The architect's space didn’t feel like a room anymore. It felt like a decision being made in real time.
Aiden staggered one step forward, then stopped, because the floor beneath him was no longer confirming stability.
It was responding. Like it was waiting to see what he believed it should be. “That’s not possible,” he whispered. The reflection stood beside him, unusually still.
“It is already happening.”
Aiden turned sharply. “You said this was a replacement. Replacement of what exactly?”
The reflection didn’t answer immediately.
Because Adrian spoke first. “Everything that lied to us.”
Silence hit like a pressure shift.
Aiden’s eyes locked onto Adrian’s form suspended in architectural space. “You don’t even know what that means,” Aiden said tightly.
Adrian’s gaze didn’t move. “I
