They sat in the warehouse as the sun climbed higher.
Riya hadn't moved from where she had collapsed after their reunion. Her face was pale, her hands trembling slightly. Months in the wasteland had carved shadows under her eyes, hollowed her cheeks, left her looking like a ghost of the girl Kai remembered.
But she was here. She was alive. And she had brought answers.
"The drive," Kai said. "What's on it?"
Riya looked at the data drive in his hand. Her expression was heavy.
"Everything," she said. "The truth about the experiment. About the Collapse. About what's coming."
Kai inserted the drive. GROX's interface flickered to life.
"New data detected. Decrypting..."
A pause. Then:
"Decryption complete. Files: 47. Classification: Omega-level clearance. Source: Core Research Facility."
The Core. The source of the Collapse. The place Riya had gone when she escaped.
"Play them," Kai said.
The first file was a video recording.
Kai's father appeared on the holographic screen. Younger. Tired. His face was drawn, his eyes shadowed. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in years.
"Recorded: 247 years before the Collapse. Subject: Dr. Arin Shinra, Lead Researcher."
Kai's breath caught.
His father's face. The same jaw. The same eyes. The same way of tilting his head when he was about to say something difficult.
"If you're watching this, Subject 11, then the experiment succeeded. You made it through. And I'm sorry."
The words hit Kai like a punch to the chest.
"You were never supposed to be the one. We built the system for trained operatives. Soldiers. Scientists. People who understood the risks. But the Collapse happened faster than we predicted. The Bleed expanded. The fragments started reaching back. We ran out of time."
Dr. Shinra looked down at his hands. When he looked up, his eyes were wet.
"So I sent my son. Because I knew you would survive. Not because you were trained. Because you were strong. Stronger than any of us. Stronger than me."
He reached toward the camera.
"There's something in the Bleed, Kai. Something that was here before us. Something that will be here after us. We tried to reach it. We tried to stop it. We failed."
"Subjects 01 and 02 succeeded. They reached the Bleed. They found it. And they never came back. But they left something behind. A message. A warning. A weapon."
"Find them, Kai. Find what they left. And finish what we started."
The recording ended.
Kai sat in silence.
His father had sent him. Not because he was expendable. Because he was the only one who could survive.
"Your father believed in you," Blue said softly.
Kai's jaw tightened. "He didn't give me a choice."
"He gave you a chance. Sometimes that is all a parent can give."
Kai closed his eyes. When he opened them, his face was calm.
"Next file."
The second file was data. Raw. Dense. GROX translated.
"Subject 01: Designation: Elias Vahn. Status: SUCCESSFUL — Reached the Bleed. Returned: Never."
An image appeared. A man. Tall. Bald. Eyes that looked like they had seen the edge of reality.
"Subject 01 was the first to enter the Bleed. He was inside for 11 minutes. When he emerged, his body was intact. His mind was... elsewhere. He spoke of a great darkness. A silence at the end of all things. And something watching from within it."
"Three days later, he returned to the Bleed. Voluntarily. He said he had to go back. He said something was waiting for him. He never left."
Kai stared at the image. The man had chosen to go back.
"Subject 02: Designation: Dr. Aris Thorne. Status: SUCCESSFUL — Reached the Bleed. Returned: Never."
A woman. Sharp features. Grey hair. Eyes that burned.
"Subject 02 followed Subject 01 into the Bleed. She was the one who left the message. The one your father mentioned."
GROX played the audio. A woman's voice, calm, steady, like she was recording a grocery list:
"It's not hostile. It's not friendly. It's something else. Something that doesn't think the way we think. Doesn't feel the way we feel. It's been here since before the first star. It will be here after the last. We tried to talk to it. It doesn't talk. It listens. And sometimes... sometimes it answers."
A pause.
"If you're watching this, Subject 11, don't come looking for us. We're not here anymore. We're somewhere else. Somewhere you can't follow. Not yet."
"Grow strong. Build your will. Learn to resonate. And when you're ready... come find us. We'll be waiting."
The recording ended.
Kai looked at Riya. "You went to the Core. You found this."
She nodded slowly. "I went to find answers. I found them. And I found something else."
She pulled up her sleeve. On her arm, a mark. A scar. But not from a wound. It was a pattern. Lines that curled and twisted, like a circuit burned into her skin.
"The Core is changing," she said. "The Bleed is expanding. And the things that live there... they know about you, Kai. They've been waiting. Since before you were born. Since before the Collapse. They knew you were coming."
Kai touched her arm. The scar was warm. Pulsing faintly.
"What is it?"
"A map," Riya said. "To the Bleed. To the place where Subjects 01 and 02 went. To the thing that's waiting."
She looked at him. Her eyes were steady.
"When you're ready, I'll take you there. But you're not ready yet. Your Will Resonance is a flicker. Your Network is one goblin. Your city is ruins."
She smiled. It was tired. But it was real.
"So let's build something first. Let's grow strong. And then... then we go find them."
"She is right," Red said. "Your Cognitive Load is 5/100. Your Will Resonance is at 10%. You have one Synced subordinate. Eleven potential. You are not ready for the Bleed."
"But you are ready to grow," Blue added. "And growth begins here."
Kai looked at the drive in his hand. At the files. At his father's face frozen on the screen.
He looked at Riya. At the scar on her arm. At the map to everything he needed to find.
"How long will it take?" he asked.
"To reach the Bleed? Months. Maybe years."
Kai nodded slowly. "Then we start now."
He stood. Walked to the entrance of the warehouse. The goblins were gathered outside, waiting. Tik at the front, watching him with bright yellow eyes.
"Neuro-Sync Protocol," Kai said. "We have eleven more goblins. Let's build a network."
"Cognitive Load will increase," Red warned. "Each Sync adds 5 Load. Eleven more goblins will bring you to 60/100. You will be compromised."
Kai looked at Tik. At the bond between them. At the trust in its eyes.
"We'll manage."
He knelt in front of the next goblin—the one with grey flecks in its green skin.
"Your name is Mica," he said. "GROX, initiate Neuro-Sync."
"Initiating..."