Chapter 68: When Nothing is Certain
The universe blinked.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then—
Reality roared back.
Zak Wakes Up in a Changed World
Zak gasped as he collapsed onto solid ground.
He was no longer in the void.
No longer outside of time.
He was… somewhere new.
The QSE hummed weakly in his hand, the energy flickering as if it had just burned through every last reserve.
“Zak,” Inet’s voice crackled, distant, static-laced.
Zak forced himself to sit up, his vision blurring and adjusting.
He was in a city.
Or…
What was left of one.
A World in Flux
<blockquote>
DOMINION ALERT – GLOBAL ANOMALY DETECTEDREALITY INSTABILITY REPORTS ACROSS ALL MAJOR CITIESPREDICTIVE SYSTEM FAILURE – UNKNOWN VARIABLES PRESENT</blockquote>
Dr. Raines stared at the global feeds.
“This… this isn’t possible.”
Agent Connors clenched his fists.
“It’s already happened.”
Because wherever Zak Carter had landed—
The world wasn’t the same anymore.
The Reality Shift
Zak stood up, his breath unsteady.
The city skyline ahead of him was familiar… yet wrong.
<ul><li>Buildings shimmered, changing form between blinks.</li><li>Street signs displayed symbols that shouldn’t exist.</li><li>The sky was shifting, glitching, darkening.</li></ul>
“Zak, I don’t know where we are,” Inet admitted, voice strained.
Zak exhaled sharply. “Neither do I.”
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He turned—
And then he saw the people.
Or rather—
What used to be people.
The Changed
They stood in the streets.
Dozens of them.
Silent. Watching. Wrong.
Their bodies looked human—but only in the way an old memory felt familiar.
<ul><li>Their faces shifted between expressions—out of sync.</li><li>Their eyes were empty—but aware.</li><li>Their forms flickered, as if caught between two realities.</li></ul>
Zak’s blood ran cold.
“Inet… I think we broke something.”
EOSA Watches in Horror
<blockquote>
DOMINION ALERT – CIVILISATION SHIFT DETECTEDPOPULATION ANOMALY – IDENTITIES IN FLUXNO PREVIOUS RECORDS MATCH PRESENT DATA</blockquote>
Dr. Raines gripped the console.
“They aren’t… the same anymore.”
The analyst’s voice cracked. “Some of them… weren’t here before.”
Connors’ face was unreadable.
“This isn’t a crisis anymore.”
“It’s a replacement.”
The Entity’s Whisper
Zak clenched his fists as the Changed watched him.
He didn’t know what had happened.
Didn’t know how much of this was his doing.
But one thing was certain—
<ul><li>This wasn’t the world he left.</li><li>This wasn’t just an alternate timeline.</li><li>Something had rewritten existence itself.</li></ul>
And then—
A voice echoed through his mind.
“You broke the rules, Zak Carter.”
Zak’s breath hitched.
He knew that voice.
The entity.
It hadn’t disappeared.
It had been waiting.
“Now you must live with what you’ve created.”
Zak’s Next Move: Escape or Confront?
Zak could feel the weight of this new reality pressing in on him.
He had two choices:
<ul><li>Run—try to find a way out before this world swallowed him whole.</li><li>Stay—confront the entity, demand answers, and take control of the mess he had made.</li></ul>
Zak exhaled.
He never ran.
He took a slow step forward, feeling the ground beneath him shift ever so slightly. The cityscape flickered again, and for a moment, he saw another version of it—one untouched by whatever catastrophe had unfolded. Then, just as quickly, it was gone.
A memory?
A possibility?
“Inet, run a full scan,” Zak said, voice calm but firm.
“I’m trying,” Inet replied, “but the data keeps rewriting itself.”
Zak’s stomach tightened. “Then we don’t have much time.”
A movement in the corner of his eye made him stop.
One of the Changed had stepped forward.
Unlike the others, its form wasn’t flickering—it was stabilising.
And then it spoke.
“You are not supposed to be here.”
The voice was layered, fractured across different tones and frequencies, as if multiple beings were speaking through one vessel.
Zak stood his ground. “Neither are you.”
The figure tilted its head. “We are here because of you.”
A ripple passed through the city, distorting everything for a brief moment before settling again.
Zak narrowed his eyes. “Then you know what’s happening.”
The Changed hesitated—
And in that hesitation, Zak saw the truth.
They weren’t invaders.
They were survivors.
The question was—
Survivors of what?
EOSA’s Last Warning
<blockquote>
DOMINION ALERT – IF CARTER IS STILL ALIVE, HE MUST BE STOPPEDREALITY STABILITY BELOW 30% – THRESHOLD BREACH IMMINENTUNAUTHORISED ENTITIES PRESENT – NEW INTELLIGENCE DETECTED</blockquote>
Dr. Raines looked pale.
“If he’s still out there, we need to bring him in.”
Connors shook his head.
“No.”
Dr. Raines blinked. “But—”
Connors’ face was grim.
“This isn’t about Zak Carter anymore.”
And for the first time,
EOSA realised they weren’t dealing with just a man.
They were dealing with something else.
Something older.
Something worse.
And Zak Carter had just stepped right into the middle of it.
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