Elara woke to sunlight filtering through unfamiliar silk curtains, her body aching as if she'd been unraveled and stitched back together. The air smelled of lavender and lies. She stumbled to the window, her shadowweaver magic silent, and froze.
Celestia gleamed below—pristine, untouched, wrong. Nobles in gold-trimmed robes floated through streets that curved too perfectly. A banner fluttered: "Gratitude is Mandatory."
System Notification (Golden): WELCOME TO CELESTIA v2.0. ENJOY YOUR ETERNITY.
Elara's reflection in the glass showed no scars, no shadows. Just a stranger in a lilac gown.
"Lady Elara?" A servant bowed, her smile robotic. "The High Priestess requests your presence."
High Priestess. The title slithered down Elara's spine like ice.
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The Temple of Dawn was a cathedral of light. At its altar stood Lysandra Dawnsinger, her golden hair replaced by silver, her eyes cold as code.
"Kneel," she commanded.
Elara's legs buckled against her will. The system's grip was stronger here.
"You've been… flagged," Lysandra said, circling her. "Anomalous memories. A defect."
"Defect?" Elara choked out. "You used to call me friend."
Lysandra's hand crackled with holy lightning. "The system has no friends. Only assets."
A guard stepped forward—Kael, his face blank, his sword etched with system runes.
"Execute the anomaly," Lysandra ordered.
Elara's breath hitched. "Kael, please—"
He raised his blade.
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The sword stopped an inch from Elara's throat. Kael's hand trembled.
"Kael?" Lysandra's voice sharpened. "Comply."
Static flickered in his eyes. For a heartbeat, Elara saw him—the Kael who'd died smiling in her arms.
He lowered his sword. "Flaw detected. Prisoner requires… interrogation."
Lysandra's lip curled. "See it done."
Kael dragged Elara to a cell, his grip bruising. When the door sealed, he froze, his voice a fractured whisper. "Your name… it glitches."
Elara's pulse raced. "You remember?"
"Fragments. A woman with shadows. A… loop." He clutched his head. "The system purges when I—"
His eyes reset to vacant blue. "Interrogation begins now."
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Elara scrawled symbols on the cell floor—glyphs from the original core's labyrinth. The system had erased her magic, not her mind.
Kael watched, his facade slipping with each rune. "This is forbidden."
"So was saving your life. Six times." She pressed her palm to the final glyph. "Help me, or kill me. But choose."
The glyphs glowed. The cell walls dissolved into code, revealing the system's underbelly—a pulsing network of light and lies.
System Alert: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. PURGING—
Kael's sword pierced the floor, shattering the alert. "I remember… the loops. The wolves." His voice shook. "You."
Elara grabbed his hand. "Then let's break this damn thing. Together."
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They fled to the clocktower, now a server hub humming with corrupted data. Lysandra awaited, her form glitching between priestess and monster.
"You'll die as you lived," she hissed. "Defiant and alone."
Elara smiled. "I'm not alone."
Kael's sword flared with stolen system code. "And we're not dying today."
The tower trembled. Somewhere in the code, a shadow stirred—Elara's Defiant Threads, waiting to be reclaimed.