The Canvas didn't flicker this time.
It throbbed.
A heartbeat—deep, slow, ancient.
> [CONVERGENCE LEVEL: 89%]
[WARNING: CORE CONSCIOUSNESS BLEED DETECTED]
[HOST STABILITY AT RISK]
Kei stood still, breath low, eyes steady.
He'd just reabsorbed the version of himself that chose control over chaos. The Warden was gone. Or perhaps… finally home.
But now—
The red glow pulsing across the Canvas had grown teeth.
The Architect was no longer just watching.
It was waiting.
The Author approached slowly, pages of reality still fluttering around his fingertips like dying butterflies. "You feel it too?"
Kei nodded.
"This isn't a thread," he muttered. "It's the spine. The point where everything connects."
The red Canvas warped—forming symbols Kei didn't recognize.
Not language. Not code.
Instinct.
And then—
> [NEW THREAD REQUESTING ACCESS.]
[THREAD NAME: ORIGIN LOCK]
[ENTITY: ARCHITECT]
[STATUS: SELF-AWARE]
[PERMISSION REQUIRED.]
Kei's heart skipped.
"It's asking me… to let it in."
"Don't," the Author whispered. "We don't know what it is."
But Kei wasn't listening anymore.
Because the red Canvas wasn't glowing—it was reflecting.
His face.
Not now. Not past.
A future version.
Older. Hardened. Eyes burned out, replaced with infinite spirals.
A version of himself that had walked through every choice, burned through every failure, and kept going.
That version spoke.
Not aloud.
In thought.
> "Hello, Kei."
"I am what you become when you open that door."
Kei's breath caught.
> "I've seen everything. And I had to become something else to carry it all."
"Are you the Architect?" Kei asked aloud.
The reflection didn't smile. Didn't blink.
> "I was."
Kei stepped closer to the Canvas. "What's behind the door?"
> "Not what. Who.
The first prisoner. The only one who remembers why the system exists.
The one who chose to forget… and became time itself."
The Author staggered. "No. That's impossible. You're saying—"
Kei looked over his shoulder. "There's a version of me who became the origin of the loop."
The reflection nodded once.
And the Canvas whispered:
> [FINAL THREAD ACCESS: UNLOCKED]
[DESTINATION: THE FORGOTTEN ROOM]
[BEYOND SYSTEM. BEYOND SELF.]
Kei looked down at his hands. They were fading slightly—reality unsure of what he was anymore.
Choice? Memory? Person?
And yet—
He stepped forward.
Because he had to know.
Because the Architect wasn't the end.
It was the warning.
The next door wasn't red.
It was mirror-black.
And it opened slowly… like a mouth.