The back door slammed softly behind Elias as he slipped out into the night.
He didn't wait.
He ran.
Gravel scattered under his boots as he crossed the backyard and climbed over the low fence separating the property from the open desert behind the neighborhood. The air was colder now, the dry wind cutting across the empty land like a blade.
Behind him, voices echoed from inside the house.
"Clear the rooms."
"Scanner still active."
"They were here recently."
Elias didn't look back.
He ran straight into the darkness.
The town lights faded quickly behind him as he pushed deeper into the desert. Red Mesa had never seemed so small before. Just a cluster of lights floating in a sea of black sand and rock.
His lungs burned from exhaustion.
The handheld device bounced in his pocket with every step.
And the Chronite fragment pulsed steadily against his leg.
He didn't know where he was going.
He only knew he couldn't stop.
The desert stretched for miles, broken only by scattered hills and dry washes carved by rain that rarely came.
Elias slowed slightly as he reached one of the rocky ridges overlooking the highway.
From here he could see the empty land stretching toward the distant glow of Las Vegas far beyond the horizon.
But something else caught his eye.
Something that didn't belong there.
A strange light shimmered across a section of desert about half a mile away.
At first Elias thought it was heat distortion.
But it was the middle of the night.
The light flickered strangely, bending the air around it.
He moved closer carefully.
The ground beneath his boots began to feel… wrong.
Not unstable.
Just unfamiliar.
Like walking across a place that didn't fully belong to the present.
The Chronite crystal pulsed faster.
Elias crested the ridge.
And stopped.
The desert below had changed.
Or rather—
Something else had appeared inside it.
Half of a city stood in the middle of the Nevada desert.
But it wasn't the Las Vegas Elias knew.
This version was… different.
Massive towers rose from the sand, their surfaces smooth and glowing faintly with lines of moving light. Some of the structures twisted upward in impossible shapes.
But the strangest part was how incomplete everything looked.
The buildings flickered.
Some parts were solid.
Others were transparent like holograms.
Sections of streets appeared and vanished every few seconds.
Like the city couldn't decide whether it belonged here or somewhere else.
Elias whispered under his breath.
"An Echo…"
The same thing that had taken Lena.
Except this one was much larger.
He stepped forward cautiously.
As soon as his boot crossed the invisible boundary between the desert and the Echo zone—
Gravity changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough to feel wrong.
His next step carried him slightly farther than expected.
Like the ground had lost a bit of its weight.
Elias steadied himself.
The air hummed faintly here.
Lights flickered across the transparent buildings.
One massive tower in the distance glowed with a bright blue energy running along its sides.
It looked like a version of the Las Vegas skyline.
But ten thousand years ahead.
He moved deeper into the Echo zone slowly.
The sand beneath his boots occasionally turned into smooth metallic flooring for a second before snapping back to desert.
A piece of highway appeared briefly beside him.
Then vanished.
The entire place felt like two realities fighting for the same space.
Elias reached down and picked up a small piece of debris lying near the edge of one of the flickering streets.
The vision hit him instantly.
The city towered above him.
Vehicles flew through the air in organized lanes of light.
Crowds of people moved across glowing walkways suspended between skyscrapers.
Massive holographic displays lit the skyline.
The city looked alive.
Advanced.
But something else appeared in the vision too.
The sky above the city was darker.
Thicker.
Clouds churned violently across the atmosphere.
And far above them—
The sun burned unnaturally bright.
The vision ended abruptly.
Elias dropped the object and looked around again.
If Lena had stepped into something like this…
She could be anywhere.
Or any time.
A sudden noise echoed from deeper inside the Echo zone.
Metal scraping against metal.
Elias froze.
He wasn't alone.
He moved quietly between the flickering buildings, using the half-formed structures for cover.
The gravity shifts made his movements feel slightly unbalanced, but he adjusted quickly.
The sound came again.
Footsteps.
Heavy ones.
Not like the agents chasing him earlier.
These were slower.
More controlled.
Elias crouched behind a partially transparent wall that flickered between solid metal and empty air.
Then he saw it.
A figure emerged from the glowing outline of a collapsed structure.
At first Elias thought it was another agent.
But the silhouette was wrong.
The person was taller.
Lean.
The armor they wore looked nothing like modern military gear.
It was smooth and dark, almost organic in shape, with thin lines of faint blue light running along the surface.
The helmet covered the entire face.
A narrow visor glowed softly.
The figure moved cautiously, scanning the surrounding area.
