The fall this time was quiet.
No wind. No screaming data. Just darkness—deep, suffocating, absolute.
Ryn didn't know how long he was falling. Seconds. Hours. Days. Time in the system was unreliable, especially in forbidden layers like this.
Then, the void cracked.
> [Zone Transfer: Core Layer – Eden-Null]
He landed gently this time, like the system allowed it.
The air smelled… wrong.
Burnt circuitry. Artificial pollen. Memories.
He stood in the center of what looked like an abandoned garden — or the digital impression of one. Trees with pixelated bark. Leaves that shimmered with fragmented data. Flowers bloomed, only to fade into dust seconds later.
Everywhere: silence.
> [Core Layer Status: LOCKED]
> [System Clock: Frozen]
The sky was a static dome, slowly pulsing in shades of gray.
Ryn narrowed his eyes.
"Why bring me here?"
A sound answered.
Not a voice.
A heartbeat.
He followed it.
---
The garden had no paths, only ruins—pillars inscribed with code, benches built from corrupted stone, a fountain spitting broken strings of text.
On one cracked wall, he found a word, scratched by hand:
> EVA
He didn't recognize the name… but his chest ached.
Memories — not his — bled into him like ink in water.
A child. A test. Screaming.
A failed sync.
He grabbed his head, gasping.
> [System Interference Detected.]
> [Stability: 61%]
> [Warning: Host Mind Desync Possible.]
He bit his tongue, focused. The pain anchored him. The hallucinations receded.
He kept moving.
---
Eventually, he reached the center.
A tower. Hollow. Glass and metal, rising like a needle into the frozen sky.
And in its heart — a girl.
Or what remained.
Suspended in a crystal pod. Wires through her wrists. Data streams pulsing through her spine. Her hair floated like silver threads, eyes closed in unnatural peace.
Not Claire.
But familiar.
The heartbeat was hers.
He stepped forward. His hand brushed the glass.
> [Subject 0: EVA // Role: Architect Prototype]
> Status: Dormant // Preservation Mode: 24%
System Note: DO NOT WAKE.
His jaw tightened.
"She's the architect?"
He didn't expect an answer. But he got one.
From behind.
A slow clap.
Ryn turned fast, fists raised—ready.
The man who stood there looked like a corpse dressed in a commander's uniform. His skin pale, eyes empty, smile wide. A badge on his coat read Project Helix.
> "So you're the virus," the man said softly.
> "And you're the parasite," Ryn shot back.
The commander grinned. "I'm the failsafe."
He raised a finger.
And suddenly, Ryn's body froze.
> [Override Protocol Engaged]
> [Movement Locked // Thought Access Limited]
The commander stepped closer.
> "You've broken too many layers, little hero. Woken too many echoes. Interfered with threads we've spent decades stabilizing."
> "Claire was meant to break."
> "You were meant to forget."
Ryn trembled, barely able to move. "What… are you doing to her?"
The commander glanced at Eva.
> "She's not a who. She's a key. The original model for all cognitive frameworks. The seed of every construct."
> "Claire was just the latest replica."
Ryn's world shook.
"She's a copy?!"
The commander smiled, almost sad.
> "Aren't we all?"
He reached for the pod, ready to sever a link.
Ryn screamed. Rage pushed through his paralysis.
> [Override Rejected.]
[User Class: Chaos-Aligned.]
> [System Trait Triggered: Divergence.]
The lock shattered.
Ryn moved.
Fast.
He slammed into the commander. They tumbled across the floor.
The man was stronger than he looked — faster too. Ryn barely dodged a pulse strike that scorched the floor. The second one hit him in the ribs.
Bones cracked.
But he kept fighting.
He grabbed a shard of broken data-glass from the floor and drove it into the man's chest.
The commander roared — not in pain, but rage.
> "You're too late! The Chain is already active!"
> "And what does it chain?" Ryn spat, blood on his lip.
The commander laughed. "Not what. Who."
He pressed a button on his sleeve.
> [Core Layer Collapse: 10%]
The tower shook. Glass cracked.
The pod holding Eva flickered.
> [Stasis Break Imminent.]
Ryn lunged.
He grabbed Eva as the crystal shattered.
The world exploded in white.
---
He woke to static snow.
Lying in a crater of glass and flowers.
Eva — breathing. Alive. Still unconscious.
But the commander was gone.
So was the tower.
And in the sky, for the first time, a crack formed — one that looked outward, not inward.
> [Layer Exit Unlocked.]
> [You are being watched.]
Ryn narrowed his eyes.
The game wasn't over.
It was just beginning.