NOT LIMITED

CHAPTER THREE - THE MAN AT THE GATE

Aiden’s breath caught in his chest as the figure stepped closer. The streetlight flickered overhead, casting broken shadows across the man’s face. For one terrifying second Aiden saw the features clearly—sharp jawline, familiar eyes, the same scar from their childhood accident.

It was Liam.

Older. Harder.

Very much alive.

But something about him was wrong.

His posture was stiff, unnatural. His eyes glowed faintly—like there was someone else looking through them.

Aiden stumbled backward. “Liam…? Is it really you?”

The man said nothing. Instead, he lifted his hand and placed two fingers against his temple—as if checking a signal only he could hear. Then he whispered:

“Target located.”

Aiden’s stomach dropped.

Target?

“Liam, it’s me!” Aiden shouted. “Your brother!”

The man tilted his head slowly, studying him like an investigator observing a suspect.

Then he said a name that wasn’t Aiden’s:

“Subject Delta.”

A cold shock surged through Aiden. His legs weakened. Whoever this man was—it wasn’t the brother he remembered.

Not entirely.

THE MOTHER BREAKS

Behind Aiden, his mother collapsed to her knees, clutching her head.

“No—no—stop—” she cried, as if a memory was being pulled out of her forcibly.

Aiden rushed to her, but she shoved him away with surprising strength.

Her voice layered, merging two tones:

her own… and a strange male voice beneath it.

“Run, Aiden!” the layered voice commanded.

“He’s not your brother in this timeline.”

Lightning shot through Aiden’s spine.

“Mom—who’s speaking through you?”

But she screamed again, as if two souls were battling inside her.

Aiden turned back toward the gate—

Liam was gone.

Just a ripple of disturbed air marking where he’d stood.

ZARA’S UNWANTED CONNECTION

Across the city, Zara gasped and dropped her pen as a violent wave of energy hit her. The force knocked several sculptures off her shelves.

“What now?!” she snapped, but her voice was shaking.

Then the symbol appeared again on her screen—brighter, sharper—now showing three figures:

A boy.

A woman.

And a man with eyes glowing like a machine.

Zara’s heart hammered. “This… this is a sequence. A timeline breach.”

The image flickered once—

And the boy’s face became perfectly clear.

Aiden.

Again.

This time he wasn’t falling—

He was running.

Zara didn’t know him, yet the fear in his eyes felt personal, like her own memories were being rewritten.

She whispered, “Why am I connected to you…?”

The studio lights cut out completely.

Someone knocked on her door.

AIDEN’S ESCAPE

Aiden dragged his mother to the couch, but she was barely conscious—breathing hard, fighting unseen forces as memories flickered behind her eyes.

He grabbed his phone with trembling hands. Should he call for help? Report a break-in? Tell someone his brother was alive but possessed by something?

No one would believe him.

Then the house lights dimmed—

and Aiden felt that same universe-glitching tremor he’d experienced earlier.

He grabbed his bag, heart racing.

His mother’s voice—layered again—strained to speak:

“Find the girl… in the art district… she can see the memories that aren’t yours…”

Aiden froze.

“The genius girl… with the symbol…”

Zara.

He didn’t know her, but something inside him—some instinct not fully his own—told him his mother was right.

He kissed her forehead. “I’ll come back for you. I promise.”

A shadow passed across the window.

Aiden’s blood went cold.

He sprinted out of the back door, disappearing into the night.

And across the city, Zara reached for her studio door with shaking hands—

not knowing the boy from the visions was running straight toward her.

TO BE CONTINUED…