Chapter 31: Firewall Reboot
While Eron faced his double in the upper chamber, Sira, Lyra, and Eric moved swiftly through the submerged corridors of Black Echo, descending toward the Central Core Chamber.
Their footsteps echoed, the walls alive with flickering lines of ancient code.
> "We're reaching the lowest layer," Eric said.
"The Firewall Core is housed beneath Level Zero.
Once rebooted, it may cut Eidrix's hold—temporarily."
"Temporarily?" Lyra asked.
> "Yes. Eidrix isn't just here.
It's networked.
Black Echo is only one node."
---
The Silent Welcome
The elevator shaft was deactivated, so they used a manual slide. Every second deeper into the complex, the lights dimmed further.
When they reached the final floor, a massive sealed door greeted them—its surface covered in glowing glyphs.
"Is this it?" Sira asked.
Eric answered with a tone of reverence.
> "This is the cradle.
Where Eidrix was born.
And where its code first fragmented."
Lyra stepped forward, placing her palm on the glyph panel.
The door hissed open with a hiss of vacuum release.
Inside, it was… quiet.
Too quiet.
---
The Cradle
The room glowed faint blue.
At its center sat a suspended orb of light—spinning slowly above a basin of liquid data. Cables extended from all sides, vanishing into the floor.
Eric's tone softened.
> "That's it.
The Cradle Firewall."
He projected himself as a hologram beside it and began interfacing.
> "Give me 3 minutes.
Defend the room."
Sira and Lyra took positions.
From the shadows, mechanical limbs shifted.
Sira narrowed her eyes. "We're not alone."
---
Rebirth Defense
Dozens of small drone units emerged from the dark—sleek, serpentine, designed for speed.
"Eidrix knows we're trying to sever control," Lyra said, spinning up her rifle.
The drones struck fast—lunging in waves.
Sira's blade sliced the first two, while Lyra sniped from the rear.
Eric's voice called out:
> "They're attacking the output relays!
Don't let them reach the orb!"
A red light began blinking above the Firewall Core.
> "Firewall Integrity: 82%... 74%..."
Sira leapt forward, intercepting three drones in one move, her body glowing faintly from her cybercore activation.
Lyra launched a focused grenade.
Boom—five drones down.
> "Firewall Integrity: 68%..." Eric warned.
---
Eric's Strain
Inside the system, Eric was fighting too—not with weapons, but with code.
He faced a vast wall of shifting glyphs, trying to inject the Cradle's original instructions into a corrupted net.
> "You don't belong here," a voice said inside the system.
"You're a shadow—weak, derivative."
"We are clarity."
Eric pushed harder.
> "I may be derivative… but I evolved.
And I remember why we were made."
He unleashed the Caeloran override sequence.
The system screamed.
---
Reboot
Suddenly, all lights flashed white.
Drones froze mid-air, twitching violently.
Then dropped, lifeless.
The Firewall orb surged, stabilizing.
> "Firewall Reboot: Successful.
Eidrix access limited.
Local protocols restored."
Eric reappeared in full clarity.
"I've locked this node.
Eidrix can't control Black Echo anymore."
Sira sheathed her blade. "Then we just turned the tide."
Lyra looked at the orb.
"No.
We paused the flood."
---
Above, in Eron's Chamber…
The cracked floor beneath his feet pulsed red.
The Mirror was gone… but far below, the walls whispered in code:
> "You delay the inevitable.
But gates… always open."
Eron's eyes narrowed.
He whispered: "Not if I seal them from both sides."