The Core doesn't speak again.
It doesn't need to.
Because Micah's memories are no longer just *his*.
They're here — projected across the air in slow, shimmering fractures.
Scenes loop in the walls:
His first lie.
His first dream.
His first question about what he was becoming.
Each moment plays like a film —
but the camera angle is wrong.
It's not from his perspective.
It's from the outside.
Someone — *something* — was watching him the whole time.
—
The truth rattles in his chest:
The Static Core was never just a storage place for memory.
It was a **lens**.
A **recording**.
A system built to preserve him.
Because something always knew Micah would try to disappear.
And it couldn't let him.
—
Behind him, a crack forms in the floor.
Not a line.
A wound.
It pulses red, gold, and violet — the exact color of lightning behind closed eyes.
Micah stares into it and sees... *another version* of the Fold.
But not one he's seen before.
There's no Rae. No Wren. No self to return to.
Only walls that breathe.
And writing.
Endless writing.
Scrawled across every surface in Micah's own hand.
He leans in.
The words repeat:
**"I did this to myself."
"I did this to myself."
"I did this to myself."**
—
Then:
A hand reaches out from the fracture.
Small. Pale. Familiar.
It grabs his wrist — and pulls.
—
Micah tumbles.
Not through space. Not through time.
Through *meaning.*
—
He wakes up standing.
Barefoot in a white hallway.
Silent. Seamless. Infinite.
Each door on either side labeled with a version of his name:
**MICAH_01**
**MICAH_42-A**
**MICAH.1089.ECHO**
**MICAH.FINAL**
The last door is ajar.
And inside, something whispers:
**"You don't belong here anymore."**
Micah steps forward.
He doesn't close the door behind him.
He doesn't need to.
It seals on its own.
YOU ARE READING
Static Drift - IV - Before the Static Core
Science FictionStatic Drift - Part 4 - Before the Static Core What if you weren't meant to survive the drift - but complete it? Micah has walked through memory, identity, and time itself. Now, he descends into the heart of everything that broke him. The Static Cor...
