The file was buried under five layers of corrupted metadata in the Thanaton drive.
Kiran found it by accident.
Archive_2047_FINALTRIAL_OmegaClearance.vid
No timestamp. No format tag. Just 236.6 MB of static-wrapped dread.
He double-clicked.
And the world changed.
---
"Elias," Kiran whispered. "You need to see this."
The screen flickered to life.
A black chamber. Cold, sterile. Fluorescent lighting and the sound of humming machines—the same hum they'd heard in the basement.
Then: a voice.
Female. Calm. Unnervingly calm.
> "I am recording this for no one.
Because there won't be anyone left."
Elias's chest tightened. He leaned in.
> "Subject 26-E was never supposed to wake up."
The moment the sentence ended, the video glitched.
And Elias froze.
He was no longer in the room.
---
He was in a dark hallway.
Steel walls. Flashing lights.
His feet were bare.
He could smell burning hair and ozone.
From around the corner, a voice—his own voice—screamed:
"Get it out! Get it out of me!"
He turned the corner.
And saw himself.
Pale. Strapped to the Thanaton table.
Mouth open wide in a silent scream.
Cables feeding into his skull like roots.
Something moved beneath his skin.
He looked into his own eyes—and his reflection on the screen whispered:
> "You let them map your soul.
Now they own it."
---
Elias gasped and stumbled backward, crashing into Maya's desk.
Back in the dorm.
Back in the real world.
Kiran had paused the video. "Elias?! What just happened?"
Elias's hands were shaking violently.
"I—I was there."
"What do you mean 'there'?"
Elias touched his temple. "I remembered it. I smelled the antiseptic. I saw… myself. On the table. Like a mirror in hell."
---
Kiran looked at the screen. Static now. The video had stopped.
Then—just for a moment—the screen displayed a phrase in blinking red:
> WELCOME BACK, 26-E
And Elias began to bleed again.
This time, not just from his nose.
Tiny drops of black blood formed at the corners of his eyes.
---
They rushed to the bathroom. Maya was there, screaming at them both. Elias threw cold water on his face, panting.
The mirror remained blank.
No reflection.
Then—suddenly—a handprint smeared across the inside of the mirror, from within.
Kiran shouted. Elias stumbled back. Maya froze.
The handprint turned, pressing its palm flat against the glass. Then a second one joined it.
A face formed behind the fog.
Elias.
But older. Hollow-eyed. Skin torn at the mouth. A cruel smile.
It mouthed three words:
> "I remember dying."
And then the lights blew out.
---