Utopia of The Infinite [C]

The node did not meet their expectations.

There were no gears. There are no servers. No cables or terminals. It's only space, big, dark, and alive. A room without walls, alive with shadows that moved when no one looked straight at them. 

The air shimmered like static-filled fog.  It did not feel like a place. It felt like a memory attempting to be one.

Wen's voice shattered the silence first. 

"It is not made of code. It's made of echoes"

Auri didn't respond. She stood frozen in the center, looking at something only she could see. Then the room shifted. The world blinked, and they were no longer alone.

Flickers from past classes swirled into shape. Hallways from their school. A broken replica of the ship floats in midair. Versions of themselves are scared, lost, and bickering. The loop echoes.

However, this time they did not flinch.

Mira took a step forward and stretched out to a version of herself curled up and crying in a corner, but her hand vanished like mist. 

"They've recorded us"

Sera's voice sounded low. 

"It is all the times we have given up. Or almost did"

And then Auri fell.

No sound. Just a steady disintegration.  Knees hit the floor, hands burrow into her scalp. Her breath was harsh and shallow, as if her chest couldn't contain it all.

"Auri!" 

Rhei was already moving, when Mira gently grabbed her arm.

"Wait" she said. 

"This isn't panic"

Auri's eyes were wide and unfocused.  Not here. The echoes were no longer outside her. They were inside.

She was standing on a different floor now. The ground underneath her had transformed into the stone of an ancient circle that she had not seen in a lifetime.  Guardians stood around her, shadows in the light, their eyes filled with sadness.

"They won't survive it, Auri"

"You carry too much"

"You must forget. For them. For you"

She remembered the decision. The world map was too large. Too heavy and they weren't ready just yet. She made the only call she could.

She gave it all away and started over.

"Auri" Mira repeated, crouching beside her. 

"You're not alone this time"

Auri blinked, and the world opened.

Light flashed behind her eyes. Not violent, not painful. Just... broad. Old memories reassembled themselves.  Failures and almosts are identified by their names, locations, and times. The core. The storm. The first autumn.

She gasped! Then breathed. She really inhaled, and when she looked up, her eyes were more than just clear. They were awake.

"I remember everything" she muttered.

Wen got closer, squatting by her side. 

"Everything?"

Auri nodded slowly. 

"The original pathway. The Guardian Pact. The earliest version of the ship.  The failure. I made them take it from me so you could live"

She laughed, bitter and shattered around the edges.

"I was the key. I threw myself away so you wouldn't leave me"

Nobody said anything at first.

Sera then stretched out and placed a gentle hand on Auri's shoulder. 

"That wasn't weakness"

Auri turned towards her. Sera's voice remained calm. 

"That was love"

The chamber reacted.

Lines of light appeared on the floor, rising like ink in water. Each girl gleamed subtly at first, then brightly, as if the world recognized them completely.

Then it occurred. One by one, something within each of them shifted. It was not an explosion. It wasn’t sudden. It was like hearing their name for the first time.

Auri stood, appearing taller. Her breath echoed the buzz of the node. She gazed at Wen, and then her eyes narrowed.

"I can see it" she said quietly. 

"Paths. Outcomes. If I slow down...I can decide which one we go inside"

Temporal threads glowed softly at her fingertips.

Wen clasped her hand to her heart, feeling code-like wind swirl about her. 

"The patterns are open now. I can write in them. Shape them"

Rhei, standing near a collection of her tools, gasped as one raised without her touch, adjusting it's own armature.

"It's… learning me" she murmured, her voice cracked. 

"It knows when I need it"

Mira closed her eyes and felt a pulse that was not her own. Something wild and kind is reaching out. When she opened her eyes, shadows of creatures danced around her.

"They trust me. Even those we haven't met yet"

Sera's palm began to glow brighter than before, then flickered, giving the warmth to Izzy. Izzy blinked in amazement.

"I didn't just heal you" Sera explained. 

"I gave you some of me. And you can pass it"

Izzy grinned. 

"Guess I better make it count"

A half-built instrument snapped into perfect shape in her hands. She didn't design it. It just formed. 

"And Lyra..." 

Lyra stood motionless, her crystal hovering above her palm.

"I see time like a constellation" she said. 

"Threaded. Tangled. Alive. For once, it does not scare me"

The Replica could no longer hold them.

The node structure rattled. Cracks of light appeared on the walls. A figure materialized, consisting of mist and mirrors. The villain. 

The one they had seen previously. Only now did it flash across faces, occasionally a teacher, a parent, or perhaps one of them.

"You were safer asleep" it whispered. 

"You were gentler when you didn't know"

Auri stepped forward.

"No" she replied. 

"We were just quieter. Not kinder. And now we can choose our own voices"

The villain reached out, glitching and shattered. The chamber cracked open.  There's no collapse. No scream. Just release light clean and remain still.

They stood in a circle again. Back to the real world. No illusions, no loops, only the truth. Auri glanced out over the ridgeline. The wind tugged at her hair.

She did not whisper this time.

"Let the storm come" she said. 

"We're not hiding anymore"