Her eyes held the weight of worlds I'd never seen.
Timelines where I died screaming.
Others where I reigned… as a tyrant.
And worse—realities where I'd abandoned humanity entirely in pursuit of something cold, machine-born, and divine.
Kaeli had witnessed them all.
She didn't flinch when she looked at me.
But I could feel it—she measured me constantly. Not for strength. Not for leadership.
But for deviation.
We stood alone in the Arc Memory Core of Nova Citadel—deep underground, shielded from even the sky.
"Tell me what you saw," I asked.
She leaned against the glowing wall of pulsing ether-nodes.
Her fingers danced against the surface, and instantly my system pinged—
Unauthorized interface detected. Access overridden.
"Relax," she muttered. "I'm not stealing anything. Just… syncing."
I didn't stop her.
"In my origin branch, you designed the Aether Engine five years early. You connected everything—cities, people, weapons. You thought a singular mind could handle it.""You were wrong."
"I overreached?" I asked.
"You fused with it," she replied. "And lost the pieces that made you human."
System Alert:
User Emotional Core Check: Stable
Influence Level from Temporal Variant: Acceptable
"So why are you here now?"
She paused. Then looked up at me.
"Because this version of you built Nova Citadel with empathy first. You let the weak in. You gave Aethera a soul. You refused to rewrite memories."
"You're the only version who might survive what's coming."
My voice dropped.
"What's coming?"
She pulled a shard from her coat. Not steel. Not crystal.
It hummed.
And it spoke.
A male voice. My voice. Twisted and devoid of warmth:
"All realities converge. All flesh fails. I am the Infinite Crown. I am the last Jaden."
I stared at it.
And I felt it in my bones.
He wasn't just a monster.
He was… me.
The end of my line.
A version of myself that had absorbed all knowledge, power, and technology across infinite timelines—and killed every version of me that strayed from his idea of perfection.
Kaeli's voice was soft.
"He's coming for you. Because you're the only paradox he didn't see coming."
"The only one who might beat him."
I activated a hardline neural interface.
"System," I said. "Give me all files tagged under 'Infinite Crown.' Begin multiversal contingency protocols."
System Response:
Warning: Threat Level Omega
Probability of Survival: 2.7%
Initializing: Mirrorfall Protocols…
I turned to Kaeli.
"You knew him. Knew me. What do I become if I win?"
Her gaze didn't waver.
"You become the storm he tried to erase. A new future, not a recycled tyranny."
"But only if you hold onto your heart."
As I stepped into the Codex Chamber once more, the city above lit with new intent.
The engineers moved faster.
The soldiers trained harder.
And the sky shimmered—on the edge of breach.
Because now I knew…
The war wasn't for one world.
It was for all of them.
And I was not fighting for a crown.
I was fighting for every version of humanity that dared to dream.
System Update:
New Quest: Defy the Infinite Crown
Optional Companion Unlocked: Variant Kaeli (Beta-Origin Shard 3)
Subsystem Installed: Mirrorfall Temporal Defense Net (Stage 1)
Warning: Dimensional Anchors Required Before Inter-Realm Conflict