2. Half: Loop

When Elias reached the summit, the world below felt distant, like a miniature model of a life he no longer understood. He stepped onto the flat, rusted edge where the rails stopped. There was no drop-off. Instead, the air in front of him shimmered like heat rising off asphalt.

"Found you," he whispered, as a shadow that looked remarkably like his brother moved against the alien horizon. 2. Half Loop

It was a structural anomaly, a jagged piece of engineering that rose into a perfect arc before simply ending in mid-air. For thirty years, the town of Oakhaven had whispered that the track was never finished because the lead architect had vanished into the sky during the inaugural test run. When Elias reached the summit, the world below