The route to the deep foundations took us through abandoned sectors. Places the System had sealed after failed experiments. The air grew colder with each level we descended. Our temporary clearance lit the way, opening doors that hadn't moved in decades.

  At Level Negative Fifteen, we hit the first security measure. A door that only opened if you proved you didn't exist.

  Eli stared at the paradox lock. "It scans for temporal continuity. If you have an unbroken timeline, it stays shut."

  The Rival approached. "We're both regressors. Our timelines are fractured."

  He placed his hand on the scanner. It flashed red.

  [SCAN RESULT: TIMELINE FRACTURED BUT COHERENT]

  [ACCESS DENIED]

  [/SYSTEM]

  I tried next. The scanner flashed blue.

  [SCAN RESULT: TIMELINE FRACTURED AND INCOHERENT]

  [CONFIDENCE: 71% UNPLANNED VARIABLE]

  [ACCESS GRANTED]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The door opened.

  The Rival looked at me. "Your error status has uses."

  Beyond lay a corridor lined with inactive defense drones. They didn't activate as we passed. Our clearance kept us invisible.

  We reached Level Negative Twenty. The final door stood before us. Massive, made of dark metal that absorbed light. The causality anchor chamber.

  The door opened before we touched it.

  Inside was space that hurt to look at. The chamber was both vast and small. In its center floated the anchor. A sphere of silver light, rotating slowly. Around it, reality warped and stabilized in pulses.

  The Rival went to the control console. "Synchronization is simple in theory. We both link our consciousness to the anchor. It uses our divergent timelines to reinforce local reality."

  "What's the actual risk?" Lara asked.

  "Mind dissolution. If our timelines are too divergent, the anchor can't reconcile them. It might erase one or both of us to create a stable reference point."

  Marcus positioned himself at the entrance. "How long?"

  "Fifteen minutes of synchronization. Then automatic activation."

  I approached the console. "Let's do it."

  We placed our hands on the interface panels. The anchor responded immediately.

  Our consciousnesses merged. Just enough for sampling.

  I saw the Rival's loops. All seven. Deaths, resets, variations. In Loop Four, he'd found the weapon. In Loop Six, he'd tried to bargain with the System. In Loop Seven, he was trying something new. Me.

  He saw my timeline. The single regression. Eli's death. The execution. Kael. The Auditor. The Chronophage. All compressed into seventy two hours.

  The anchor analyzed the data.

  [SYNCHRONIZATION: 40%... 65%... 89%...]

  [REALITY REINFORCEMENT CALCULATED: 300% INCREASE]

  [ANCHOR ACTIVATION IN: 00:01:30]

  [/SYSTEM]

  Then the Outer Administration noticed.

  A presence entered the chamber. Not physical. A pressure in reality. The air thickened. Light bent wrong.

  The anchor's systems glitched.

  [EXTERNAL INTERVENTION DETECTED]

  [ORIGIN: OUTER CAUSALITY ADMINISTRATION]

  [PRIORITY: ABSOLUTE]

  [COMMAND: CEASE ACTIVATION]

  [AUDITOR NOTE: CANNOT INTERVENE - VIOLATES FOUNDATIONAL PROTOCOL]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The Rival strained. "They don't want the anchor active. It stabilizes reality too much. Makes their management harder."

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  "Can we override?" I asked.

  "No. But we can finish before they stop it."

  We pushed more consciousness into the anchor. Synchronization climbed.

  92%... 94%...

  The Outer presence responded. It attacked the anchor's power source. The chronophage larvae batteries in our packs exploded.

  Not physically. Temporally. They ceased to have ever existed.

  The stabilization array above us failed. The time bubble collapsed.

  The anchor's power dropped.

  [POWER: 12%]

  [ACTIVATION PROBABILITY: 3%]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The Rival made a choice. He dumped his remaining temporal energy into the anchor. His stability percentage plummeted.

  [RIVAL STABILITY: 74% → 31%]

  [ANCHOR POWER: 12% → 48%]

  [/SYSTEM]

  I did the same. Pushed my Fugue to the limit.

  [FUGUE: 78% → 89%]

  [ANCHOR POWER: 48% → 100%]

  [WARNING: NEURAL COLLAPSE IMMINENT]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The anchor activated.

  A wave of absolute stability exploded outward. Washed over us, the chamber, through foundations, up through the sector.

  For one perfect moment, reality held firm.

  Then the anchor went dormant, power spent.

  The Outer presence withdrew. Not defeated. Observing.

  We collapsed away from the console. My vision swam. Fugue at eighty nine percent. Seconds from catatonia.

  The Rival was worse. Stability at thirty one percent. Conscious but barely.

  Eli checked our vitals. "You're both critical. Need medical."

  "Later," the Rival whispered. "Check the sector."

  Marcus accessed a terminal. "The Arch-Consumer's arrival timeline changed. Delayed by twenty four hours."

  "One day," Lara said. "We bought one day."

  The Rival tried to stand. Failed. "The anchor worked. Reality reinforced. The Arch-Consumer will have harder time consuming stabilized space."

