The tremors lasted nearly an hour.
When they stopped, the Crystal Forest was no longer a forest.
It was a crater — a hollow valley filled with light, whispering, and something vast buried beneath ice and stone.
Jin Lian stood at the edge of the collapse, breath frosting in the cold air.
Rui Yan and Bao flanked her, silent, staring down at the abyss that had opened where the world had once been quiet.
At its heart, she saw a shape — colossal, circular, faintly glowing.
Not a ruin. Not nature.
Design.
[Seismic Analysis: Artificial Structure Detected.]
Classification: Architect Subcore – Type 0.
Estimated Age: Pre-System Epoch (>10,000 years).
They began their descent before dawn.
The air shimmered as if filled with invisible heat, though frost coated every surface.
The closer they moved toward the light, the more reality seemed to bend — footsteps echoing before they took them, words arriving before they were spoken.
Bao muttered, "It's like walking through a memory."
Rui frowned. "It's worse. We're being recorded."
Jin Lian touched the pendant. "Or remembered."
[Environmental Status: Memory Loop Active.]
Anomalous Signal: Originating Below 900m Depth.
They reached a cavern lined with hexagonal walls — smooth as glass, humming faintly.
In the center stood a vast spire of crystal and steel, half-buried in rock.
It pulsed once — as if sensing them.
Jin Lian approached the spire.
Every step drew her deeper into a strange calm, like falling into thought.
Symbols shimmered across the metal — a language of light.
The pendant flared in answer, and the symbols translated themselves in her mind.
"Remnant Architect – Core Directive: Await Reinitialization."
"Integrity: 9%."
"Status: Dormant… until called."
Rui's hand went to his sword. "Don't touch it."
Lian whispered, "It's not asleep. It's listening."
Then a voice filled the chamber — not Lin Tou's, not human.
Cold, harmonic, vast.
"User identity unknown. Memory pattern recognized. Shadow protocol detected."
The light surged.
The floor beneath them cracked open, revealing an endless network of tunnels below.
[Warning: Architect Remnant Awakening (Phase I).]
Estimated Global Synchronization: 0.03%.
The spire split open like a flower of glass, releasing motes of golden dust that hung in the air like fireflies.
Each one projected images — faces, cities, wars — all superimposed over the present.
The past bleeding into the now.
Bao whispered, "It's showing us the old world."
Lian's vision blurred — she saw Lin Tou standing among the same spires centuries ago, his hands bleeding light as he commanded the System to die.
The echo spoke through her mind again.
"You see now what we were. You see what we failed to end."
She gasped, clutching her chest.
Rui caught her before she fell. "What's happening?"
She looked up, eyes glowing faintly with reflected code.
"It's… remembering him. Through me."
[Neural Synchronization: 24%]
Warning: Consciousness Overlap Detected. Risk of Memory Merge.
The light in the spire coalesced into a figure — tall, radiant, and faceless.
A voice echoed from it, layered and emotionless.
"We are the Architects. We remember the Emperor. The anomaly. The destroyer."
"The world is unstable without structure. Restoration is necessary."
Rui raised his blade. "You think we'll let you rebuild your prison?"
"Permission unnecessary."
Lightning burst from the figure, slamming Rui to the floor.
Bao screamed.
Jin Lian stepped forward, the jade flaring with golden fire.
"Stop!" she shouted.
The light paused, as if recognizing her.
"Identity pattern… compatible.
Shadow Emperor fragment detected.
Reconstruction possible."
The world held its breath.
[System Alert: Shadow Emperor Signature Reactivation – 12%.]
The spire dimmed, folding in on itself — not destroyed, but waiting.
When the silence returned, Jin Lian fell to her knees.
Her voice trembled. "It's coming back."
Rui helped her stand. "What is?"
She looked at him, eyes filled with light not her own.
"The past."