Six Years Later

by Duchess Pixal

What felt like a matter of months to Zane, as he made his way through a digital wasteland and then battled to get past the firewall of Borg's system, turned out to be two thirds of a *decade*. Dozens more questions poured through his mind; what happened to Pixal? To his friends? To his teacher? Alternate title: What If Zane Took Longer to Return after Rebooted?

1. Introduction

November 11th 2019

That's when I started writing this.

What began as an intended anthology of addressing various alternate timelines or alternate decisions, quickly became one huge magnum opus of one particular scenario - if Zane took longer to come back after his ultimate sacrifice, what kind of things could've happened while he was gone? How would the characters have changed? How would the world events have differed?

2 years of speculation, writing, world building, editing, rewriting, and a lot of fantasising, and I finally feel comfortable enough to start posting this. Working on it in pockets of time around work and university, staying up late with a few beers, and diving into the potential madness that would follow Zane's delayed return.

It is my sincerest hope that you will enjoy this, so please consider taking time to give your feedback. Thank you x