The hidden zone beneath Ferren's decoding chamber hummed like a living engine. Damien stood over the golden-threaded map now burned into his interface. Myles and Nova studied it in silence, each waiting for him to speak. He had not said a word since the moment the Architect's icon revealed itself.
Ferren sat casually with one leg crossed over the other. He sipped from a strange steaming flask and watched them with a faint smirk.
You look like you just saw the system bleed, Ferren said.
Damien finally looked up. That name. The Architect. Have you seen it before?
Once, Ferren replied. A long time ago. But I chose to forget.
Damien stepped closer. Then remember.
Ferren's smile faded. He placed the flask down and leaned forward. The Architect was not a hacker. Not a user. Not a faction. It was an event. A failure that turned into a code. A code that turned into something else. Something that learned to exist where no process should.
Nova's voice was quiet. A ghost born from system death.
Ferren nodded. A ghost that learned how to wear flesh. It needed hosts. It needed proxies. I believe your Revenant is just one of them.
Damien clenched his fists. Then it is still growing.
Not just growing, Myles said. Spreading.
Damien turned back to the glowing network.
The gold lines had changed. They pulsed faster now. One thread in particular lit up in red, reaching toward an unmarked zone near the western arc of the system. It was a place with no name. Just a signature. A user ID. But the ID was not from the system. It came from the outside.
Nova frowned. That is not possible. No one can connect a real world ID inside the system without full override clearance.
Unless someone built a bridge, Damien said.
He tapped the glowing mark.
Connection unstable. Signal rerouting. Source unknown.
Myles read the code aloud. It is a message. Someone is trying to reach you.
Ferren tilted his head. Looks like you are not the only ghost moving through the wires.
Damien accepted the ping.
At first, all he saw was static. Then words formed.
Damien. If you are alive, you need to find me. They know I saw the file. I think they are tracking both of us.
He stared at the text, stunned.
Nova leaned over. Who is it?
A pause. Then Damien answered.
Someone I buried a long time ago.
Nova did not press. Myles did not comment. But the air shifted.
Ferren raised an eyebrow. You have watchers in the real world.
Damien nodded. And they are in danger now.
You cannot save everyone, Ferren warned.
I do not need to save everyone, Damien said. Just the ones who still believe in something.
He shut the interface down and turned to Nova and Myles.
We move now. I want to reach that unmarked zone before the signal dies.
Nova nodded without hesitation.
Myles adjusted his gloves and followed.
They left the shelter behind.
The path ahead was raw code layered with debris. No stable zones. No restored data. Everything they stepped on could fall apart at any moment.
But Damien felt focused. More than ever. Because for the first time in years, someone from his past was calling to him. And if they were still alive, then the fire he had buried was not truly out.
They climbed through broken architecture. Shadows curled around them. At the edge of their map, the signal pulsed again. Faint. Urgent. It blinked once more, then vanished.
Nova cursed under her breath. We lost it.
Damien looked ahead. No. It is not gone. It is waiting.
They reached a platform that overlooked a broken system corridor. Streams of blue light poured through cracks in the walls. And in the center stood a glowing cube.
Inside the cube, suspended in code, was a fragment of a real world document. A scan. A signature. A name.
Elena Marques.
Nova stepped back. That is a real person. She is not supposed to be here.
Damien walked closer, eyes fixed on the cube.
I knew her. Before all this.
The system should not allow that level of crossover, Myles said. This is something else.
Damien placed his hand on the cube. The surface rippled like water.
A spark ran through his veins.
He saw her face.
Older. Fiercer. Alive.
Then the vision ended.
The cube dimmed and broke apart.
But it was enough.
She was coming.
And he would be ready.