Across the street, the chronal officer stared at the glowing screen on her wrist.
NEW LOOP POSSIBILITY: 0.03%
That number shouldn't exist.
The paradox had been resolved.
The timeline had stabilized.
Everything was supposed to be normal again.
And yet…
Her device was detecting something impossible.
She tapped the screen again.
The alert expanded.
ANOMALY SOURCE: ETHAN PARK
Her eyebrows pulled together.
"…No way."
She glanced up at the café window.
Inside, Ethan and Liya were laughing over their coffee.
Two normal people.
Living a normal day.
Exactly how the repaired timeline was supposed to work.
But the device beeped again.
TEMPORAL SIGNATURE: ACTIVE
She muttered quietly,
"You're not supposed to have any time energy left."
The loops were gone.
The resets erased.
Ethan should have been just another person in the city.
But something inside him…
Had survived.
Inside the café—
Ethan suddenly paused mid-sentence.
"…Wait."
Liya looked at him.
"What?"
He stared at the window.
"…Do you feel that?"
"Feel what?"
"I don't know."
He rubbed his temples.
"For a second it felt like…"
"…something changed."
Liya tilted her head.
"You mean like déjà vu?"
"…No."
"Like something restarted."
Her eyes widened slightly.
"…Restarted?"
Ethan laughed awkwardly.
"Okay that sounded insane."
"A little."
"Forget I said it."
But outside—
The chronal officer knew exactly what that feeling meant.
She had seen it before.
Hundreds of times.
The beginning of a loop.
Her device flashed again.
TEMPORAL ENERGY BUILDING
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"…Ethan, what did you bring back with you?"
Inside the café—
The air suddenly felt heavy.
The lights flickered once.
Then stabilized.
Neither Ethan nor Liya noticed.
But Ethan's phone vibrated.
He looked down.
Unknown notification.
He opened it.
A message appeared.
SYSTEM ERROR
Then another line.
TEMPORAL MEMORY CACHE DETECTED
He frowned.
"…What?"
Liya leaned forward.
"What is it?"
"My phone just glitched."
"What did it say?"
He showed her the screen.
Her smile faded.
"That's… weird."
Then the screen changed again.
New text appeared automatically.
REPLAY AVAILABLE
Ethan blinked.
"…Replay?"
Before either of them could react—
The phone screen flashed white.
And suddenly—
Images exploded inside Ethan's mind.
Rain.
A collapsing tower.
A motorcycle tearing through the city.
A girl standing in the ruins.
Liya.
Dying.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Six hundred lifetimes crashing back into his memory all at once.
Ethan gasped.
The coffee cup fell from his hand.
It shattered on the floor.
Liya jumped up.
"Ethan!"
He grabbed his head as the memories flooded through him.
"…No…"
"…No no no…"
The entire café stared.
Liya held his shoulders.
"What's happening?!"
Ethan's eyes were wide with terror.
"…I remember."
Her heart skipped.
"…Remember what?"
He looked at her.
Tears forming in his eyes.
"…Everything."
Outside—
The chronal officer saw Ethan collapse against the table.
Her device screamed with alarms.
The screen turned red.
TEMPORAL MEMORY RESTORATION DETECTED
Her face drained of color.
"That's impossible."
Inside the café—
Ethan whispered something that made Liya freeze.
"…This is how it starts again."
The officer grabbed her helmet immediately.
Because the number on her screen had just changed.
NEW LOOP POSSIBILITY: 12%
And rising. ⏳