The home of the Rotcastors was not what I had expected.
Instead of a wasteland, it was like stepping into a hidden oasis. The plants and trees here were alive in a way I hadn't seen yet in this Cradle—lush, vibrant, untouched by decay. They reminded me of home and I felt a pang in my chest. How badly I wished I was there, still safe with Vivid.
A tiny village bloomed in a space no bigger than our single house back in my home Cradle. The buildings were stacked and smashed together, some balanced half-on-top of others, like a precarious sculpture born of desperation.
They had a certain beauty to them though, like elaborate art. They reminded me of the simple blocks that Vivid could turn into impressive towers just with her patient hands. I could never replicate her delicate work.
As Rebel and I approached, several people came to greet us. Their faces lit up when they saw Rebel—then shifted quickly to concern when they saw me.
"She's okay, she's with me," Rebel kept assuring them. Once they saw I had his stamp of approval, they came closer.
People clapped him on the back, exchanged high-fives, relief mixing with celebration. None of them were much older than Rebel, and none were as old as my parents. It was a village of survivors—young adults, hardened and scarred. Many bore wounds from encounters with monsters.
There were missing hands, even an arm or two. One woman had no foot. Yet they still seemed to bustle with a purpose.
I caught a girl with lilac hair watching us, one eye missing and a deep scar running through what would have been a flawless face. She caught me looking and scowled, ducking behind her hair.
"That's Lyric," Rebel whispered. "She gets self-conscious. But don't take it personally."
I nodded numbly. My senses felt overwhelmed, like I'd wandered into a dream that didn't quite fit the rules. I had been in Cyberspace for too long, I reasoned.
I had been alone for so long, with no one.
Rebel tensed beside me as he led me deeper into the settlement.
"Rebel!" A young boy sprinted up, completely red in the face. "She's so much worse, hurry!"
Rebel cursed and he broke into a run after the boy. I followed, panting as I tried to keep up.
Finally, we reached the center of the village, where a small crowd had gathered around something—or someone. My gut twisted when I realized what it was.
A girl sat rigid on a stool, tears slipping down the intact side of her face. The last quarter of her features had been eaten by corruption—glitched, melted, breaking apart. I could almost taste the decay as her code unraveled in slow motion, piece by shimmering piece.
Rebel rushed forward and knelt by her side. I watched him brush her hair back and could see he was whispering to her.
I took a step forward and the crowd let me through. "What happened?" I asked without thinking.
The girl's eyes darted to me. She tried to speak.
"Shush," Rebel gently hushed her. "I got it back, Priya, love. It's going to be okay now. Just like I told you."
He took her hand and squeezed it. Her expression shifted—something soft, vulnerable. Something I had only seen in fleeting moments between my parents.
I had gotten close enough to see her more clearly. She was young, about Rebel's age, and dark-skinned. Her hair swept into a braid. Her eyes showed the whites in what I assumed could only be terror.
"You're not leaving me yet," Rebel's voice barely concealing tears. "Priya Ray."
Understanding exploded in my head—his wife. He had risked it all for his wife… I felt a pang of guilt. I had judged so harshly.
He hugged her gently, careful of her wounded side. Then he took out the canister he'd stolen back from Hexa Quell and opened it. Inside, a pale wisp flickered—barely there.
He was holding a strand of code.
"What are you doing?" I gasped. The last time I had seen a stray strand of code it had cost me everything.
"Saving her," he said through clenched teeth, already concentrating. I saw his eyes go vacant.
I cursed aloud.
Without thinking, I dropped to the ground and plunged my mind into Cyberspace.
There they were—Rebel, semi-transparent, and Priya, her code unraveling like a tapestry burning at the edges. Chunks floated off into the digital void.
Rebel worked fast. His strand of code was already embedded in her. I watched as he fetched stray bits from the void around us. Every time he inserted a piece, light sparked, and the decay slowed.
I felt myself go cold as I read his coding… He was breaking a cardinal rule: patching corrupted Architect code with new code entirely. It was dangerous. Reckless. Priya would die in agony.
I pressed my mind harder, trying to find another way. I scanned her with my own eyes, seeing each 1 and 0.
The answer hit me.
I forced myself beside him. He resisted, but still I began to unweave and rethread. The system groaned under my will, but I held steady. I reached into the abyss, tracing the pieces of Priya and pulling back missing lines one by one—mending, restoring.
I sensed Rebel beside me. He was tense but he wasn't fighting me.
I only had to detach Rebel's coding creation… I was so close.
Then I felt it.
Something cold passed over me. A presence.
I froze.
Rebel did too. His code flickered—then a piece of him broke off and drifted into the void.
No. No, no, no.
I knew this feeling and dreaded it.
But there was something different this time. It wasn't just Cyberspace pulling at us, it was something more targeted.
Something traceless. Something like I'd never seen.
I scanned the space, searching for any clues to what had joined us.
Then bright white eyes emerged from the dark and they looked directly at me.
My body went rigid, and I could feel it peeling me apart, starting to unmake me.
In that moment it spoke without speaking words.
It echoed through my head though as clear as a rusted bell. "Threat detected."
My instincts kicked in and I shouted back with what voice I had left. "I never tampered with your system—I was just fixing what was already broken. I was doing a Codewright's duty!"
I felt the pressure ease, and so I moved closer to Priya.
"I am mending that which has been corrupted." To prove it, I gently reinserted another fragment of Architect code into Priya. Her form stabilized. I reached into her again, this time pulling out the flawed line Rebel had created.
She became whole—glowing, stable. I watched her trace growing stronger, normalizing.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
That's when it hit me… Only two traces remained now: hers and mine.
Rebel's was gone.
"Where is my friend?" I shouted. "Where is he?"
No answer. Just that pressure. That unfathomable age. That presence. Something inside me though hummed with recognition. Distantly I thought of a woman whispering in my ear, "Be good, De Aura."
I did the only thing I could think of. That instinct drove my next actions.
I held out Rebel's creation and bowed my head. I was bowed so low my head touched the lines of code.
I felt the corrupted code leave my hand and a chill rushed over my skin.
"Threat neutralized," the cold voice whispered. "No further threat found."
I dared to breathe again.
The thing vanished. In its wake I thought I saw a flicker of a girl, but I didn't know her. Then she was gone.
When I snapped back into the Cradle, chaos had erupted.
People were screaming and pointing to the new empty spot where Rebel had just been.
I let out a shout of horror. Priya sat on the ground, staring at a spot that now only held the empty canister.
"Where is Rebel?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.
I recalled those words.
THREAT DETECTED.
"He was melted," someone choked out.
I stared down at the canister.
"He sacrificed his life to save hers," I murmured and I shook my head slowly.
If I had only known what he had been planning, I could have stopped it. He didn't have to die. It hit me like a mound of rocks stacking on my shoulders.
Priya sobbed openly, body trembling with grief. She suddenly hugged my legs and I felt the wetness of her tears.
"You're a Codewright?" someone asked. I didn't bother to try to figure out who was speaking. I looked down at Priya and the canister.
I said, "He saved me. There was... something else. I think it took him because of the code in the canister."
I knelt beside Priya and wrapped my arms around her shaking form. She cried into my shoulder until my clothes were soaked through—and I cried too.
Because maybe... maybe that thing had taken Vivid too. I thought about the flicker of a ghost of a girl—another victim?
Maybe Vivid had been dead all this time like Rebel was now.