The room was quiet following the shattering. Too quiet.
Plumes of dust danced in the air like points of embers, each glowing with a gentle light before fading away. The shard was gone, dispersed to nothing, and still its absence carried more significance than its being.
Kaito's blood dripped from his hand onto the broken stone floor, each drop dropping into the cracks as if it was being swallowed.
Nyra did not let him go. Her grip was steel, holding him to the ground. He clung to it for a moment, just to be able to breathe, to recall that he was still alive. Still himself.
But the silence did not last.
The earth vibrated beneath them, a heavy, humming thrum rising into the atmosphere. Chamber walls trembled, bleeding stone into something new—code, bare lines of green script unwinding and remaking themselves in bursts of static.
A voice cut into the atmosphere. Not that of the Reaver. Not that of the Architects. Something beneath.
System Core Breach Verified]
