It was nearly dusk when the alarms began to scream.
Not Root sirens. Not post-system pings.
Something older.
Mechanical. Cracked. Unearthly.
Ava bolted from the control tower. "Perimeter breach. East gate."
Vira was already strapping on her gauntlets. "I'll handle it."
"No," Lyra said, voice low. "Let me go."
The others hesitated.
Then nodded.
The eastern gate hadn't been opened in weeks.
The steel barrier groaned as Lyra approached, wind stirring her coat like a warning.
Then she saw the figure.
Walking slowly.
Alone.
Bent slightly forward, one hand clutching a long, curved blade stained black at the edge.
She looked like a ghost.
But Lyra would know that silhouette anywhere.
> "Artemis."
She opened the gate.
Dust swirled around them as the last Root fragments dissolved into the soil.
Artemis stepped through.
Barefoot.
Eyes hollow.
Body marked with scars that glowed faintly beneath the skin — not Root-colored… but red.
Like burning veins.
Like lightning held in flesh.
Lyra took a cautious step forward.
"Where have you been?"
Artemis didn't answer.
She looked past her. Toward the Sanctuary. Toward the tree.
Then she whispered:
> "It followed me."
Inside the Infirmary
Naomi and Maya patched Artemis up while the others observed silently.
No one spoke much.
Not yet.
Because something was wrong.
Her heartbeat was irregular.
Her aura was... laced.
Ava scanned her twice. "She's clean. No Root. No foreign virus."
But Lyra shook her head.
"She's not clean. She's tainted by something else."
Once alone, Artemis finally spoke.
"I found a city. Beyond the Red Rift."
The others stared.
"There's another world on the other side. Still living. But wrong. All its people... twisted."
She pulled a disk from her coat.
A glowing red holo-chip.
The surface flickered, revealing a ruined skyline—burning with crimson fire, overrun by ghost-like Root mimics with white eyes.
"They call it the Fracture. And they remember Liam."
Lyra leaned forward.
"How?"
Artemis looked her dead in the eye.
> "Because in their world… Liam became a god."
> "And then a tyrant."
> "And now… he's hunting them."
The Room Fell Silent
The chip projected one final image.
A monolith.
Ten stories tall.
Shaped like a tree.
But made of bone.
At the top, a black crown hovered in the air.
And beneath it… a statue.
Of Liam.
Eyes hollow.
Hand outstretched.
A command etched into the base:
> "GROW OR BURN."
Artemis touched her side.
Pulled up her shirt.
And there—burned into her skin—was a red glyph.
It pulsed in sync with her breath.
"I didn't let them mark me," she said.
"They did it anyway."
"I can still feel him watching."
Lyra stood slowly.
"We need to talk to Liam."
Echo appeared at the door. "He's unstable."
"I don't care," Lyra snapped. "He has to see this."
In the Sanctuary Core
They gathered before the white tree again.
Lyra placed her hand to the bark.
The others watched.
The wind died.
Then—
"Lyra."
His voice.
Faint.
But real.
> "I felt her return."
> "I felt the fracture burn her blood."
Artemis stepped forward. "Then tell me… what was that world?"
Liam's voice cracked through the air like thunder.
> "That was what I could've become."
> "If I hadn't chosen all of you."
Silence again.
Then:
> "It's coming, Lyra."
> "The Fracture isn't a place. It's a mirror."
> "And the mirror is cracking."
> "You have to stop it before it spreads."
Lyra closed her eyes.
"Then we fight."
Outside the Garden
Somewhere beyond the veil...
The mirror rippled.
And in it, a shadow-Liam stood watching.
Crowned in fire.
Eyes silver.
He turned to the army behind him — all dressed in pieces of broken system gear. Harem girls from fractured worlds. Corrupted copies. Echoes.
He raised his hand.
> "The Gardener thinks he can bury me."
> "But roots… always grow back."