Chapter 108: Fractures in Eden

The grass under Evryn’s feet still felt too soft to be real.

She stood on a hill where wildflowers bloomed in gentle waves, the kind she remembered from her childhood—but couldn’t have possibly survived the collapse of the Nexus fields. Below the hill, a valley stretched wide and serene, where golden light filtered through towering trees and rivers danced like veins of silver.

A paradise, reborn.

Kai stood a few paces ahead, arms crossed, eyes scanning the horizon. He’d been silent since they arrived. Elara and Aurex had ventured off to explore the periphery, mapping energy lines, quietly wondering if this new world had rules they understood—or consequences they hadn’t yet seen.

But Evryn could feel it.

Something wasn’t right.

“I know this place,” she whispered to herself.

Kai glanced back. “What did you say?”

Evryn stepped down the slope, letting the wind push her coat aside. “This isn’t new. It’s familiar. This world—it’s not a creation. It’s a restoration.”

Kai followed. “Restoration of what?”

She looked up at him. “My first memory.”

Kai’s brows furrowed. “The lab?”

She shook her head. “Earlier. Before Project E.V.E.R. Before Elaia. Before the collapse. I was five. This hill... this tree... I was here.”

He looked around again, eyes narrowing. “But that was decades ago. This whole area was destroyed when the rupture reached Sector Nine.”

“I know,” she murmured. “Which means either time has looped, or...”

A new voice cut in. “You brought it back.”

Elara emerged from the trees, her expression unusually tight.

“You weren’t just absorbing the Seed,” she said to Evryn. “You were anchoring to it. It wasn't just a key—it was a mirror. And your memory, your longing, your subconscious—they wove this place back into existence.”

Evryn took a step back. “You’re saying I rebuilt the world... with my own memories?”

“Not the world,” Aurex’s voice joined them now, stepping out with his ever-present data-band glowing along his forearm. “Just this slice. The rest of the world is... gone. We’re in a fragment. A bubble.”

Kai’s jaw clenched. “So this isn’t Eden. It’s a preserved lie.”

“No,” Aurex said grimly. “It’s worse. It’s a fracture. A reality born out of your desires and regrets. And if we don’t get out... we’ll become echoes inside it.”

Evryn staggered.

Suddenly the wind felt colder. The warmth in the sunlight grew artificial. The chirping birds faded, like an old memory being re-recorded on top of itself.

She dropped to her knees.

“I didn’t mean to trap us here,” she whispered.

Kai was beside her in an instant, kneeling. “You didn’t. The Seed is gone. But what you held—what merged with you—it’s not done yet. And we’re going to figure this out.”

Aurex crouched and tapped the ground.

“The data threads here are non-linear,” he muttered. “We’re inside a quantum-stasis loop. We can get out, but we’ll need an anchor point outside of your mind, Evryn.”

Her heart thudded.

An anchor?

“There’s... something,” she said slowly, standing.

She turned to the largest tree on the hill. It was bent slightly, its bark silver-etched, its roots spread like arteries down the slope.

And carved in its trunk, weathered by time, were three letters:

E.V.E.

Elara froze. “You carved that?”

Evryn nodded, barely breathing. “When I was five. Before they took me.”

Kai stepped up. “Then this is your anchor.”

Aurex’s data-band flared. “Yes. If we tune the resonance field here to collapse the bubble from the inside, we might force an interface with the outer timelines.”

“Do it,” Evryn said, gripping the tree. “Before this place becomes permanent.”

Aurex set to work.

As he initialized the sequence, the world around them flickered—just briefly. The sky split for a second, revealing a swirling darkness behind it. Shadows danced on the edges, whispering her name in a dozen different tones.

“Evryn... come back...”

Kai stepped between her and the darkness. “Ignore it. You’re not alone anymore.”

Then the wind grew violent.

The illusion began to fight back.

A version of Evryn appeared on the hilltop—dressed in the lab-white uniform of Project E.V.E.R., her eyes hollow, her arms soaked in blood.

“No,” the projection said. “You need this place. Here, you’re whole. Here, they’re alive. Stay.”

Elara’s weapon was up instantly. “She’s stalling.”

“She’s me,” Evryn whispered. “The part that still wants peace.”

Kai reached for her hand. “Then let’s find peace somewhere real.”

Evryn gritted her teeth.

She walked straight toward the projection.

“I am you,” she said. “And you’re scared. But I am not staying. Because peace born from pain is not peace. It’s sedation.”

The false Evryn screamed, dissolving into mist.

Aurex shouted, “NOW!”

Evryn grabbed the carved letters on the tree.

The world exploded into white.

Realspace — 12 hours later

They woke inside a real structure. Steel walls. Clean floors. Static humming in the air.

Kai groaned as he sat up. “Please tell me this isn’t another illusion.”

Elara tapped a control panel. “Reading normal time flow. Gravity sync holding. We’re back.”

Evryn stood slowly.

They were inside Vault Zeta, one of the oldest hidden Nexus facilities beneath the Omega Ring. Abandoned after the collapse. Forgotten by almost everyone.

Except her.

Because this was the last place she remembered seeing her mother alive.

A screen on the far wall flickered on, as if sensing her return.

An AI voice echoed through the chamber.

“Welcome back, Evryn Vale. Initiating Protocol Rebirth.”

They all froze.

Elara swore under her breath. “Vale? Your surname wasn’t Vale.”

Evryn’s mouth went dry.

“It was... before they changed it.”

Kai looked at her. “What the hell is Protocol Rebirth?”

She stared at the screen.

A message played.

“If you’re seeing this, it means the Seed has activated. And my daughter has returned.”

Her mother’s face.

Alive—digitally, at least.

Elara gasped.

Aurex dropped his tools.

Kai stood behind Evryn, gently gripping her shoulder.

The message continued.

“The Seed was never meant to be power. It was a lock. A failsafe. And if it’s gone, then the gate... is open.”

The screen turned black.

Evryn’s breath caught.

“Elara,” she said hoarsely, “scan the facility.”

Elara nodded, fingers moving across the panel.

Then she went pale.

“Evryn... there’s a signal coming through the gate.”

Kai moved beside her. “What kind of signal?”

Elara looked up slowly.

“A familiar one.”

Evryn whispered, “From who?”

Elara turned the screen.

A waveform appeared. One word blinked on the console.

“KAI”

Kai staggered back. “What the—”

Evryn shook her head. “It’s not you. It’s... another version of you.”

Aurex cursed. “Another Kai survived the collapse—somewhere beyond the Seed. And now he’s reaching through.”

Kai looked at the screen, face pale. “So what do we do?”

Evryn straightened.

“We answer.”