The Man who Forget to Die

Chapter 10: The Second Lin

Sector 0 wasn't a place.

It was a wound.

Zero stepped into the borderless void, and time warped instantly.

Mountains of frozen glass floated overhead. Fractured cities drifted in the dark. And across the black horizon, mirrored rivers flowed upward, bleeding colors he had no name for.

[SECTOR 0 ENTERED]

[WARNING: PARADOX STABILITY: 4%]

[KNOWN INSTANCES PRESENT: 2]

One of them was Flame.

The other… was already waiting.

She stood on a broken rooftop suspended in midair—hair like soft dusk, body untouched by time.

She turned when he approached.

Her eyes were exactly as he remembered.

Soft. Kind. Sad.

"Zero," she said.

His throat caught.

"You're not… the one from before."

"No," she whispered. "I'm the first one. The one who started this."

He stepped forward, slowly.

"But how…? You died."

"I didn't," she said. "I was left."

Cycle 1

They were scientists.

Dreamers.

Trying to stop the world from ending.

The loops were meant to save time—not trap it.

And Zero was supposed to be the anchor.

Only one person could stay stable in each timeline.

It was him.

But he failed.

He forgot her.

Each time.

Every time.

"I watched you forget me for 1,826 cycles," she said, voice steady. "And then Flame found me."

Zero's breath hitched.

"What did he do?"

"He remembered me," she said. "All of me."

Silence.

He wanted to hate that.

But he couldn't.

Because he had forgotten her.

Again and again.

And Flame… remembered.

"I don't know if you're the real Zero anymore," she said gently. "I don't know if I even care."

Tears welled in her eyes.

"I just wanted one of you to choose me."

Zero stepped closer.

But something shifted.

Her form glitched.

Eyes flaring with static.

She was breaking.

"Sector 0 isn't meant to hold souls," she whispered. "I've been here too long. I'm fading."

"Then come with me," he said quickly. "We can leave."

"I can't," she said. "Flame locked me to this place. My data is burned into its code. If I move—"

She broke apart for a moment, like ash scattered by wind.

When she reformed, she was crying.

"He wanted me to tell you something."

She looked into his eyes.

"He said… if you want to end this,

you'll have to let me die.

And you won't.

Because you never could."

Zero clenched his fists.

The System UI screamed warnings in his ear.

[SECTOR STABILITY CRITICAL]

[EMOTIONAL ANCHOR OVERLOAD DETECTED]

[DECISION REQUIRED]

He reached for her.

She didn't stop him.

Their hands met.

Real.

Soft.

Breaking.

"Lin…"

"I forgive you," she said.

And then—

Flame Zero's voice echoed across Sector 0.

"She always says that right before she fades."

A tear rolled down Zero's cheek.

The woman in front of him smiled.

Flickered.

And dissolved into light.

He dropped to his knees.

Alone in a world that shouldn't exist.

With only the memory of a woman

he couldn't save

in any cycle.

To be continued…