No one should have known his name. No one should have known him.
And yet, someone—or something—had been waiting.
Axel Kane sat in the alley, visor resting on his lap, hands trembling. Neon light from a flickering drone reflected across the cracked pavement, painting his face in shifting blues and reds. Every pulse made his heart kick faster, as though the city itself was mocking him.
He had hacked Eternity dozens of times before. Alarms, countermeasures, firewalls—they had never felt personal. Until tonight.
"Shit." He pressed both hands against the back of his neck, expecting to feel a burn, a mark, something tangible. There was nothing. Just sweat.
The alleyway shifted. Shadowed figures moved among the neon glow, drones whirring overhead. Axel's hand went to the stun-pistol under his jacket, then froze.
A woman stepped forward, hands raised in calm surrender. "Relax," she said, voice measured, deliberate. "If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't still be sitting there."
Her violet hair caught the flicker of neon. One side buzzed short; the other fell in long strands. A glowing tattoo wound down her arm in geometric patterns, shifting as she moved. Axel knew her instantly.
Mei-Ling.
He had seen her in darknet channels, dropping cryptic philosophy and code in equal measure. Some called her a digital monk. Others called her insane. Axel hadn't cared to decide which.
"What do you want?" he snapped, eyes narrowing.
"To keep you alive," she said. "Your stunt back there—it wasn't just noticed. It was expected."
Axel laughed bitterly. "Expected? By who?"
Mei-Ling crouched before him. Her eyes didn't mock or judge, just held the weight of someone who had seen too much. She tapped his visor. "Not by the system. Not by Eternity. By something older."
Axel's pulse quickened. "You mean… The Architect?"
She nodded. "It knows you. It's marking you. And it won't stop."
He laughed again, shorter, sharper. "Why me?"
"Because you've been looking for something it doesn't want found."
Axel tightened his grip on the visor. His mother. Her digital echoes haunted him. Hidden fragments, corrupted memory packets, pieces of her mind left scattered inside Eternity. He had traced them here, to this sector. She was alive inside the network—or something that claimed to be her.
"I'm not afraid," he said, though his chest tightened.
"You should be." Mei-Ling stood, brushing dust from her jacket. "But you won't survive alone. Take this." She tossed him a small chip drive. The plastic casing was old-school, hand-built. Rare. Precious.
Axel caught it, eyeing her. "And… what? Plug it in and pray?"
"Plug it in and move. You'll find answers."
Before he could question her further, she turned and disappeared into the neon-lit street, swallowed by the crowd.
Alone again, Axel stared at the chip, the words echoing in his mind: The Architect has been waiting for you.
He felt a chill. No code he had written, no hack he had pulled off, had ever made him feel this vulnerable. Something had noticed him—not just his work, but him. Axel Kane. The person.
And now, it was coming.
The alley hummed with the soft buzz of drones. Trash skittered across the cracked asphalt. Neon signs flickered, repeating the same promises: Upload Today. Live Forever Tomorrow. He spat on the ground.
Eternity had lied.
And now, Axel knew he had to dive in, deeper than ever before.
Because if he failed… his mother would remain trapped forever. And this time, he might not escape either.
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