I tried doing a "save as" to create a file with less layers. But I lost the original.

Im pretty devastated as I've lost months of work here I really hope there is something I can do. As you know, as long as you have the file open you can Ctrl+Z even if you erase all the layers in a file.

My idea was to make smaller files; to piece out of the larger project im working on, because it was becoming too heavy of a file and would take too long to load.

I expected to make a save as and be left with 2 files. The one that would remain open, I could still ctrl+z on and regain all my layers. I would then rinse and repeat this process untill I pieced everything out into smaller psdc files.

Well I kept 2 layer folders and deleted the other 20+ layer folders and other layers without a folder.... I "saved as" under a different file name but photoshop did something unexpected, it AUTOSAVED ... THEN it closed the original file, created the new one and thus left me with the newly named file open... instantly I freaked out and closed the new name file and opened the old name file hoping to find the original version before I deleted all the layers, but it was saved to the point after the layers were already gone.

In theory this should have worked because I never overrode the original file, not manually anyway, but photoshop autosaved just as it closed the file and basically left me with 2 identical files sans the name... After I think about it now ... had I not closed the new name file when I freaked out,  I probably could have been able to ctrl+z on it and recovered the changes before the save as... maybe... but I trusted I would be left with an original untouched file and a "saved as" file....

These files are saved onto adobe cloud please tell me there is a way to recover the original before the layers were deleted. This function is counter intuitive, why would it autosave over an original if Im making a "save as"???? it makes no sense....

Please help. Thank you.