Descent was not a movement.
It was a passage.
The fault did not go down—it went in. Into code. Into memory. Into an old root that had never been trimmed, only hidden.
As Kaito and the rest passed through the faultline, the Fork drew away from them. Not like a door closing, but like a curtain falling over an abandoned play.
No light. No gravity. No time.
Just data.
And even that was different here.
Kaito felt the disparity immediately—this thread wasn't in the Seed's universe. It didn't recognize his control. It didn't reject it either. It just existed, like an application left open far too long, unaware that the world outside had progressed.
[THREAD ACCESS: LIMITED AUTHORITY: NULL OVERRIDE RIGHTS: SOVEREIGN_OLDROOT]
Kael looked around, weapon hand on his hip. "Where are we?"
"A branch," Iris replied. "An old branch. Before the Fork. Before the game, maybe. This isn't forgotten—it's quarantined."
"Then why let us in?" Nyra asked.
