*Chapter 4: The First Fracture*
Pain came first.
Not sharp. Not dull. It was everywhere, like every cell in Elux’s body was being pulled in a different direction.
The blue light filled the pod. It wasn’t light anymore. It was liquid. It was sound. It was pressure behind his eyes.
“Vitals spiking,” a voice said, distant. “Neural activity unstable.”
Elux tried to answer but his jaw wouldn’t move.
Then the images started.
Lagos. But not his Lagos. The danfos were flying. People had wings. His mom was young, selling tomatoes from a stall made of gold.
A battlefield. He wore armor. In his hands, a spear that hummed. Twelve other versions of him lay dead around him.
A quiet room. He was old. His mom was next to him, holding his hand. No machines. No debt. Just peace.
“Anchor,” Nanjue’s voice cut through. “Find your anchor, Subject 13.”
Elux couldn’t remember what an anchor was.
The pod shook. Alarms.
“His resonance is fracturing! He’s splitting across three frequencies!”
“Pull him back!”
“Too late! The bridge is open!”
The blue light tore.
And Elux fell.
He landed on concrete.
His lungs burned. The air smelled like rain and copper.
He was not in the pod.
He was standing in an alley. Neon signs in a language he didn’t know. Above him, two moons hung in a purple sky.
Across from him, another Elux Smith stood.
Same face. Different scar. Different eyes. This one wore black tactical gear and had a gun in his hand pointed at Elux’s chest.
“You’re late,” the other Elux said. “We’ve been waiting for Subject 13.”
Elux looked down at himself. He was still in the hospital gown from Yunnan. IV marks on his arm.
“What... where am I?”
“World-7B,” the other Elux said. “You’re the bleed-through. Nanjue’s experiment worked. Congratulations.”
Behind him, doors opened. More people stepped out. Some wore the same white coats from the facility. Some wore armor. All of them were looking at Elux.
Nanjue was not among them.
A woman with silver hair stepped forward. She had Nanjue’s eyes.
“I’m Director Lin,” she said. “We run the other side of Project ARES. And we have a problem.”
She held up a tablet. On it was a map. Dozens of red dots, pulsing.
“The dimensional bridge is destabilizing,” she said. “Every time we pull a version across, it creates a fracture. Twelve have failed. You’re the first to make it through intact.”
Elux stared at the other him. At the gun. At the two moons.
“And if I’m not intact?”
Director Lin’s expression didn’t change.
“Then the fractures spread. And every Elux Smith in every world dies.”
The other Elux lowered his gun slightly.
“So what now?”
“Now,” Director Lin said, “we train you. Before the next fracture opens. Before they find you.”
“Find me?”
“The other side,” she said. “The ones who want all versions of you dead.”
A siren wailed somewhere above.
The sky flickered. For half a second, Elux saw Yunnan. The pod. Nanjue’s face.
Then it was gone.
“Welcome to the multiverse, Subject 13,” Director Lin said. “Try not to die.”