Chapter 36 · The Final Reset

"Step away from the console, Kael. Now."

Vera’s voice didn’t shake, but the barrel of her pulse-rifle was digging a divot into the meat of my shoulder. I didn’t move. My fingers were still hovering over the holographic delete key of the Protocol Zero core. One press. That was all it took to wipe the loop, kill the Architect, and maybe—just maybe—stop the screaming in my head.

"You’re not going to shoot me," I said. I didn't look back. I could smell her—that sharp, metallic scent of ozone and the faint trace of vanilla that always clung to her skin, even in this hellhole. "You’ve spent ten loops trying to figure out why I’m the only variable that doesn’t fit. You don’t kill the only answer to your own question."

"I can find another answer," she snapped. I felt the rifle shift, the muzzle sliding up to press firmly against the base of my skull. "This is the end of the line. If you hit that key, you don't just delete the protocol. You delete us. Everything we’ve built across these resets. Every memory. Every..."

"Every lie?" I finally turned, twisting my body so I was chest-to-chest with her.