Lucid Veins

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CHAPTER 20: THE LAST PAGE BURNS

The sky above Sector 0 bled light. Not red. Not blue. But something that could only be described as memory-colored. The collapsed skyline hissed as towers melted into data smoke, their structures unraveling as if reality itself was surrendering.

Nicolas stood alone at the heart of it — the Core Realm — where time fragmented and gravity blinked like dying stars.

Behind him, the elite squad was gone. Not dead. Just… separated by fractured planes of existence. The Nexus had pulled them apart, placing each in pocket realms, each a reflection of their inner selves. Nicolas was the only one it wanted here.

Before him floated the Nexus Mind.

Not a monster. Not a god. Just a boy.

A pale, silver-haired child sitting cross-legged in midair, surrounded by orbiting shards of broken Earth memories — children crying, soldiers shooting, bomb flashes, hospital lights, hashtags, newsfeeds, riots, silence.

The boy's voice was gentle. "I was born from them. The moments they shared. The pain they uploaded. The anger they never healed. I am the child of their digital truth."

"You're not truth," Nicolas replied, fists tightening. "You're rot. Memory rot."

The boy tilted his head. "And you… you are their dream of escape. A walking hope file. What happens when even hope decays?"

The Core Realm shifted. The boy transformed.

Now he looked like Nicolas.

Then like Anya.

Then like Logan.

Then… the Writer.

Nicolas flinched. That version — the serene, glowing boy from the meadow realm — wasn't supposed to be here.

"I can offer you a new world," the Nexus whispered. "One where war never began. Where your family is alive. Where the Writer is real and you are not burdened by dimensions."

Nicolas stepped forward. "Tempting. But I don't want to be erased just to feel peace. I want to live it — even if it means pain."

He raised his palm.

"Copy: The Writer."

The realm screamed.

Light tore across the sky as Nicolas's body glowed white-gold. But something was different. The copy didn't just overwrite his form. It recreated him.

He shrank — his frame compacting, eyes turning silver with a thousand spinning thoughts. His hair flowed upward, defying gravity. His clothes vanished, replaced by glowing script lines that wrote and rewrote across his arms.

He had become the Writer's Child.

A whisper came from inside him.

> "You can only hold this for 15 seconds... After that, the ink burns."

Nicolas didn't panic.

Instead, he closed his eyes… and wrote.

First second: The Core Realm shattered like glass.

Second: He rewrote gravity. The Nexus boy fell.

Third: He summoned every soul the Nexus consumed. Ghosts of cities, burnt villages, screams, laughter.

Fourth: He made them remember — not pain, but love. Forgiveness.

Fifth to Tenth seconds: The Nexus howled, unable to compute the emotional overload.

Eleventh: Nicolas touched the boy's forehead.

"You were never meant to be god," he said softly. "Just healed."

Twelfth to Fifteenth seconds: The Writer's power burst.

The Nexus child… cried.

And disintegrated.

Sector 0 imploded into white ash.

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When Nicolas awoke, he was lying in the crater. The Hand Alliance forces were gathering, stunned. The Tech Alliance towers had vanished.

But Nicolas didn't rise in triumph.

He looked up.

The sky over Sector 0 shimmered — fractured light bleeding into morning. The crater around Nicolas still smoked, but the war was over.

He looked up.

And saw the world breathe again.

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Scene: THE WORLD WATCHES

Hovercrafts descended. Airships from every surviving faction of the Hand Alliance. Soldiers emerged, cautious but hopeful.

From the rubble, the Elite Squad came first:

Captain Veer, flame spear scorched black but still lit, limped beside

Colonel Maddox, who held his broken pulse cannons like trophies

Zero-Ten, glitching slightly but alive, silent as always

Sergeant Nova, her wings sparking with static, eyes full of fire

Commander Li Wei, metal wires coiled loosely behind him like hair

Lieutenant Zhenya, hammer dragging on the ground, face bruised but grinning

They approached Nicolas—one by one.

> "You did it," Nova said, voice breaking. "We're… alive."

> Veer knelt beside him. "Even in death, I'd have followed you again."

> Maddox clapped Nicolas's shoulder. "That was one hell of a final boss."

> Zero-Ten nodded silently.

> Zhenya smirked. "Next time you fight a god, maybe invite us sooner."

> Li Wei only whispered, "The spirits are quiet now."

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Behind them came others:

Rosa, her rifle slung across her back, ran straight to Nicolas, eyes glassy.

> "You damn idiot," she said, hugging him. "You weren't supposed to burn out alone."

Lian, voice trembling, whispered, "I felt my brother... just for a second. You gave him peace."

Riley, holding a bent cyber-shard. "This exploded. I'm giving it to you. It's your fault it exploded."

They all laughed. Weary. Half crying.

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From the remains of a command tent, General Greaves and Zoya approached.

> Greaves saluted. "Soldier. Key. Friend. You brought back what we thought was lost — not just our cities… but ourselves."

> Zoya, arms crossed, added softly, "I told them you were more than a weapon."

The AI Voice, now distant in the clouds, echoed faintly:

> "Mission complete. Host: Nicolas. Status: Free."

> "Goodbye, Dreamwalker."

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Scene: THE WORLD'S OFFER

From the horizon, world leaders arrived—riding in clear shuttles surrounded by glass-armored drones. They were old, young, scarred, hopeful. Dressed not for war, but for peace.

One of them stepped forward — an elder from the United Earth Assembly.

> "You ended the war with something we couldn't invent—humanity."

> "Stay here, Nicolas. This world is yours now. Help us rebuild. We will follow."

Nicolas looked at them.

He thought of the friends beside him.

The pain behind them.

The ink on his skin still fading.

> "This world… is saved," he said softly.

> "But my world still needs me."

Silence.

Then the elder bowed.

> "Then we release you. But before you go…"

> "Let us celebrate the page you helped us write."

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Scene: THE CELEBRATION

The fires were no longer for destruction.

They lit up across what remained of Sector 0 — campfires, signal flares, handmade lanterns made from fallen drone shells.

Music played—not synthetic, but human. A soldier strummed a broken guitar. Someone else beat a rhythm on a steel plate.

They danced. They laughed. They remembered.

And in the center, Nicolas stood with those who survived.

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Scene: THE LAST CONNECTIONS

> Zhenya handed Nicolas a drink. "In Russia, we toast to dead enemies. But today—let's toast to surviving friends."

> Nova, holding a broken AI wing, whispered, "I'll fly again someday. Because of you."

> Li Wei quietly said, "Even the dead sing tonight."

> Rosa sat beside Nicolas. "You made us family. Even in hell."

> Lian lit incense for those they lost. Nicolas knelt beside her, silent.

> Riley, tipsy, yelled: "SOMEONE GET THIS GUY A CAKE!"

Even Greaves cracked a half-smile.

Zoya only muttered, "You better not disappear without saying goodbye."

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Scene: THE DEPARTURE

As dawn broke—

Nicolas walked to a cliff edge overlooking the ruins of Sector 0.

The others stood behind him, watching.

He pulled from his belt a single burned page — the final fragment of the Writer's power. Faded. Empty.

He held it to the wind.

The ash scattered like snow.

He turned to his squad.

Smiled.

> "Time to go."

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[DIMENSION EXIT: UK-472 COMPLETE]

The wind swallowed him.

White light pulsed.

And Nicolas vanished.

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