---
The Watcher was gone.
Its echo left no trace—only an afterimage burned into Kael's thoughts. But its final words gnawed at him:
> "You are nearing Collapse."
---
He moved deeper into Eos-7's core, following pulsing void signatures through crumbling corridors. Every step triggered something inside him — a flicker, a memory, a face.
A mother he'd never met.
A battlefield he'd never fought on.
A child crying his name in a ruined temple.
> "These aren't mine…" he whispered.
But they felt like they were.
---
Black Archive Vault: Level Omega-1
He reached a dead end — a massive vault door etched with Void Runes.
His hand moved on its own, pressed into the center glyph. The gate recognized him.
> [ Access Granted: Echo-23 ∴ Neural Sync 78% ]
[ Caution: Threshold of Identity Collapse Approaching. Estimated Stability: 12 Minutes. ]
> "Good," Kael muttered. "That's all the time I need."
The door groaned open.
And inside… was truth.
---
Holographic records ignited in the air — thousands of them. Experimental logs. Genetic mappings. Battle reports. Prototype schematics.
And at the heart of it all — a single journal file.
> "Void Architect: Final Conscious Transfer Record"
Entry Timestamp: 000.000.001 // Pre-Void Era
Kael opened it.
---
> "This is my final imprint. Not for the Empire. Not for the Architects. For the one who wakes up…"
The voice was distorted — ancient, heavy with fatigue and madness.
> "We reached beyond death. Beyond time. But we failed to ascend without consequence. So I shattered my mind across the future — fragments encoded in living vessels."
> "You are one of them."
> "But only one will become me again."
---
Kael staggered back.
> "I'm not the first…"
> "I'm one of many. Competing… for what? A throne? A memory? A soul?"
The walls seemed to breathe as the Void surged through the archive.
Suddenly, he saw himself again — not in a reflection, but in a thousand flickering versions.
One smiling.
One screaming.
One standing in fire.
> [ MEMORY COLLISION IMMINENT ]
[ Choose Alignment: Reject / Embrace / Transcend ]
Kael clenched his fists. His vision blurred. His voice trembled.
> "I… am me."
> "I'm not a copy. I'm not an echo. I choose who I become."
> [ Alignment Locked: Path — Transcendence Initiated. Neural Collapse: Delayed. ]
---
The black archive's floor shifted — revealing a staircase descending into a core chamber.
A singular device awaited him there:
> The Void Core.
What remained of the original Void Architect's mind.
Kael felt it react to him.
Calling.
> "So this is what they wanted me to merge with…"
> "Not yet."
---
As he turned away, preparing for the next step…
A new presence entered the archive.
Heavy footsteps.
Void pressure rising.
Another Echo.
One awakened prematurely.
And it wasn't here to talk.
---