Eron had provided. It was sent to a Tier 3 analyst suspected of leaking intel.
Eron's words echoed in his head:
"Trust is earned in silence, but power is built through secrets."
A few desks over, chatter was increasing about "Gavric." About the shadow pulling the strings.
Eron smiled faintly as he watched the seeds continue to grow—seeds of a lie so perfect, it had started creating its own roots.
And yet, his mind kept drifting back to the stranger.
---
8:00 a.m. – Rooftop Café
Cira frowned, stirring her coffee. "No one just appears in this world, not after all this time. You sure it wasn't someone you overlooked?"
Eron shook his head. "No. I know every face. Every heartbeat. She's not a ghost from the loops—she's something else."
Cira looked up sharply. "You think... someone broke in to your loop?"
Eron's eyes narrowed. "Or worse. Someone's starting their own."
Loop #89,109 – 8:45 a.m. – Surveillance Outpost Gamma
The cameras buzzed as Eron leaned forward, fast-forwarding footage, frame by frame.
There she was again.
Same charcoal-gray suit. Same calm eyes. But this time—she wasn't standing still.
She was watching him.
Cira appeared on another monitor. "I cross-checked her with every known Helix file. No ID, no government history, no public data trail. It's like she doesn't exist."
Eron froze the video. Her gaze met the lens directly. She wasn't surprised by the camera. She expected it.
"She's not just new," Eron said slowly. "She's aware."
---
10:00 a.m. – Lower East Lab District
Eron slipped through the side door of an old lab he had used in a previous loop—once as a bomb shelter, once as a training den, and once as a torture room when things got messy.
Now, it was a war room.
He pinned up a fresh timeline on the wall.
6:32 a.m. – Arrival on Platform 6.
6:39 a.m. – Looks toward his direction.
7:12 a.m. – Transfers to Line 4 without hesitation.
8:00 a.m. – Exits near Helix sector.
He underlined the last entry.
"She's not a civilian."
---
11:10 a.m. – Temporary Analyst Hub, Sector B
Jakob, following Eron's latest command, began feeding false data into Helix's algorithm—a carefully constructed trail that framed a rogue operative named "Gavric" as the source of a massive internal breach.
What Helix didn't know was that "Gavric" didn't exist. He was Eron's phantom. His shield. His scapegoat.
And now, his legend was growing.
Jakob hesitated. "What if someone catches on?"
Eron's reply was cold, precise. "They will. That's part of the plan."
---
11:30 a.m. – Crowded Sidewalk, Downtown Core
Eron saw her again—moving through the crowd effortlessly, like a current under the surface. As she passed a vendor, her fingers flicked out for just a moment.
A signal.
To someone.
Eron didn't follow. He simply watched.
He didn't chase shadows.
He made them.
Loop #89,109 – 12:00 p.m. – Helix Cafeteria, Sector HQ
"Did you hear? Gavric's file leaked to internal security."
"Who even is Gavric? No one's seen his face."
"They say he was a ghost from the old war… back to dismantle Helix from the inside."
The whispers spread like smoke.
Eron sat in the corner, eating quietly, eyes trained on the table's reflection. Around him, agents were growing paranoid, divided—just as he intended.
His illusion was no longer just a rumor.
It was now Helix's biggest fear.
---
12:30 p.m. – Intelligence Division Server Room
Jakob had just planted the final layer of false data. Backdated messages. Altered financials. Simulated blackmail.
Eron stood over him like a conductor of chaos. "Now... trigger the leak. Make sure they trace it to Internal Ops. Sector G."
Jakob looked uncertain. "But that'll make them eat their own."
Eron's tone dropped. "Good. That's how you weaken something unbreakable—make it tear itself apart."
---
1:10 p.m. – Rooftop Safehouse
Cira pulled Eron aside. "You're pushing this too far. They're interrogating their own. Some of them—good people."
"There are no good people in Helix," Eron replied. "Only useful ones and blind ones. We give them a lie that burns so bright, they'll destroy everything just to put it out."
Cira didn't respond. She only stared.
Eron had changed.
No—he'd refined.
---
2:00 p.m. – Abandoned Tunnel Route 47
He met the stranger.
Face to face.
She stood there as if she knew he would come.
No fear. No surprise.
"You're not from this loop," Eron said quietly.
She tilted her head. "Neither are you."
A pause. Heavy with implication.
"Who sent you?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same."
They stood like mirrors. Calculating.
Then she smiled. "We're more alike than you think… Gavric."
Before he could speak, she turned and vanished into the shadows.
Eron's blood ran cold.
She knew the name.
She wasn't just aware—
She was in the lie.
Loop #89,109 – 2:15 p.m. – Tunnel Exit Surveillance Node
Eron sprinted out of the tunnel, breath controlled, heart cold.
She said my name.
Not his real name.
The one he crafted.
The one no one should've known.
"Gavric"—the perfect phantom. The perfect lie. The alias he wove into thousands of Helix's files across loops, turning myth into enemy, fiction into fear.
And now, someone had spoken it back to him.
It was like hearing a ghost speak.
---
2:45 p.m. – Observation Deck, Helix Tower
Eron stood alone as the city breathed below. He could see every route, every blind alley he'd used, every corner he'd turned for 89,109 days.
But for the first time in thousands of tries, he was unsure.
Not afraid.
Uncertain.
Because if she could remember his lie, there were two terrifying possibilities:
1. She had found a way to retain memory between loops, like him.
2. Or worse… she was not bound by the loop at all.
---
3:30 p.m. – Emergency Debrief, Internal Security
Across the building, panic brewed. A major director had just resigned. Interrogation logs went missing. Sector G was on full lockdown.
Every breadcrumb Eron had laid out was being devoured exactly on cue.
And yet…
The echo of her words kept ringing:
> "We're more alike than you think… Gavric."
He stared at his reflection in the one-way glass of the security room.
I've built a perfect system of manipulation.
But now—someone else had just entered the game board...
And they already knew the rules.
---
4:00 p.m. – Final Hour Before Reset
Eron sat alone in his safehouse, staring at the wall—covered in red strings, photos, logs, and timelines.
He wasn't celebrating the chaos he'd sown.
He was recalculating.
Rebuilding.
Because for the first time since the first reset…
someone else was playing the long game.
And tomorrow, when the world reset, he would begin his 89,110th try…
…not just to control Helix—
but to find her.
And win.