The lab's emergency lights pulsed in sync with the knot's spiral, casting jagged shadows across the walls. Mira's legs buckled as she stumbled from the Chronocapsule, her mind still half-trapped in memory. Felix caught her arm, steadying her.
"What happened in there?" he demanded, voice tight with concern.
Before Mira could answer, Arjun's shout cut through the chaos. "We've got multiple breaches! The anomaly's spreading across the city!"
On the main screen, a map of the city blazed with red warning signals—dozens of them, each pulsing with the same broken spiral pattern. Linh's fingers flew across her tablet, trying to contain the damage.
"It's like it used your memories as a gateway," she said, not looking up. "Whatever you faced in there, it's loose now."
Kiran pointed to a cluster of anomalies. "These aren't random. They're forming a pattern—targeting places connected to each of us."
Mira's blood ran cold. The shadow wasn't just after her regrets anymore. It wanted all of them.
"We need to contain this," she said, forcing strength into her voice. "Linh, Felix—focus on stabilizing the knot. Arjun, Kiran—help me track these anomalies. If the shadow's targeting our pasts, we need to know why."
As the team moved with renewed purpose, Mira studied the map. One anomaly pulsed brighter than the others—at the site of an old research facility where she'd first met Elara.
The memory surfaced, sharp and painful: two young scientists, brilliant and ambitious, working to understand the fabric of reality. Before the accident. Before Elara was lost.
The knot flickered, and for an instant, Mira saw the shadow standing in the corner of the lab—wearing Elara's face but twisted with rage and sorrow.
"You can't fix what you refuse to remember," it had said. But what if remembering wasn't enough?
A sudden realization struck her. "It's not just using our regrets," she whispered. "It's feeding on them. Growing stronger with each memory it touches."
Felix looked up, face pale. "Then how do we stop it?"
Mira's gaze hardened. "We face it. All of us. Together."
Outside, the city's lights began to flicker and die, as the shadow spread its broken spiral across reality.
And somewhere in the darkness, Elara—or what remained of her—waited.