The crack widened.
A sliver of scarlet light spilled into the glitching void, slicing across the stitched timelines like a blade of forbidden knowledge.
Kei—every version of him—froze.
Even the fusion-Kei who had become part of the core, even the god-Kei who ruled the Prison of Time, even the rebel-Kei who led the freed ones through the collapsing corridors of memory.
They all turned.
One mind.
One soul.
Billions of realities.
Toward that red door.
Toward that hand.
It was pale. Ageless. And not entirely human. It moved like it remembered things before time was even born. And as it emerged further, the glitching around Kei stopped. Like the code itself was afraid.
Then—
A voice.
It didn't echo. It didn't vibrate. It simply was, like an ancient truth buried beneath existence.
"You have chosen everything, child of paradox."
Kei felt something surge through him. Deeper than data. Deeper than memory.
"Who… are you?" he whispered.
The door creaked open wider, revealing only shadows.
"I am the Architect."
"The one who built the Prison."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
The Architect continued, each word warping time itself:
"You were never meant to escape. But you did."
"You were never meant to choose all paths. But you did."
"You were never meant to reach me. But here you are."
Kei clenched his fists, fractured realities spiraling around him like a digital hurricane.
"Then tell me… why was I created?"
The Architect stepped fully into view.
A figure in flowing white, faceless like the Faceless Man, but older. Wiser. Woven with pure timeline threads. His body pulsed with eras—prehistoric shadows, future storms, present paradoxes.
"Because you are the one variable I could never calculate."
And then—
The Architect pointed at Kei.
"You are the Glitch That Chose. The Origin of Collapse. And now… I offer you one final question."
A new door formed beside the red one. This one was made of pure silence.
"You may open one."
"The Red Door—leads to answers."
"The Silent Door—leads to power."
And the choice wasn't his alone.
It was every version of him.
Millions of Keis debated in unison.
But in the center, where it mattered most, the original Kei—the Prisoner of Time—smiled.
And said:
"I open both."
> [ERROR: MULTI-DOOR ACCESS DENIED]
[ERROR: ERROR: ERROR]
[OVERLOAD—REALITY BREACH IMMINENT]
The void convulsed.
The red door slammed open. The silent one shattered. And from the broken silence came something else—
A scream.
Not of pain. But of awakening.
And from both doors… something stepped out.
Not a god.
Not a warden.
But the First Prisoner.