White.
Endless, blinding white.
Jace staggered, arms outstretched into nothing. His feet didn't touch ground—there was no ground. No sky. Only an expanse of blank light that stretched in every direction. His breath caught. Was this death? A memory dive? A dream?
> [Warning: Soul Archive Traversal In Progress] [Memory Sync: Target – "Nyra"]
The light trembled. Then, like a ripple through a pond, images began to bleed into the void—blurred first, then clearer. Shapes. Sounds. Emotion.
The scream of a child. The smell of scorched iron.
Suddenly, he was standing in a burned-out village.
Ash rained from the sky. Blackened buildings smoldered. Bodies littered the ground—some human, some… not.
A younger version of Nyra knelt in the center of the chaos. Blood ran down her arms. Her hands trembled over a broken crystal embedded in a child's chest.
"No! Don't go! I can fix this—please!"
Her voice cracked, raw with grief. Then something shifted behind her.
A figure in black stepped from the smoke. A robed man, face hidden, red eyes glowing faintly.
"You have the blood of both worlds," he said. "But not the power of either. Not yet."
He extended a single hand. A crystal cube pulsed between his fingers.
"Take it. The Archive chooses those with the will to carry pain."
Young Nyra looked up, trembling. Her hand reached slowly, hesitantly, toward the cube—
—and Jace was ripped from the memory.
He screamed.
The light shattered.
---
He woke in the vault, gasping, drenched in sweat. The pedestal was still glowing, but the shard was gone. In its place, a mark burned faintly on the back of his hand—
A crescent-shaped brand surrounded by thorns.
> [Bond Path Activated – Nyra] [Shared Traits Unlocked: Pain Transference Lv.1, Emotional Echo Lv.1]
> [System Notification: First Archive Link Established. Additional Archive Threads Now Accessible.]
Jace sat back, breath still ragged. The vision had felt real. Too real. He hadn't just seen her memory—he'd lived it.
"Nyra… what happened to you?"
Footsteps echoed faintly outside the vault.
He scrambled to his feet, scanning the hallway beyond. It wasn't the monster—these steps were softer. Familiar.
Nyra.
She stepped into view, arms crossed. Her expression was unreadable.
"You saw it."
Jace nodded. "More than saw. I felt everything."
She didn't look surprised. "The Archive doesn't lie."
There was silence between them for a moment. Then Jace asked, "Who was the man in black?"
Her eyes darkened. "My father. Or what passed for one. He created the first fragment of the Archive... and cursed me with its echo."
She stepped closer, stopping just a few feet from him. "Now you carry that echo too. We're bound. And soon... others will come for you."
Jace's fingers curled. "Let them come."
Nyra's presence still lingered in the vault like a blade just sheathed—quiet, but dangerous. Her crimson eyes met Jace's, and something passed between them that didn't need words. They both felt it. The bond wasn't just mystical; it was real, rooted in pain, shared history, and something neither had the strength to name yet.
Jace flexed his hand, feeling the crescent brand pulse faintly on his skin. "So what now?" he asked, breaking the silence. "Are you here to guide me… or to test me again?"
Nyra didn't answer immediately. She walked past him, her fingers trailing the edge of the now-dormant pedestal. "Neither," she said at last. "The Archive has already decided. From here on, it will open doors… and close others."
He followed her out of the chamber, each step echoing through the ancient stone corridors. As they climbed toward the surface, the system buzzed in his mind with faint whispers—data processing, threads aligning, fragments syncing. Nyra spoke again, voice low but steady.
"You're the first male to survive the full traversal."
Jace glanced at her. "So there were others?"
"Many. They all died. Screamed. Some disintegrated. Some worse."
He exhaled. "Comforting."
When they reached the exit, daylight hit like a slap. The ruins around them were quiet now, the battle's echoes long faded. But something had shifted in the air—a weight, an awareness. Jace felt it in his bones. He wasn't alone anymore.
"Others will feel it," Nyra said, stepping into the light. "Those touched by the Archive. Most of them women. Few will survive their trials, but those who do... will be drawn to you."
Jace's brows furrowed. "Drawn how?"
"Through resonance. Like me. Like a flame drawing moths… or predators."
He paused. "So what happens to them?"
Nyra looked over her shoulder, her tone unreadable. "That depends on you."
---
Later that evening, Jace found a crumbling rooftop near the edge of the ruins and sat there, watching the sun dip below the fractured skyline. His body ached. His mind reeled. His system buzzed with data. But it was the memory of Nyra's trial that clung hardest to him.
The pain she'd lived with. The loss. The impossible decision. And yet... she survived.
That meant something.
The Archive pulsed faintly.
> [New Archive Thread Available: Core Archive – Shadow Vault Access Enabled]
[System Suggestion: Locate Next Vault Signature – Estimated Distance: 137 km]
[Companions Detected: 1 – Status: Bound (Nyra)]
[Next Evolution: Locked – Requires 2 Total Soul Threads]
Jace narrowed his eyes. Two threads? That meant another bond. Another survivor. Another piece of the puzzle.
He stood slowly and turned toward the distant skyline.
"Guess I'd better get moving."
---
Far away, in a Federation outpost
A silver-haired woman stood inside a simulation chamber, her arms wrapped in glowing data circuits. Screens around her flickered with fragmented Archive readings, all centered on one figure—Jace.
"Subject has survived three vault initiations," a lab tech murmured behind her. "One confirmed kill of a C-Tier shardhorn, one guardian trial cleared, and now… a soul bond?"
The woman smiled, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. "The Archive finally chose. And it chose a nobody."
Her gaze sharpened.
"Let's see how long he lasts."