They sprinted through the hallways, the museum collapsing around them. The shadow creature roared behind them, swallowing the walls in liquid darkness. Lights burst, displays shattered, and the floor cracked beneath their feet.
Aven gasped for air. "Where are we going?!"
"Deeper," Rhea shouted. "To the Core Archives. If this place has any answers, they're buried there!"
They reached a stairwell spiraling down into pitch-blackness. Without hesitation, Rhea pulled Aven into the shadows. The creature slammed against the walls above, screeching like tearing metal.
In the dark, Aven felt his pulse thunder in his ears. "What the hell is that thing?"
Rhea's voice was low and tight. "A failed future that wants to live. A timeline we don't belong to… that wants to overwrite us."
The stairwell shook. Dust rained down. They kept moving, deeper and deeper, until the air grew thick and cold. Finally, they stumbled into a cavernous room lined with towering servers blinking weakly.
"This is it," Rhea panted. "The Core. Where all the museum's data is stored."
Aven collapsed against a server tower, gulping air. "What do we do?"
Rhea pulled out her notebook, flipping through frantic scribbles. "We find your future file. And we delete it."
Aven stared at her. "Delete… me?"
"Your failed future," Rhea said firmly. "Whatever the museum is using to rewrite you, we cut it out."
The screech of the creature echoed from the stairwell.
Rhea met his eyes. "If we fail, there's nothing left of us to save."
Aven swallowed hard. Then he nodded. "Let's do it."
The lights flickered overhead as they plunged into the tangled maze of servers, hunting for the ghost of his erased future.