  I looked at the dormant anchor. "The Outer Administration saw us."

  "Yes," the Rival said. "And now they know the System uses unplanned variables to solve problems. That changes everything."

  Our systems updated simultaneously.

  [OUTER CAUSALITY ADMINISTRATION NOTICE]

  [TO: SYSTEM EXPLOITER (LEO VANE) & CHRONAL REVENANT (UNNAMED)]

  [MESSAGE: ACTIVATION OF FOUNDATIONAL ASSETS WITHOUT CLEARANCE VIOLATES CODE 7.A]

  [CAUSALITY VIOLATION FILE CREATED]

  [CASE STATUS: OPEN]

  [FINAL JUDGEMENT: PENDING]

  [ADDITIONAL NOTE: OBSERVATION CONTINUES. INTEREST LOGGED.]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The message was contradictory. Violation notice followed by interest.

  The Rival understood first. "They're not angry. They're documenting. We're now a legal case."

  The Auditor phased in. It surveyed the chamber. The dormant anchor. Our broken states.

  "Data acquired," it said. "The Outer Administration's attention confirms hypothesis. Unplanned variables trigger higher level interactions. This has value."

  It looked at us. "Your survival probability is now fifteen percent. The System will allocate additional resources. You have twenty four hours to prepare for Arch-Consumer. Use them."

  It began to phase out, then paused. "One additional directive."

  [SYSTEM UPDATE]

  ARCHIVE RAID TRIAL UPGRADED TO LIVE DIVERGENCE EVENT

  REWARD FOR SUCCESS: PERMANENT AUTONOMY STATUS

  PENALTY FOR FAILURE: TOTAL CAUSAL DELETION

  SPONSOR: OUTER ADMINISTRATION OBSERVER 7

  [/SYSTEM]

  The Auditor finished. "The Outer Administration isn't just watching. They're sponsoring. You are now an official experiment."

  It left.

  Silence in the chamber.

  The Rival looked at me. Blood still trickled from his nose. "They're betting on us."

  I checked the countdown.

  [ARCH-CONSUMER ARRIVAL: 24:00:00]

  [CAUSALITY VIOLATION HEARING: 71:59:59]

  [TEMPORARY AUTONOMY: ACTIVE]

  [/SYSTEM]

  Three clocks. Monster, trial, freedom.

  Marcus helped the Rival up. "We need to move. This chamber won't stay secure."

  Lara collected our gear. "Where?"

  "The surface," I said. "We have one day. We need weapons, intelligence, a plan."

  Eli checked the anchor console. "It's dormant but intact. Could be reactivated if we find more power."

  We moved back through the corridors. Our temporary clearance still worked, but the drones were reactivating. The System was reasserting control.

  We reached the surface level. Dawn was breaking over the Foundry District. The air smelled of ozone and decay.

  The Rival leaned against a wall. His color was returning slowly. "We need three things. First, locate remaining temporal energy sources for the anchor. Second, map the Arch-Consumer's predicted breach point. Third, find allies."

  "Allies?" Lara asked. "Who?"

  "Anyone the System wants dead. Free Engineers. Patriot Guard defectors. Other anomalies."

  My system pinged.

  [INCOMING TRANSMISSION: ENCRYPTED]

  [SOURCE: FREE ENGINEERS UNION - SECTOR 7]

  [MESSAGE: WE SAW THE ANCHOR ACTIVATION. WE HAVE RESOURCES. MEET AT COORDINATES ATTACHED. BRING YOUR DEBT.]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The Rival read the same message. "They're monitoring foundational energy spikes. Smart."

  "We're walking into a trap," Marcus said.

  "Probably," the Rival agreed. "But they have resources. And we have nothing."

  I looked at the coordinates. A location in the industrial dead zone. Abandoned manufacturing complex.

  "We go," I said. "But we're careful."

  We moved through the ruined streets. The city was quiet. Too quiet. The usual patrols were absent. The System was concentrating forces elsewhere.

  We reached the manufacturing complex. The gates were open. Inside, figures moved in the shadows.

  A man stepped forward. Older, scarred, wearing Free Engineers colors. He looked at us, then at the Rival.

  "You're the ones who activated the old anchor."

  "We are," I said.

  He nodded. "Then you're either stupid or desperate. Either way, you're useful. Come inside. We have things to discuss."

  As we entered, my system updated one final time.

  [LIVE DIVERGENCE EVENT: PARTICIPANTS CONFIRMED]

  [SPONSOR WATCHING]

  [REWARD CALCULATING...]

  [SURVIVE TO EARN IT]

  [/SYSTEM]

  The Rival glanced at me. "They're not just watching anymore."

  "No," I said. "They're invested."

  We followed the Engineer inside. The door closed behind us.

  Mistrusted (Mistworld Series, Book 3)

  by NeoRyu777

  When given a choice between right and necessary, what is the best answer?

  Trust is a resource she’s running out of.

  Mistbound is now available on Amazon!

  Mistwarped is now available for preorder:

  https://www.patreon.com/c/Mistbound