Valeria ran through the endless corridors.
The fluorescent lights above flickered and buzzed, as if protesting her escape.
Every turn looked the same.
Every door, identical.
Her heart hammered against her ribs.
In her mind, the countdown echoed:
> 71:47:12
She had to move faster.
At the end of one hallway, she saw a red door.
Unlike the others.
Paint peeling, slightly ajar.
She hesitated.
The card in her pocket pulsed again—
Harder this time.
> Go.
Pushing it open, she found herself in a massive chamber.
At its center: a giant machine.
Towers of servers stretched to the ceiling.
Cables thick as arms twisted around it, pulsing with a dull red light.
On the main console was a label:
> CORE: LOOP GENERATOR
Valeria stepped closer.
A single command blinked on the touch screen:
> BREAK THE LOOP? [Y/N]
She stared at it.
Her hands shook.
Her memories flickered:
Laughing. Crying. Falling. Waking up.
Over and over.
How many times had she lived?
How many times had she failed?
The screens around the chamber lit up.
Images of her… dying.
Restarting.
Smiling again.
Fake smiles.
Fake lives.
Valeria closed her eyes.
Took a breath.
And pressed Y.
The machine screamed.
The room shuddered.
Alarms blared, and somewhere distant, a voice shouted:
> "She's breaking containment! Cut the feed!"
But it was too late.
The floor cracked open.
Reality itself began to tear.
Valeria held onto the console as the world around her twisted and collapsed into static.
She wasn't afraid.
For the first time, she wasn't trapped.
She was free.
Or so she thought.