Devon Point of View

The door slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing through the small, sterile interrogation room. Two guards stood just beyond it, watching, waiting for any sign of a struggle, but I didn't need to look at them. My focus was entirely on Asmund, or Echo, as I had just learned. The Architect.

His words hung in the air like a trap, ready to snap shut on me. More than one Architect. The realization rattled through me like a thunderclap. I'd been hunting the wrong ghost all along.

The seconds ticked by, heavy and slow. My mind raced, trying to piece together the implications of his admission. There were others. And they were already setting their plan into motion. But what was this plan? What had they been working toward? It couldn't be as simple as wiping out the world's population. There had to be something deeper—something I had missed.

But I had no time for speculation. I had to get him talking, push him further into the web I was weaving. I wasn't leaving this room without answers.

I leaned forward, my fingers tapping against the table in a slow, deliberate rhythm. Asmund—Echo—had settled back in his chair, that same detached calm still clinging to him, despite the tension now rolling through the room. He was playing his game, and it was time to play mine.

"I'm not the only Architect, Devon," he'd said with that cold smile. "There are others. Much more dangerous than I am. And they've already started the countdown."

I locked eyes with him, letting the silence stretch out for just a moment too long, before letting my voice slip into that familiar low, controlled tone. "So, the countdown... What's it for, Echo? A reset, you said. What happens after that? What comes next?"

His lips twitched at the mention of the countdown, but he didn't speak immediately. The pause was deliberate, calculated. I could feel the weight of the conversation shift again, a subtle tension in his posture as if he was evaluating me—wondering just how far I could push him.

Outside the room, I knew the authorities were watching. The glass mirrored my movements, but their presence was more of a distant, looming thing. A sea of dark suits beyond the one-way mirror, their eyes on me, waiting for the signal. My earpiece buzzed, the faint whisper of command drifting through. I didn't acknowledge it. Not yet.

"What happens after?" I repeated, pressing the point. "You say it's a reset, but you haven't explained what you mean by that. Not yet. The world doesn't just reset itself. What exactly are you planning to reset, Echo?"

His eyes flickered with a brief flash of something I couldn't quite decipher. For a moment, he looked at me as though I was nothing more than a child asking questions he had long since outgrown. "You don't understand," he muttered, more to himself than to me. "The system has already begun its countdown. There's no stopping it."

I leaned in a fraction more, pushing forward, my voice dropping lower, as though sharing a secret. "Then why are you still here, Asmund? If the countdown has already started, what are you doing talking to me? Why waste your time?"

For the first time, I saw a flicker of doubt cross his face—a barely perceptible tension around his eyes, a tightening of his jaw. He was hesitating. Just a momentary crack, but it was all I needed.

"You're not as invincible as you think," I said softly, almost coaxingly, my eyes never leaving his. "The others—these other Architects—you're not the only one with plans, are you? You were just the first. The figurehead."

Asmund's gaze sharpened, but he remained silent. I didn't give him the luxury of quiet.

"I've seen your work. The engineered disasters, the manipulated systems. But what I don't understand, Echo, is why you didn't just pull the trigger when you had the chance. Why wait? Why drag it out?"

He leaned forward slightly, a movement so subtle, so small, it could have been nothing. But I saw it. And I knew it was the moment I'd been waiting for.

The earpiece buzzed again. A low voice, firm and clipped. "Devon, we need to be careful. Don't push him too far."

I ignored it, my eyes still fixed on Echo. He was mine. This was my interrogation, and no one was taking it from me.

"I'm not wasting time, Echo. You've already begun the reset. But the world doesn't work the way you think it does. You can't just erase history. It doesn't work like that."

Echo smiled, but it wasn't the same smile from before. This one was cold, predatory, as though he had just decided it was time to feed. "You're wrong," he said, his voice calm, almost soothing now. "We're past that. The world has already been reset once before. It's always been the same. It's always been about control."

The words lingered in the air like a bad omen. "What are you talking about?" I asked, despite knowing I was already stepping into something much darker than I could've imagined.

He leaned back, looking at me with a sense of finality, as if he were delivering a lesson. "The reset is not about destruction. It's about purification. A cleansing of the old to make way for the new. You're just too caught up in your petty fight for survival to see the bigger picture."

I clenched my jaw. This was the moment. If I didn't keep him talking, I'd lose him. I couldn't afford that.

"So," I pressed, keeping my voice calm, "you're saying you've done this before? This 'reset'? You've tried this before?"

For a long moment, Echo didn't respond. The tension in the room thickened, almost suffocating. But then, slowly, he nodded. "Not in the way you're thinking. Not in your time. But in every cycle, there has been a reset. It's a necessary part of the evolution of the system."

I felt a shiver run through me, but I kept my face impassive. "What system? What are you talking about?"

He studied me for a moment, his eyes narrowing slightly, as if deciding just how much to reveal. Then he spoke again, his voice dropping to a whisper. "SkyGod isn't just a name. It's a legacy. An organization that spans beyond governments, beyond nations. Its roots go back to before the modern world, Devon. They've been pulling strings for centuries. And the reset... it's their final solution."

My stomach twisted, but I didn't let it show. "So, you're telling me this has been going on for centuries? You've been engineering disasters for centuries? Why now? What's different this time?"

Echo looked almost amused. "Don't you get it? You are the difference, Devon. You're the one who's managed to interfere with the cycle. The countdown has already begun. The reset is happening now—today, this moment. And soon, the system will be beyond your reach."

I felt a cold sweat begin to form at the back of my neck. "What are you talking about? What's happening today?"

Echo leaned forward again, his voice low and deliberate. "The final phase begins today. The engineered disasters? They were just a test. The real event is a solar flare. But it's not just a solar flare. It's been tampered with, modified, redirected. It'll destabilize the Earth's magnetic field, cause global electrical failures, disrupt everything. And once the blackout happens, the reset will begin. The system will rise from the ashes, and you'll be powerless to stop it."

I froze, my breath catching. A solar flare. The solar flare. The disaster I had been tracking. But I had no idea it was something much worse than I had thought.

"You're telling me the solar flare isn't natural?" My voice barely escaped, hoarse, as the weight of his words sank in.

"It's the catalyst," Echo whispered, leaning even closer. "And once the blackout occurs, the world will have no choice but to submit to the system. SkyGod will emerge victorious."

And then, his next words shattered everything.

"There's one more thing, Devon," he said, a wicked gleam in his eye. "Do you know why the system works? Why it always has? Because it's never been just about the Earth. It's about the people. About you. You're all just part of the plan. You, and everyone else in this room."

My heart skipped a beat. The authorities. They were watching. And as I turned to glance at the one-way mirror, a voice in my earpiece whispered the one word that changed everything.

"Devon, they're with him."

The blood in my veins turned to ice. They're with him?

I whipped my head back to Echo, my pulse hammering in my ears. His smirk deepened, as if savouring the moment, knowing the walls were closing in. "Oh, yes," he said, his voice dripping with dark satisfaction. "You think you're the only one playing the game? You've been chasing shadows, Devon, but the real players are in the room with you."

I felt my breath catch in my throat as the realization hit me: the authorities watching behind that glass? They weren't just observers—they were part of the system. Part of the reset.

And the countdown had already begun.

~*~*~*~*~*~

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