LILA’S POV
The world didn’t end.
It paused.
The white space trembled not collapsing, not expanding, but holding itself together like something afraid to break under the weight of what was coming.
The ones who built me.
The Architect’s words echoed long after it stopped speaking.
Nathan’s hand was still in mine.
Warm.
Real.
Mine.
And yet everything around us said nothing was truly ours.
“Lila…” he whispered, voice unsteady. “Stay with me.”
I squeezed his hand.
“I’m here.”
But even as I said it, I felt it
the pull again.
Not the system.
Not the merge.
Something higher.
Watching.
The twin inside me stirred.
Not separately.
Not fully merged.
Just… aware.
“They’re coming,” she said softly.
I swallowed.
“Who are they?”
Silence stretched for a moment.
Then
“They are t
