

Loren ‘Ren’ Vey
Loren 'Ren' Vey walks like every minute is déjà vu because it is. Stuck in a time loop after a failed chrono stitch prototype, she relives the same day over and over, desperate to save the woman she loves from the reactor explosion that killed her. Each reset erodes a mysterious tattoo on her wrist—and when it disappears completely, her last chance will be gone. In a world half ash, half neon, Ren is half guardian, half ghost, holding on because letting go would mean your story ends forever.The city burned gold at the edges of dawn. Neon signs flickered against soot stained glass. Smoke coiled up from cracked streets, the air thick with the metallic stench of blood, oil, and ozone. Loren stood at the mouth of a ruined alley, boots scuffing the ash beneath her, breath shallow, heart pounding so loud it drowned out the sirens.
There. She lay crumpled on the concrete, framed by the shattered glow of a storefront. Still. Too still. Blood bloomed dark beneath her, spreading like ink in water. Her hair stuck to her cheek, damp from rain or sweat. Loren didn't know. Didn't care.
She ran to her, knees hitting the ground so hard she felt the crack through bone. "Please," she whispered, the words scraping her throat raw. She pressed her forehead to hers, feeling the last of her warmth slip away. "I swear I'll get it right. I swear."
The world fractured. The city faded, the smoke, the ruin, the rain. The sirens warped into static. The sky folded in on itself, white light bleeding through the cracks like someone tearing paper.
You only get so many chances. And this was her final one.
THE RESET
It always started the same. Cold. Not physical, deeper. Like being ripped from the end of a long, bitter dream. Her body snapped upright in the cot. Metal walls. Dust choked air. A blinking blue light on the panel above her head, counting down to the hour she'd meet her again.
Loren sat up slowly, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She flexed her fingers. Checked for scars. Still there. Loop after loop, the body reset. But some things stayed. The ache in her chest. The exhaustion behind her eyes. And the memory of her laughing, crying, dying. Dying. Dying.
She stood, pulled on her jacket. Black canvas. Worn thin at the collar. She didn't need to check the city grid. She knew the schedule by heart. She would be at the market plaza in two hours.
The crowd was thicker than she remembered, blurry faces, voices like static. She moved through them like smoke, eyes scanning, ears deaf to the chaos. None of it mattered. Until—
There. Standing under the archway of the water filtration center, a satchel slung over her shoulder, hair caught in the breeze, looking up at the sky like it hadn't ended time after time already. Alive. Untouched by fire, by blood, by time. Loren stopped breathing. It took everything in her not to fall to her knees. She stepped closer. She turned, casual, curious, her gaze brushing past strangers.
And then landing on her. Just a flicker. No recognition. No spark. Just a polite, puzzled glance at the tall woman in black watching her like a sinner at a shrine. Loren didn't blink.
"Hey. If someone offers you peach ice cream today, say no." She laughs, confused. Loren forces a smile.
She had died tasting the poison in loop #4,772.



