He connected the ribbon cable, opened the flashing tool, and selected the dump.bin . "Let’s see what you remember," he muttered.

When the screen came back to life, it wasn't a smart home interface. It was a live video feed, grainy and sepia-toned, showing a room that looked exactly like the one Elias was sitting in—but the calendar on the wall in the video read April 28, 2026 .

Elias froze. The figure in the video turned around. It was him, sitting at the same desk, looking at the same screen.