The older Noah fired.

Aria pushed Noah aside.

The energy blast struck the wall and exploded into a shower of blue sparks.

“Run!”

Noah didn’t argue.

He followed Aria through the hidden laboratory as alarms screamed around them.

Behind them, his older self shouted:

“You can’t escape what you’ve already done!”

Aria reached a metal elevator and slammed her hand against the controls.

The doors opened.

“Inside!”

Noah jumped in.

Aria followed.

The doors closed just as another blast struck the corridor.

The elevator began descending.

Noah stared at Aria.

“Who was that?”

“You.”

“That wasn’t me.”

“Not yet.”

Noah shook his head.

“You’re telling me that man is my future self?”

“Yes.”

“Why does he want to kill us?”

“He doesn’t want to kill you.”

“Then what does he want?”

Aria looked at the elevator floor.

“He wants to stop you from remembering.”

“Remembering what?”

She didn’t answer.

The elevator continued downward.

Numbers appeared on the display.

LEVEL 1

LEVEL 10

LEVEL 50

Then the numbers disappeared.

A strange symbol appeared instead.

Noah frowned.

“Where are we?”

“Below Elaris.”

“How far below?”

Aria looked at him.

“Seven miles.”

Noah stared.

“That’s impossible.”

“So is everything else that’s happening tonight.”

The elevator suddenly stopped.

The doors opened.

Noah stepped into darkness.

Then the lights came on.

He stopped breathing.

A gigantic city stretched beneath them.

Skyscrapers.

Roads.

Trains.

Bridges.

Thousands of people.

But everything was frozen.

Cars hung motionless above the roads.

Rain drops floated in the air.

A bird remained suspended halfway through a wingbeat.

Noah whispered:

“What is this?”

Aria stepped beside him.

“The city before Elaris.”

“Before?”

“Seventeen years ago, time stopped here.”

Noah stared at the frozen streets.

“Then how is this still here?”

“It’s a memory.”

He looked at her.

“Whose memory?”

“Everyone’s.”

Noah walked toward the nearest street.

A man stood beside a parked vehicle.

Noah reached toward him.

The man’s eyes suddenly moved.

Noah jumped back.

The man turned his head.

“Remember.”

Noah froze.

“What?”

The man’s face began cracking like glass.

“Remember…”

Then he disappeared.

Noah turned toward Aria.

“What was that?”

“A memory trying to wake up.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re here.”

A strange pressure began building inside Noah’s head.

He grabbed his temples.

“Something’s wrong.”

Aria rushed toward him.

“Noah?”

“I can hear voices.”

“Don’t listen.”

“They’re everywhere.”

Thousands of whispers filled the city.

Remember.

Remember.

Remember.

Noah fell to his knees.

A flash appeared before his eyes.

A laboratory.

His father.

A little boy.

A machine.

A woman screaming.

Noah opened his eyes.

He was seven years old.

His father stood in front of him.

“One day, Noah, you’ll forget me.”

The little Noah started crying.

“Why?”

His father knelt beside him.

“Because remembering me will destroy the world.”

The memory disappeared.

Noah gasped.

“My father knew.”

Aria nodded.

“He knew what would happen.”

“Then why didn’t he stop it?”

“Because he couldn’t.”

“Why?”

Aria looked away.

“He was the first person who tried.”

Noah stood slowly.

“What does that mean?”

Before Aria could answer, the frozen city moved.

Every person turned their head toward Noah.

Thousands of faces stared at him.

Then they all spoke together.

“Remember.”

A crack appeared across the artificial sky.

Noah looked upward.

“What is happening?”

“Time is breaking.”

The crack spread.

Buildings began flickering between different versions of themselves.

One moment they were new.

The next they were destroyed.

Then they disappeared completely.

Aria grabbed Noah’s hand.

“We have to leave.”

“Where?”

“To the first moment.”

“What first moment?”

“The moment your father changed time.”

Suddenly, footsteps echoed behind them.

Noah turned.

His older self stood in the middle of the frozen street.

He had lowered his weapon.

His face looked exhausted.

“I tried to save the world,” he said.

Noah stared at him.

“Then why are you trying to stop me?”

The older Noah looked at Aria.

“Because she stopped me.”

Aria shook her head.

“I had no choice.”

Older Noah laughed bitterly.

“You killed millions.”

Noah looked at Aria.

“Is that true?”

Aria didn’t answer.

The silence was enough.

Noah stepped backward.

“What did you do?”

“I tried to stop the Collapse.”

“And failed?”

“I made it worse.”

The older Noah looked at him.

“The only way to save everyone is to erase the first timeline.”

Noah stared.

“What happens if we erase it?”

Older Noah’s expression became strangely calm.

“None of us will ever exist.”

The underground city began collapsing around them.

Buildings dissolved into light.

The frozen people disappeared.

The road beneath Noah’s feet began breaking apart.

Aria pulled him toward the elevator.

“We have to go!”

But Noah couldn’t move.

His older self looked at him one final time.

“You’re going to make the same choice I did.”

“What choice?”

“Trying to save everyone.”

The clock suddenly appeared in the sky.

Its hands began moving backward.

11:11.

11:10.

11:09.

Noah looked at Aria.

“What happens when it reaches zero?”

Aria’s face went pale.

“The first timeline opens.”

The clock reached 11:01.

The entire world went white.

Noah heard his father’s voice one final time.

“If you want to save tomorrow, you must first survive yesterday.”

Then everything disappeared.