Kale's footsteps echoed down into the Vault of Versions, a sublevel so deep beneath the Academy it didn't exist on any map. He only found it because the Book led him there—its clasp unsealing one glyph at a time as he descended.
The Vault's gate was inscribed with symbols that shimmered like oil on water. They flickered between alphabets, languages, and pure idea.
With his spiral-marked wrist, he touched the gate.
It opened.
Inside were glass-like chambers, fogged from within.
And inside each chamber... was himself.
---
The first version wore a crown. His eyes were dull, his mouth bloody.
The second was younger. Laughing. Covered in paint and light.
The third sobbed uncontrollably, wrapped in what looked like the charred pages of a burned diary.
Kale staggered back. "What are they?"
A whisper answered:
"They're you—versions that might have been. Or were. Or will be again."
He spun. A figure stepped forward from the shadows. She had ink-colored hair braided with golden thread, and wore the robes of an Observer—but her glyph was crossed out.
"I'm Seris," she said. "And you shouldn't be down here."
---
Kale held up the Book.
"I think this let me in."
Seris's eyes widened. "You opened that? Then we're already collapsing."
Kale frowned. "Collapsing what?"
"Reality," she said. "The Book That Shouldn't Exist doesn't just tell stories. It writes truths. Dangerous truths. Contradictory ones."
Kale blinked at the vault of selves. "These are… edits?"
She nodded. "Some are rejected. Others were accidental. A few… were deliberate."
Kale stepped to the chamber with the version who looked like a king. The glyph on the glass showed a date—seven years from now.
"What happens to him?" Kale asked.
Seris looked grim. "He rewrote too much. Became a fixed point. The world collapsed under his will. He became a tyrant who believed himself an author."
Kale stared at the crown on his own future self's brow. It didn't shimmer. It bled.
---
The Book pulsed in his hand. Pages fluttered. Words inked themselves in real time:
> "Version Vault breach logged. Kale, Origin Thread. Rewrite authorization pending."
"Wait," Kale said, eyes widening. "What do you mean pending?"
Seris backed away. "No—don't give it a command!"
But the Book had already begun to rewrite.
Glass cracked. The chamber of the sobbing version opened first.
And another Kale stepped into the world.