Chapter 37 · Zero Hour: The Final Glitch

"Get your hands off the console, Kael, or I’ll make sure this loop is the one you actually stay in."

Mord’s voice didn’t scream. It vibrated. He stood ten feet away, his silhouette framed by the pulsing crimson light of the Core. He looked less like a man and more like a glitch in the system—shimmering, unstable, and radiating a coldness that made the air taste like ozone and old blood.

I didn’t move my hand. My fingers were inches from the delete key, the metal cold against my skin. My heart was hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird, and my vision was starting to fray at the edges. The sanity erosion was hitting hard. Every time I blinked, I saw a different version of myself dying—throat slit, chest crushed, head blown—a thousand ghosts screaming in a language I almost understood.

"You’re late, Mord," I spat. I tried to keep my voice steady, but it came out as a jagged wreck. "The clock is at zero. The protocol is breaking. You can’t stop the delete."

"I *am* the protocol," Mord countered. He took a step forward, the floor humming beneath his boots. "You think you’re the hero here?