Aarav stood in front of the machine.
His hand trembling over the control panel.
Behind him—
Meera's voice.
Soft.
Scared.
"Aarav… what are you doing…?"
He didn't turn.
He couldn't.
Because if he looked at her…
👉 He would never be able to do it.
"This world…" Aarav whispered,
"It's not real."
Silence.
Then—
Meera's footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
"And the others?" she asked.
"The universes where I die… are those real?"
Aarav closed his eyes.
Tears rolled down.
"Yes…"
⚡⚡⚡
"Then why…?" her voice broke,
"Why are you trying to destroy the only place where I live…?"
Aarav's grip tightened.
"Because this place isn't life…"
"It's a cage."
Meera stepped closer.
Now just behind him.
💔 "I don't care if it's a cage…"
💔 "At least… I'm alive here."
Aarav's heart shattered.
"And at what cost?" he whispered.
"Every other version of you… suffering… dying… again and again…"
Silence filled the space.
Then—
A faint laugh.
Not soft.
Not warm.
👉 Wrong.
Aarav froze.
"That's what you still don't understand…" Meera said.
Her voice changed.
Deeper.
Colder.
💀 "They're not different versions of me…"
💀 "They're fragments."
⚡⚡⚡
Aarav turned slowly.
Meera stood there—
But her face was flickering.
Glitching.
👉 Different versions of her flashing—
The burned one
The dead one
The black-eyed one
All at once.
"They all exist because of this world…" she said.
💀 "Because YOU refused to let me go."
Aarav stepped back.
"No… that's not true…"
But the memories came back.
Clearer this time.
👉 He shut down the machine
👉 He locked the timeline
👉 He created one stable reality
👉 And broke all the others.
Aarav's voice shook—
"What… are you…?"
Meera smiled.
Not the girl he loved.
Something else.
😈 "I am what's left of her."
😈 "And what you turned her into."
⚡⚡⚡
The sky above them cracked.
Reality started breaking.
Glitches everywhere.
People freezing.
Smiles collapsing.
Aarav looked around—
"This world is collapsing…"
Meera stepped closer.
Eyes now completely black.
💀 "Because you're trying to leave."
Aarav turned back to the machine.
"If I destroy this… everything resets…"
"And I die," she said.
Silence.
Aarav's hand froze.
"Or…" Meera whispered,
💀 "You stay… and everyone else keeps dying."
⚡⚡⚡
Two choices.
👉 Save one Meera…
👉 Or free all universes
Aarav screamed—
"WHY IS THERE NO WAY TO SAVE YOU?!"
Meera looked at him.
For a moment…
She was normal again.
Tears in her eyes.
💔 "There was…"
💔 "But you already chose once…"
Aarav's breath stopped.
"What…?"
She smiled sadly.
💔 "The first time… you should've let me go."
⚡⚡⚡
Everything started breaking faster.
The ground cracked.
The sky shattered.
The machine began to overload.
Aarav had seconds.
He looked at Meera.
She stood there.
Waiting.
Not running.
Not stopping him.
Just…
Waiting for his choice.
Aarav whispered—
"I'm sorry…"
And pressed the button.
⚡⚡⚡
A blinding explosion of light.
A scream.
Or maybe two.
And then—
👉 Silence.
💀💀💀
TO BE CONTINUED…
"In the next chapter… not every sacrifice brings salvation." 😈🔥