POV: ELARA
The light didn't just swallow the corridor it carved through it.
As if a fracture was separating past from present, or forcing everything to overlap at once.
I shut my eyes on reflex, but the light pierced through my eyelids anyway, still entering, still searching.
"Aiden!" I shouted, but my voice drowned under the trembling sound that filled the corridor.
That sound… it wasn't an entity's voice.
Not the system's either.
It was the sound of… emotion.
Not mine.
Not Aiden's.
But something between us.
The light faded slowly, leaving a line of cracks hanging in the air curved, alive, like an invisible mouth holding back ancient words.
Aiden stood half-bent, arm raised as if trying to block the light, his face drained of color.
"Aiden… are you okay?" I whispered.
He looked at me without speaking.
But his eyes God his eyes said everything he couldn't bring himself to say.
Guilt.
Fear.
And… a truth he tried to bury, but the crack was forcing out.
The crack pulsed once.
An invisible pressure slammed into my chest.
Then—
The entity's voice appeared, soft and lethal like a whisper on a cliffside:
"He didn't just release your hand, Elara…
He chose himself."
My heart stopped.
"Aiden…" my voice cracked. "Answer me. Now."
He looked at the crack first, not at me and that alone pushed me a step back.
"Elara… it's not what you think."
His voice fractured.
"Answer," I repeated. "Please."
Aiden closed his eyes, as if what he was about to say could shatter the world.
"I didn't let go of your hand to save myself," he said quietly. "But I did… let go."
Something inside me collapsed.
"I wasn't ready to watch you die," he continued, voice trembling. "My instincts didn't know who to save first. And when my body reacted… I slipped. The grip broke."
He opened his eyes.
"Elara… it wasn't a choice. It was a failure."
The crack pulsed faster — as if angered by his answer.
Or… demanding more.
"What else?" I whispered, softer than a breath.
Aiden froze.
"The crack won't stop unless you're honest," I added.
I wasn't sure where that courage came from — maybe because I was already broken, and broken people aren't afraid of breaking twice.
Aiden lowered his head.
"…I've been afraid to touch you since then."
The air around me went cold.
"I'm afraid… if I hold you too tightly, you'll disappear in front of me again."
He lifted his face.
"And that makes me… a coward."
The crack dimmed a little, as if satisfied.
But I wasn't.
I stepped back.
"Aiden… you always say you want to protect me. But if you can't even protect me from yourself"
"Elara—"
"I need space," I cut in.
I didn't shout.
I didn't cry.
I just… broke quietly.
And my silence was louder than any words.
POV: AIDEN
When Elara walked away from me, it felt like a part of my own body was being torn out.
Not a metaphor.
The system inside me responded to her emotions sending sharp, physical pain stabbing through me like heated needles.
I reached out my hand.
Not to pull her back.
Not to force her to speak.
Just… reflex.
The reflex of someone familiar with loss.
"Elara… don't get close to the crack," I said quickly.
Because the crack was starting to move.
Yes move, like an organism feeding on human anger and wounds.
"Why?" she snapped.
"Because its phase has shifted into emotional-response mode," I said, voice cracking with panic. "This crack isn't passive anymore. It"
A burst of light exploded from the crack, slamming into the wall, burning through part of a panel.
Elara jerked back in shock.
I moved on instinct, placing myself between her and the crack.
"Aiden—"
"I'm not letting this thing take you again."
The crack reacted to my words.
A wave of heat slammed into my chest my internal system shuddering violently.
The entity's voice returned.
"You're lying again, Aiden."
I grabbed the wall for support.
"No… I'm not—"
"You want to save Elara."
The entity chuckled faintly.
"But you also want to be punished by her."
"Elara, don't listen!" I yelled.
Too late.
Elara stared at me, eyes wide.
"Aiden… is that true?"
Her voice didn't explode.
It wasn't sharp.
Worse:
It was the voice of someone ready to be hurt for the final time.
I felt my entire conceptual system collapse.
"Elara… I—"
"Tell me the truth."
I exhaled… and surrendered to the truth inside me.
"Yes."
The word came out like blood.
"I want to be punished. Because part of me believes I deserve it."
Silence smothered the corridor.
And that silence made the world feel crueler.
Elara closed her eyes.
"Thank you for being honest," she whispered.
That wasn't forgiveness.
Not anger.
Something in between like a door slightly open, but not inviting anyone in.
I wanted to speak—
But the crack… tore open.
Literally.
A massive gash split wide, rimmed with violet-black light like cosmic ink.
Elara screamed as a suction wind dragged her forward.
"Elara!"
I lunged, grabbing her wrist.
"Hold on! I won't let go—"
The crack whispered:
"You said that in the first loop too."
A second wave of light crushed into me.
My system overloaded, my senses glitched, my muscles locked.
And in a fraction of a second—
My grip weakened.
Not because I wanted it to.
Not because I gave up.
But because my own system… betrayed me.
"AI-DEN!!!"
Elara's body slid closer to the crack.
Light swallowed her legs, climbing her calves like ink trying to redraw her.
I clenched my teeth, forcing my fried nerves to obey.
"ELARA! LISTEN TO ME!"
My scream echoed through the corridor.
"I'm not letting you disappear again!
I'm not repeating the mistake from the first loop!
I will—"
The crack hit me with a second blast.
I slammed into the wall.
Elara sobbed, panicking, her body halfway inside the light.
"Aiden… please… don't… LET GO…"
I ran.
I didn't think.
And right before the crack swallowed her whole—
I jumped into it.
Wrapping my arms around her completely.
"Elara I'm here."
The crack sealed shut.
We vanished from the corridor.
The crack closed with a sound like the world swallowing its own secrets.
And Aiden and Elara…
vanished together.
For the first time since the loop began—
they entered the crack at the same moment.
And that changed everything.