*Chapter 5: World-7B*
The training room had no floor.
Just platforms floating over a void. White light below, black above. Every step echoed like it was being watched.
“Gravity is optional here,” the other Elux said. He called himself Seven. “You’ll get used to it.”
Elux threw up twice.
The hospital gown was gone. Now he wore black fatigues that felt too light, like they weren’t really touching his skin. The IV marks on his arm were already fading.
Director Lin watched from a glass booth above. Her hands were folded. She didn’t blink.
“Your body is carrying echoes,” her voice came through the speakers. “Strength from a version that was a soldier. Speed from one that was a runner. Pain tolerance from one that died in a fire.”
Elux flexed his hands. They trembled. “How do I control it?”
“You don’t,” Seven said. He tossed Elux a weighted baton. “You let it control you. Then you take the wheel.”
The baton was heavy. Too heavy. Elux nearly dropped it.
Seven circled him. Same face. Scar through the left eyebrow. Eyes that had seen too much.
“First rule of World-7B,” Seven said. “Don’t think about home. It makes the bridge unstable.”
“Second rule?”
“Don’t die.”
Seven swung.
Elux moved before he thought. The baton came up and caught Seven’s wrist. The impact sent a shock up Elux’s arm and cracked the platform under their feet.
Seven grinned. “Okay. Soldier echo is awake.”
Above, Director Lin made a note.
They trained for hours. Falling. Running on air. Catching objects before they hit. Every time Elux closed his eyes he saw flashes. The spear. The fire. The old man holding his mom’s hand.
At night, they gave him a room with one bed and no windows.
He didn’t sleep.
He dreamed instead.
Twelve deaths. Twelve lives. All of them his.
A version drowning. A version burning. A version laughing with a woman he didn’t know.
And in every dream, the same voice. Soft. Familiar.
“Don’t look for me. -M”
Elux woke up with his fists bleeding light.
Seven was at the door. “You’re leaking,” he said. “That’s bad. Means the fractures are listening.”
“Listening to what?”
“To you,” Seven said. “To Subject 13. The one that lived.”
From far away, a siren started. Low. Then louder.
Director Lin’s voice came over the intercom.
“We have movement. Null signatures. Three klicks out.”
Seven checked his gun. “Welcome to World-7B, Elux. Training’s over.”