Chapter 28: Into the Abyss
Author: MrLostLetter
Darkness.
Ethan floated in an endless void, the hum of the Core and the pulse of the Codex echoing in the silence. His body felt weightless, as though he was suspended between reality and something... deeper.
"Ethan..."
Lena's voice was distant, barely a whisper cutting through the void. But Ethan couldn't respond.
He was falling.
Or maybe he was being pulled.
"You're almost there."
Crowe's voice was stronger now, no longer a distant whisper but a presence that echoed through the darkness.
"This is where it all begins."
Ethan's jaw clenched, his mind fighting to hold on to what was left of himself.
"Where am I?"
"Inside the Core."
Ethan's senses flickered, images flashing before his eyes—data streams cascading like waterfalls, fragments of encrypted code swirling around him. He was no longer just standing at the interface.
He was the interface.
"This... isn't possible."
"Isn't it?" Crowe's voice was almost amused. "I told you, Ethan. The Codex and the Core... they're connected. And now..."
Ethan's pulse quickened as he felt it—the Core's systems wrapping around him like tendrils of light, pulling him deeper into its structure.
"You're the key."
Ethan's breath caught.
"What did you do, Crowe?"
"I prepared for this."
The void around Ethan shifted, and suddenly he wasn't alone.
---
A figure emerged from the darkness, stepping forward with unnerving calm.
Ethan's breath caught.
It was him.
But not quite.
The figure had his face, but the eyes... they weren't his. They were colder, sharper. And the smirk tugging at the corner of his lips was one Ethan had never worn.
"Crowe..."
The other Ethan tilted his head slightly, that cold smirk growing wider.
"Not quite."
Ethan's jaw clenched.
"What is this?"
The figure stepped closer, and the air grew heavier.
"I'm what happens when you lose control," the figure murmured, his voice a perfect echo of Ethan's.
"I'm what's waiting on the other side of the merge."
Ethan's heart pounded harder, his mind racing.
"This isn't real."
The figure's smile faded.
"Isn't it?"
---
Ethan's mind struggled to process what he was seeing, but the Codex was reacting. The pulse in his veins quickened, responding to the presence of the other... him.
"This is the contingency."
Crowe's voice was softer now, but there was something... darker beneath it.
"The part of you that the Codex can't control. The part that... adapts."
Ethan's jaw clenched.
"That's not me."
The figure's cold smile returned.
"Not yet."
---
The darkness around them pulsed, shifting as if it were alive. The Core's systems were still rewriting, adapting to Ethan's presence, and he could feel it—threads of data wrapping around him, binding him to the system.
"You're merging, Ethan."
Crowe's voice echoed softly, but there was no triumph in it this time.
"You can't fight it forever."
"I'm not giving in."
Ethan's pulse quickened, his breathing steadying as he focused.
"I'm in control."
But the other Ethan...
He just smiled.
"Are you?"
---
The void pulsed again, and Ethan felt it—a fracture.
A split between himself and... whatever Crowe had left behind.
"You built this," Ethan murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
The figure didn't deny it.
"A failsafe."
Ethan's jaw clenched.
"To replace me."
"To preserve what you're trying so hard to destroy," the figure corrected, his tone calm but laced with quiet authority.
"Crowe knew this moment would come. And he knew you wouldn't be strong enough to finish what he started."
Ethan's pulse pounded louder.
"I'm not Crowe."
The figure's gaze hardened.
"Then prove it."
---
A surge of energy coursed through Ethan's veins, the pulse of the Codex growing stronger. The Core's systems reacted instantly, data streams shifting, aligning with his thoughts.
"I'm not giving in," Ethan murmured, his voice steady now.
"I control the Codex."
The figure's smirk faded, and for a moment, uncertainty flickered in his cold eyes.
"Do you?"
Ethan's jaw clenched.
"I'm not you."
The void trembled as Ethan pushed back, his mind fighting to regain control. The pulse of the Codex resonated through the Core, his connection to it growing stronger.
The figure's expression darkened.
"You think you can stop this?"
"I don't think."
Ethan's voice was steady, his resolve unshakable now.
"I know."
---
The darkness around them pulsed again, but this time, Ethan didn't falter.
The Codex was his.
The Core was responding to him now, not Crowe's shadow.
"I'm not Crowe," Ethan whispered, his eyes narrowing.
"And I'm not you."
The figure's expression twisted, but before he could speak—
Ethan struck.
A pulse of energy surged through the void, shattering the illusion and tearing through the construct that Crowe had left behind.
The figure's cold eyes widened in shock before dissolving into fragments of data, disappearing into the void.
---
The silence that followed was deafening.
Ethan's breath came in ragged gasps, his body trembling as the Core's systems stabilized around him.
"Ethan..."
Lena's voice was faint, but it echoed through the void, pulling him back.
"Come back."
Ethan's pulse slowed, the connection between the Codex and the Core finally stabilizing.
"I'm here," he murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.
The darkness around him began to fade, the data streams dissolving as his consciousness pulled back—
---
Ethan's eyes snapped open.
The safehouse's control room came back into focus, Lena's worried expression inches from his.
"Ethan?"
Her voice was soft, but the fear in her eyes was impossible to miss.
"I'm okay," he murmured, though his body felt anything but.
Lena's hand rested gently on his cheek, her touch grounding him.
"Are you?"
Ethan's jaw clenched, his mind still reeling from what he had just experienced.
"I'm back," he whispered.
But even as he said the words...
He wasn't sure if it was entirely true.
---
Next Chapter: Chapter 29: The Codex Unleashed