So of the versions of him hesitated at the door he had just walked through. So never made it to this point. Others went further.
Jude’s breath ca faster. "This is so kind of trick."
The woman shook her head. "It’s not."
The man crossed his arms. "You’ve felt it before, haven’t you? The feeling that sothing was off. That things didn’t quite line up. That the world around you felt... incomplete."
Jude clenched his fists. He had felt that. He had always felt that. A lingering unease, a sense of sothing being just out of reach. But he had never spoken about it. Never put it into words.
The woman stepped closer. "You are not the only one. There are others, people who have seen the cracks but ignored them. You didn’t. That’s why you’re here."
Jude swallowed hard. "And what happens if I keep going?"
The man smirked. "Then you break the cycle."
The screens flickered, and for the first ti, Jude saw sothing different. A version of himself he didn’t recognize. A version that had broken free.
His heart pounded.
For the first ti, he understood. He had been here before. And this ti, he wasn’t going to stop.
Jude’s pulse was steady, but his mind was racing. The weight of their words hung in the air, thick and inescapable. He stared at the screen in front of him, watching a version of himself move, breathe, exist in ways he had never seen before. The reality of it pressed against his skull like an unrelenting force, demanding he acknowledge what he had just been told. That he had been here before. That he had walked these halls, sat in this chair, spoken these words—again and again, across different versions of himself, different iterations of this mont.
His hands curled into fists, the restraints biting into his skin, grounding him. He felt the cold steel against his wrists, the faint hum of the machines surrounding him. Every detail was sharp, clear, undeniably real. He wanted to deny it, to reject the very notion that his life had been nothing but a cycle repeating itself, but the images on the screen told a different story.
The woman’s voice was softer now. "I know it’s a lot."
Jude let out a slow breath. "That’s an understatent."
The man beside her leaned against the console, watching him closely. "You wanted answers. This is part of them."
Jude exhaled sharply through his nose. "So what, I’ve been living the sa life over and over? Like so kind of reset button?"
"Not exactly," the woman said. "It’s not just you. The world itself operates in loops, resetting under specific conditions."
Jude narrowed his eyes. "And what conditions are those?"
She hesitated before answering. "When soone gets too close to the truth."
A chill ran down his spine. "You’re saying... the mont I realize what’s happening, everything resets?"
"Not instantly," the man said. "But yes. The cycle corrects itself. Everything starts over. Most people never notice. Their minds are wiped, their mories rewritten. But so..." He gestured toward the screen. "So rember just enough to feel that sothing is wrong."
Jude swallowed, his throat dry. "Like ."
The woman nodded. "Yes. You’ve always been close to breaking through. Every cycle, you get a little further. This is the first ti you’ve made it here."
Jude’s head was spinning, but he forced himself to focus. "And if I keep going?"
The man smirked. "Then you break the loop."
Jude’s heart pounded. The weight of those words was impossible to ignore. He had spent his entire life feeling like sothing was missing, like the world didn’t quite fit the way it should. Now, he had an answer. And if what they were saying was true, he had a choice to make.
His fingers twitched against the tal restraints. "How do I know you’re telling the truth?"
The woman pressed a button, and the restraints around his wrists and ankles released with a soft hiss. "You don’t," she said simply. "But you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t already feel it."
Jude rubbed his wrists, his eyes flickering between them. He could run. He could walk out of this room, pretend none of this ever happened. But he knew, deep down, that wasn’t an option anymore. He had already seen too much.
He took a deep breath. "What do I have to do?"
The man grinned. "Now we’re talking."
The woman turned back to the console, pressing a few keys. The screens shifted, displaying a new set of images—maps, data points, patterns that ant nothing to him. "There’s a way out," she said. "A way to step outside the loop. But it’s dangerous."
Jude let out a dry laugh. "Of course it is."
The man chuckled. "What’s life without a little risk?"
Jude shot him a look. "I’m guessing you two have done this before?"
The woman’s expression darkened slightly. "No. We’ve helped people get to this point. But no one has ever made it past the final threshold."
Jude tensed. "And what happens to them?"
Silence.
The woman’s jaw tightened. "We don’t know."
Jude ran a hand through his hair. "Great. So I’m walking into the unknown."
"Pretty much," the man said. "But hey, that’s better than living the sa life on repeat, right?"
Jude shook his head. He had to admit, the guy had a point.
The woman stepped forward. "The choice is yours, Jude. You can walk away now, go back to your life. The loop will reset, and you’ll forget all of this. Or you can take the next step."
Jude stared at the screen. At the data. At the versions of himself that had tried and failed before. He had spent his entire life feeling like sothing was missing. Now he knew why.
His fingers curled into fists. "I’m in."
The man grinned. "Knew you would be."
The woman nodded. "Then let’s move. We don’t have much ti."
Jude followed them out of the room, his heart pounding. Whatever happened next, there was no turning back.
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