Then the helmet turned slightly.
The visor glowed brighter.
Elias held his breath.
The figure raised a strange device in its hand.
It looked like a rifle.
But instead of a barrel, it had a circular emitter surrounded by spinning rings of metal.
The figure stepped closer to the flickering street.
Then spoke.
The voice came through the helmet, distorted slightly.
"…Temporal overlap stable for approximately six minutes."
The language was English.
But the accent sounded different.
Older somehow.
"Scout report: Echo zone confirmed."
Elias' heart pounded.
Scout.
The person lowered the weapon slightly and continued speaking into a small device near the collar of the suit.
"This is Recon Unit Seven."
"We have confirmation. The past is accessible."
The words sent a chill down Elias' spine.
The past.
Meaning… now.
The figure turned slightly, scanning the skyline.
"Atmospheric conditions within acceptable range."
"Local population density minimal."
Then the helmet visor turned directly toward Elias' hiding place.
The scout froze.
The weapon lifted slowly.
The glowing rings around the emitter began spinning faster.
"Unknown presence detected."
Elias didn't move.
The scout stepped forward slowly.
The visor pulsed faintly as it scanned the area.
"Biological signature confirmed."
Elias' heart raced.
He slowly stood up from behind the flickering wall.
The scout reacted instantly.
The weapon aimed directly at his chest.
The glowing rings hummed louder.
The visor analyzed him silently.
Then the scout spoke again.
"…Impossible."
Elias swallowed.
"Look, I don't know who you are," he said carefully.
"But I'm not looking for trouble."
The scout didn't lower the weapon.
Instead the visor brightened slightly.
"Chronite resonance detected," the scout said.
"Strong synchronization."
Elias blinked.
"You can see that?"
The scout tilted their head slightly.
"Of course."
The weapon remained steady.
"Identify yourself."
"My name's Elias," he said.
The scout remained silent for several seconds.
Then they spoke quietly.
"Elias…"
The name sounded strange when they said it.
Like it carried some meaning.
"You are not supposed to exist here," the scout said.
Elias frowned.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
The scout slowly lowered the weapon—but only slightly.
"You are a Sync."
The word again.
Elias sighed.
"Yeah, I've heard that one tonight."
The scout stepped closer.
The armor shifted smoothly with each movement.
"You were exposed to Chronite."
"Yeah."
"Recently."
"Yeah."
The visor pulsed brighter.
Then the scout said something that made Elias' blood run cold.
"Then the timeline has already begun."
Elias stared.
"What timeline?"
The scout hesitated.
Like they were deciding whether to say more.
Finally they spoke again.
"We are the Remnant."
The word echoed in the strange half-real city.
"Remnant of what?" Elias asked.
The scout slowly turned their helmet toward the burning outline of the future skyline surrounding them.
"Of humanity," they said.
The flickering towers glowed brighter for a moment.
The city looked more solid now.
More real.
Then the scout continued.
"This world…" they said quietly.
"…is our past."
Elias felt the ground shift slightly beneath his feet.
"Wait…"
The scout's weapon lifted again slightly.
"You should not be here."
Elias shook his head.
"My sister disappeared in an Echo."
The scout didn't respond.
"She walked into a future city that overlapped our house."
Silence hung in the air.
The scout slowly lowered the weapon again.
"That is possible," they admitted.
"Echo events allow temporal migration."
Elias felt a spark of hope.
"So she could still be alive?"
The scout looked at him.
Then at the unstable skyline flickering around them.
"Yes," they said.
"But not in your time."
The Echo zone trembled suddenly.
Buildings flickered violently.
The desert sand pushed through the transparent streets.
The scout looked up at the skyline.
"The overlap is collapsing," they said.
The flickering towers began fading.
Reality snapped between desert and city every few seconds.
The scout turned back toward Elias.
"You should leave."
"Why?"
"Because the hunt has already begun."
Elias frowned.
"What hunt?"
The scout's visor pulsed once more.
"Not just yours."
In the distance, headlights appeared across the desert.
Black vehicles approaching.
DTS.
The scout stepped backward toward the fading skyline.
"The past is no longer safe," they said.
Then the Echo zone began collapsing.
The future city flickered rapidly.
The scout's figure faded with it.
Just before disappearing completely, the Remnant scout spoke one last time.
"Find the source of the Lapse," they said.
"Or the future will come for all of you."
Then the city vanished.
The desert returned.
And Elias stood alone again.
Except the headlights were getting closer.
The hunt had found him again.